Why a bench

There's a bench on Place Flagey where I've had three conversations in ten years. None of them continued. None led to an exchange of numbers. All three were good.

It's the only social model I know that asks for nothing. You sit down, someone is already there, and you either talk or you don't. Nobody checks your profile. Nobody keeps score.

What we lost along the way

Today's chat apps all share one flaw: they keep. A history, a profile, a reputation, a score. Every sentence you write is a deposit into an account you can no longer close.

The result is that we speak less freely. Not out of modesty — out of bookkeeping. We know it stays, so we calculate.

A conversation that leaves no trace isn't a failed conversation. It's the definition of a bench conversation.

Le Banc tries to rebuild that situation with a phone. Ten people, a borrowed first name, no memory. It isn't a social network with the flaws removed. It's something else, and it isn't trying to grow.