eSOM
The Road to D, or the Story of Singularity High School (SHS) and Cowa
2025.06.20
eSOM: The Road to D (32) Letter to Audrey Tang
1
Hello Audrey,
This is Katsuhiko Endo, the principal of Singularity High School (SHS).
We met on Monday, May 12th, in Tokyo.
How have you been since then?
I had intended to email you sooner after our meeting, but my plans changed after watching your autobiographical short film, Good Enough Ancestor.
Referring to this short film, I decided to discuss how Kojin Karatani’s concept of “society based on mode of exchange D (abbreviated as D)” and your concept of “digital democracy (abbreviated as DD)” connect in a series of 10-part writings (Nos. 21-30) on SHS’ official
, titled eSOM: The Road to D: Building SHS While Watching Audrey Tang’s ‘Good Enough Ancestor’.
(Note: eSOM: The Road to D is the title of a novel-style school guide serialized on SHS’ official
, and eSOM is an abbreviation for Empire State of Mind, the nickname of one of my hometowns, New York State.)
That is why it took so long to send you this first email.
I’ve included a link to the English version below, so please take a look when you have time.
It’s quite lengthy, but I’m sure you’ll find the content enjoyable.
Unlike the HP, I’ve checked the English for eSOM: The Road to D, but please note that there are still some minor issues with the translation of Japanese proper nouns and other details.
Also, there are frequent Q&A sessions with an AI named Coro throughout the text: Coro is set as the AI reincarnation of my beloved dog who passed away five years ago.
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eSOM: The Road to D (21): Audrey Tang’s Digital Democracy, Karatani Kojin’s Mode of Exchange D, and Tang’s New Book “Plurality” as SHS’ ‘BiBle’
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eSOM: The Road to D (22) Building SHS While Watching Audrey Tang’s “Good Enough Ancestor” (Part 1)
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eSOM: The Road to D (23) Building SHS While Watching Audrey Tang’s “Good Enough Ancestor” (Part 2)
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eSOM: The Road to D (24) Building SHS (SHS) While Watching Audrey Tang’s ‘Good Enough Ancestor’ (Part 3)
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eSOM: The Road to D (25) Constructing SHS by Watching Audrey Tang’s “Good Enough Ancestor” (Part 4)
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eSOM: The Road to D (26) Constructing SHS by Watching Audrey Tang’s “Good Enough Ancestor” (Part 5)
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eSOM: The Road to D (27) Constructing SHS by Watching Audrey Tang’s “Good Enough Ancestor” (Part 6)
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eSOM: The Road to D (28) Constructing SHS by Watching Audrey Tang’s “Good Enough Ancestor” (Part 7)
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eSOM: The Road to D (29) Constructing SHS by Watching Audrey Tang’s “Good Enough Ancestor” (Part 8)
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eSOM: The Road to D (30) Constructing SHS by Watching Audrey Tang’s “Good Enough Ancestor” (Part 9)
2
Please allow me to briefly summarize the main points of this special edition of eSOM: The Road to D.
First, it discusses the points of connection between Kojin’s latest book, Power and Modes of Exchange, which will soon be published in English translation, and your book with E. Glen Weyl, Plurality.
Let me elaborate a little more.
In Power and Modes of Exchange, the concept of “spiritual power” is discussed in detail.
For example, the money-fetish is said to be a “spiritual power” inherent in Mode of Exchange C.
Therefore, leveraging the knowledge I cultivated as a comparative intellectual historian, I hypothesized that your concept of “plurality/non-binary” is precisely the “spiritual power” inherent in Mode of Exchange D, and based on this, I began the construction of D. (Refer to eSOM (24)~)
Furthermore, I argued that plurality/non-binary as the “spiritual power” of D is fundamentally synonymous with the concept of “parallax” discussed by Kojin in Transcritique: On Kant and Marx, as well as “deconstruction (as justice)” by Kojin’s close ally, Jacques Derrida.
