Friendship is neither a gift bestowed with 'strings' attached; nor is it a 'lost object' of desire. If we re-think it in terms of a 'being-with-alone-together' - an odd connection can be drawn in terms of the seemingly sterile nether regions of 'machine learning', where 'zero' no longer denotes a 'nothing' and where '1' no longer denotes a 'positivity'. Instead, it requires taking seriously tools brought forward from the digital-computing world of machine learning, where the infinite terrain stretching in all directions (zero) is pock-marked by various segments (one's). This performance piece emerged after a sustained research into Friendship (published as a peer reviewed book chapter).

Linked to and developed from the Friendship book chapter. This was a performance piece (20min duration), with powerpoint (attached). Audience of over 1,000. Discussion afterwards.