time, space

The first definition of “time” in the Oxford English Dictionary is “a space or extent of time” (OED). The first definition of “space” is “denoting time or duration” (OED). These circular definitions demonstrate the congruity between time and space as concepts. While long related through motion (cf movement), the congruity of “time” and “space” reaches its scientific apotheosis in the early twentieth century with the single concept of “space-time” in physics and mathematics. Before Albert Einstein and Hermann Minkowski conceived of “space-time,” time and space were aligned as separate but interdependent media. Time and space in and of themselves are media in that they fulfill the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of “medium” as “pervading or enveloping substance; the substance or ‘element’ in which an organism lives; hence … one’s environment, conditions of life” (OED 4b). Time and space are also elements that fundamentally determine and affect multiple forms of media. Conversely, media transform the human experience and perception of time and space.

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