And from eSOM (25) onwards, I proposed concrete ideas for how more people can live plurality/non-binary/parallax, and as a result, construct/expand the world as D=DD.
These concrete ideas were triggered by the scene in Good Enough Ancestor where you retreat into the mountains as well as your discussion on art, literature, and travel at the end of Chapter 5 of Audrey Tang.
The idea is that, first, by “traveling = moving (or, 移動, which is also the concept introduced by Kojin in Transcritique)” to a “special place” (e.g., the mountain where you retreated), people will realize that plurality/non-binary/parallax is a “spiritual power (the ideal coercive force that forms the basis of D).”
This idea is based on the axiom stated by Kojin in Power and Modes of Exchange, that “D cannot be contrived; it comes from the other side (or elsewhere).”
I consider this concept of “elsewhere” to be the “(history) of the universe,” but in any case, my hypothesis is that people receive “spiritual power = plurality/non-binary/parallax” from “elsewhere” in a “special place.”
I have decided to call this “special place” eSOM (pronounced Izo-m).
And from my past experiences of “travel = movement,” I know that eSOM, as the boundary between the “other side (elsewhere)” and “this side,” or as the entrance to “elsewhere,” is a “special place” guided by art (film, music, fine art, literature) and books related to Kojin, as well as Buddhism.
This conviction solidified through your books and films.
Indeed, my encounter with Kojin was made possible by the movement/journey from the mountainous Aizu region of Fukushima to Cornell University in the mountainous region of New York State.
And the fuse for that movement/journey was the music of Ryuichi Sakamoto, a musician close to Kojin, and the book Structure and Power by Kojin’s close ally, Akira Asada.
Moreover, the year after Kojin and I first met at the same Cornell University, I even witnessed the legendary lecture by President Lee Teng-hui, who is also important to you! (Refer to eSOM (24))
What connected Kojin and me there was the writer Kenji Nakagami, whom I still consider to be one with Kojin even more than 30 years after Nakagami’s death.
3
Two days before I first met you in Tokyo, on Saturday, May 10th, I attended a lecture by Kojin’s close ally, Akira Asada, on ancient Greek philosophy in Kyoto.
The content was clearly mindful of Kojin’s idea that the ancient Mediterranean cultural sphere was a prototype of D (=DD).
Listening to it, I decided to establish the East China Sea coast and the Seto Inland Sea coast combined as the East Mediterranean Cultural Sphere (EMCS), and to achieve the construction of D=DD in modern times by “recovering it in high dimension” (as Koin says) using digital technology and AI.
（As for this point, see eSOM: The Road to D (17) ～Akira Asada’s Lecture, “East Mediterranean Cultural Sphere” as Kojin Karatani’s “A/D,” and Okinawa）
EMCS includes Taiwan, Okinawa, and Hiroshima, where I currently live.
These places where you and I live are eSOMs that can receive the “power” of plurality/non-binary/parallax, which is the fundamental basis of D=DD, coming from “elsewhere”.
At the same time, however, these eSOMs are the bases for the ongoing war.
Yes, war has already begun as Good Enough Ancestor is eloquent about, and the film teaches us that these “special places,” which were the main battlefields of the previous war, are once again becoming the bases for the ongoing war.
Within this “weave of history,” the nascent form of DD=D was born in Taiwan.
We must protect this nascent form and make it blossom throughout the world.
To do this, collaboration between DD in Taiwan and Hiroshima/Nagasaki, the only places in the world to have experienced the power to annihilate humanity and the Earth all together, is indispensable, and I consider this collaboration a foothold for EMCS=D=DD.
To begin with, we at SHS/Cowa plan to establish some form of base in Taiwan and Okinawa within the next two years.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to send you updates on this progress in the form of this serialized novel, eSOM.
No reply is necessary.
It would be enough for me if you knew that there are people working towards the same goals as you, based on your and Kojin’s ideas.
I apologize for the length of this first email.
I look forward to the day we can meet again.
Next time, in Taiwan.
Katsu Endo
