Time and Space

Plato thought space was simply the material world, while time was the habitation of the soul (P102). He claims that the arts of time were superior to material media. For instance, there are nine muses of music, poetry, history, dance, song, and so on. However, there are no muses for painting, sculpture, or architecture. As for me, I am partly agreed with this view. On the one hand, time and space, as the form of moving materials (like any form of media characters), cannot be separated from the motion of materials. For instance, painting is created at a specific time in a context. On another hand, the characteristics of time and space are different to some extent. Time is characterized by one dimension (Irreversibility), time and space are the forms of the moving material, and time is the continuity and sequence of the process of physical movement. Space is characterized by three-dimension (Any object has long, wide, and high these three directions), it has the extensibility and ductility of the movement of materials. As a result, I am truly agreed with what William Blake (P104) said “Time and Space Are Real Beings. Time is a Man. Space is a Woman.” In addition, the video below is likely to display the relationship between time and space.

Another point of view of me is that time and space are dialectical unity of infinity and finitude. As for the finitude, the categories of time and space in media are radically transformed by the revolutions in media technology that occur in the nineteenth century (P104). For instance, the telegraph, the railroad, and the daily newspaper (and later, air travel, radio, television, and the Internet) seem to shrink time and space. We can think that these artifacts have been invited and produced in specific years (within the 20s century) in the factories. but if we consider about the much longer period of time in the universe, what functions and modalities will be changed of these media? How will people engage and connect with each other? This is how I think infinitely exists in the finite, infinite space-time is composed of a specifically limited space-time. let’s think more specific, think about the radio, people have to use a big and heavy radio to get information by changing the switches manually about 20 years ago. We can easily listen to a broadcasting station by an app in the mobile phone nowadays. Also, human beings cannot imagine what will happen to the radio media in the future, because it depends on many factors, such as technologies, user habits, and using contexts, etc. at last, this is what I want to say any finite thing contains infinite structure and hierarchy in media development.