We are surrounded by things about which we know little. We see them every day, turn them on and off, exploit them, collect them, even fall in love with them - but we do all this habitually, uncritically, mechanically. As a result, we do not always understand the world in which we live. Meanwhile, everyday reality is changing so quickly that things ten or twenty years ago now seem like artifacts from another planet. Therefore, not only the “Red Book” is vitally needed to record phenomena that are disappearing forever, but also a real philosophy of everyday things. If we treat a thing as an object of fickle human passion, a sign, an image, a cultural event, then this gives rise to a number of interesting questions:

How is modern life similar to a supermarket? Why is mobile communication a type of verbal exhibitionism? Are shoes really an extension of a woman’s body, her symbolic double? What is the true function of a TV? How could a drink with the taste, color and smell of urine become iconic? How to conduct psychoanalysis using an avatar? Why does the world of advertising most resemble the afterlife? How is it that the most intimate experiences today are part of the conveyor belt of advertising and cinematic fantasies? Why has the entire era of the working man come to an end?

And, finally: what is “materialism” in principle? And are there alternatives to the consumer society?