" The compulsion to operationalism gives rise to an operational paradox. It is not just that the order of the day is 'making something worth something' : the fact is that it is better, if something is to be invested with value, for it to have no value to begin with; better to know nothing in order to have things known; better to produce nothing in order to have things produced; and better to have nothing to say if one seeks to communicate. All of which is part of the logic of things: as everyone knows, if you want to make people laugh, it is better not to be funny. The implications for communication and information networks are incontestable: in order for content to be conveyed as well and as quickly as possible, that content should come as close as possible to transparency and insignificance. This principle may be seen in action in the telephone relationship or in media transmissions - as also in more serious arenas. Thus good communication - the foundation, today, of a good society - implies the annihilation of its own content. (Note that even the term 'society' has lost its meaning: the only thing that is still 'social' is whatever can be manufactured as such, as 'sociality' or 'sociability' - ghastly sobriquets which perfectly express the thing to which they refer: such terms - as François George has said of 'sexuality' - put one in mind of some form of surgery.)[...] "
― Jean Baudrillard , The Transparency of Evil: Essays in Extreme Phenomena
![Jean Baudrillard quote : The compulsion to operationalism gives rise to an operational paradox. It is not just that the order of the day is 'making something worth something' : the fact is that it is better, if something is to be invested with value, for it to have no value to begin with; better to know nothing in order to have things known; better to produce nothing in order to have things produced; and better to have nothing to say if one seeks to communicate. All of which is part of the logic of things: as everyone knows, if you want to make people laugh, it is better not to be funny. The implications for communication and information networks are incontestable: in order for content to be conveyed as well and as quickly as possible, that content should come as close as possible to transparency and insignificance. This principle may be seen in action in the telephone relationship or in media transmissions - as also in more serious arenas. Thus good communication - the foundation, today, of a good society - implies the annihilation of its own content. (Note that even the term 'society' has lost its meaning: the only thing that is still 'social' is whatever can be manufactured as such, as 'sociality' or 'sociability' - ghastly sobriquets which perfectly express the thing to which they refer: such terms - as François George has said of 'sexuality' - put one in mind of some form of surgery.)[...]](/image/941499.jpg)