In this ‘advanced’ materialistic society in which we live—at least in much of the world—it seems that only what can be observed literally counts. An object has a function, and that function defines its meaning.This way of seeing the world is extraordinarily useful. It allows us to measure, classify, build technology, organise cities and design complex systems. It is the foundation upon which many of the structures that make modern life possible are built.But it also has a hidden cost: it reduces reality to what can be weighed, counted or verified immediately.This view is deeply linked to materialist thinking, which could be summed up in a rather popular axiom: ‘If I don’t see it, I…