The Price of Formal Freedom

Abstract

In the world of mechanization, the true copy is cast as the virtuous hero and the variant as the villain. The variant is swiftly identified on the production line, seized and eliminated; it is to be avoided at all costs. In the new digital world of continuous differentiation, in which variation reigns supreme, where does the margin for error lie? Liberated from the pressures of standardization, are we suddenly error-free and carefree?