Space and its Many Points of View

In today’s modern world, methods of transportation are abundant. Although in general there are only two options – a form of public transportation, or your own private vehicle. Having lived in the suburbs of Atlanta for most of my life, the first time I had ever taken any form of public transportation was when I was 18 years old. If I ever needed to go somewhere, I would always take a car. I have a whole plethora of options within a 15 minute car ride from my house. With that being said, it has always been somewhat difficult to properly imagine what life must have been like before cars, buses, trains, airplanes, or even the stream boat. For me what may be simply a five minute car ride would have been for my ancestors half a day’s walk! It makes me wonder exactly how technology has altered our modern view point of space.

Figure 1:
www.qualitytrading.com/illusions/girlwoman.html

In Stephen Kern’s book, The Culture of Time and Space – 1880-1918, the opening paragraph to chapter six, the Nature of Time, describes how the philosophy of perspectivism is a theory that, “…there are as many different spaces as there are points of view.” (Kern, 132) I totally concur with this philosophy, because what I may observe in my space is totally different from what another person may observe in the same space. A famous example of this is the famous optical illusion of the young girl/old woman (Figure 1). How one perceives the space in the picture, produces a totally different observation than that of another person. This same concept can be applied to how our perspective of space has changed due to modern technology, in comparison with the perspective of my ancestors.

Because of modern inventions, such as cars, I don’t have to worry so much about the distance of my destination as much as I must worry about how long it will take to reach my destination.  It may be faster with my own car, with the bus, or with a train, but in the end I know already know about how long each method will take me and which is the better option time wise. To be more specific, when choosing a method of transportation, the distance is not so much of a factor in choosing one of these methods, as much as the time each of the different methods will need to reach the destination. Because cars, buses, and trains can travel for long distances without stopping (excluding stops for fuel or human necessities), the distance between two points of interest is almost irrelevant! That is not to say that time is not relative to distance, but that due to our modern forms of transportation, the distance of 30 miles, for example, will not be a burden to travel.

 However the opposite can be said of our ancestors. To them the distance of five miles, may be the most any of them were willing to travel in a day. With the only means of transportation available being your own two feet and possible a carriage or bicycle, having to travel further than five miles would have been an inconvenience. Their space was limited to the distance they were able to walk in a day. This perspective of space is totally different to our modern viewpoint. As a result of this different viewpoint, their perception of time was also altered. Because they can physically not travel as quickly as we can, their lives were a little bit “slower” than ours. That is not to say it was leisurely, but they may not have put so much emphasis on completing a task with in a specific time period.

Modern technology has made it easier and faster to complete multiple tasks within a 24 hour time period. I personally do not think of the physical distance a destination is, but rather how long it will take to arrive there by car. My great-grandfather, on the other hand, most likely put more emphasis on the distance of a destination before deciding to travel or not. 

- Katherina Delgado