CONCEPT
The Crossing of Social Circles
Simmel's 1908 thesis that modern individuality is the unique intersection of multiple non-concentric affiliations — a geometric account of selfhood now challenged by algorithmic sorting and AI's consolidation of creative domains into a single mediating center.
In traditional societies, the individual's identity is determined by a single, all-encompassing group whose circles are concentric — family, village, guild, parish reinforcing one another's authority. Modern individuality emerges when these circles begin to intersect rather than overlap. The individual who belongs simultaneously to a profession, a political party, a neighborhood, and a circle of friends occupies a unique position at the intersection of multiple affiliations, and this intersection — not any intrinsic quality — constitutes modern selfhood. Individuality is not a substance the individual possesses but a coordinate the individual occupies. AI is restructuring this web through two mechanisms: algorithmic sorting imposes affiliations from without, while the tool's totalizing mediation collapses distinct circles into a single center.
In The You On AI Field Guide
Simmel's formal argument is that individuality multiplies with affiliations: two people may share a profession, but far fewer share a profession, a political conviction, a recreational pursuit,