We would like to thank Cristina Grasseni and Federico De Musso for their invitation and editorial work. The paper benefited from the generous comments of two anonymous reviewers, Tomas Percival, and from our colleagues in the Security Vision Research Project. This work was supported by funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (SECURITY VISION, Grant Agreement No. 866535)."A wheel turns because of its encounter with the surface of the road; spinning in the air it goes nowhere. Rubbing two sticks together produces heat and light; one stick alone is just a stick. In both cases, it is friction that produces movement, action, effect." (Tsing 2005: 5) From Consensus to Diffraction