By 1838 Europeans already conceived of space as a function of travel time
Evidence
As an illustrative example of this kind of reconceptualization of space and time, Koselleck cites an entry in Brockhaus der Gegenwart on the essence of the railroads from 1838: “They annul spatial separation by getting closer in time… . For all spaces are only distances for us through the time we need to traverse them; if we accelerate this, then the influence of space itself on life and social intercourse is curtailed… . Railroads reduced Europe to roughly the size of Germany.” — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 307
Categorization
- CANDY: The line about railroads reducing Europe to the size of Germany is a striking, shareable image of pre-industrial spacetime compression.
- XREF: connects to: Globalization’s novelty is velocity and frictionlessness, not long-distance exchange itself — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 563; Modern transport shifts orientation from space to time — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 309; Once space filled, time became the new colonial frontier — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 860 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Once space filled, time became the new colonial frontier
#complicates(0.75) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 860 - Control over space is simultaneously control over time and the past
#qualifies(0.72) — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life, 467 - Space and time are afterimages of the mode of production.
#complicates(0.70) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 783