He found himself in a world where resemblance and imitation marked the lines of connection and also the only location of its elusive nodes. Great premium was therefore placed on originality and authenticity since these existed as powerful conjunctions in the system, ones which seemed to be independently definable and so able to promise that the entire system was anchored somewhere. The idea of an anchoring was possibly essential, although many claimed to be able to dispense with it entirely, but in any case, so long as it was assured that no-one else could claim it, it needed to be off-stage. The coveted quality of authenticity was like that of a special wine, celebrated through the resemblances within its bouquet to other sensations, remote flavours, smells or even generic memories. The language became one of semblances, of seemings, intricate evasions of is, which were the expressions of legitimate deference. This move lent an almost frenzied intensiveness to connectedness, although even connectedness could only be taken to resemble connection. It was not so much an atomised world, as a world under the sway of the least perceptible difference.