MECM90041 Chap.12 Speed, Acceleration and Futurisms

Speed, Acceleration and Futurisms

Technological acceleration, social change and pace of life interact to produce a time-pressure paradox. Time-space compression reorganises rather than erases geography; timeless time hides sequence beneath interface simultaneity.

Dromology connects speed to characteristic accidents. Refusal and slowing depend on material capacity.

Sociotechnical assemblages and plural futurisms challenge deterministic epoch stories and show narratives allocating present resources.

Chapter guide expansion. · C12 · TEMPORAL STRUCTURE CHAPTER 12 · PAGE 1 WEEK 9 · TIME Time is personal, cultural and historical Memory, orientation and identification organise temporal experience The speed lecture begins with the temporal structure of personal experience and culture.

Past, present and future are not only clock positions: memory incorporates experience, orientation projects action and identification connects a self or culture to a historical account. Technical speed enters an already meaningful temporal field. A faster process may change what can be remembered, anticipated or coordinated.

Temporal registers Register Operation Question Memory Selects and incorporates a past Which records and losses shape the present? Present Organises attention and action How wide is the horizon of relevance? Future Orients expectation and planning Who can make long-term commitments? Historicity Locates a culture in change Which period story becomes authoritative?

Clock time is not social time Schedules measure duration, while institutions decide deadlines, tempo and whose waiting counts. The future can govern now Forecasts and promises allocate investment and sacrifice before the predicted condition exists. Speed matters because it reorganises horizons of memory, action and expectation. TEMPORAL FRAME C12.1 TIME REGISTER AskSia practice Prompt. A workplace shortens planning cycles.

What changes beyond speed? Worked answer. Long-term memory, risk, maintenance and employee orientation may lose institutional weight; investigate whose future narrows. i Deck label conflict The week-nine file and scheduled topic are correct, while the deck’s title slide mistakenly says week eight. This chapter retains the week-nine placement.

· · C12 · ACCELERATION CHAPTER 12 · PAGE 2 THREE ACCELERATIONS Three accelerations produce a time-pressure paradox Technology, social change and pace of life interact technology social change pace of life faster processes scarce time Figure 12.1. A rebuilt clock: technical and social acceleration can intensify the pace of life even when processes take less time.

The lecture distinguishes technological acceleration, acceleration of social change and acceleration of the pace of life. The paradox follows: if technical processes save time, why does time feel scarce? Saved time can be filled by more tasks, faster expectations and shorter cycles of novelty. The three forms reinforce one another without being identical.

Keep the forms separate Acceleration Object Indicator Technological Transport, communication and production processes Reduced task or transmission duration Social change Institutions, roles and norms Shorter periods of stability Pace of life Actions and experiences per unit of time Multitasking, urgency and compressed recovery Efficiency can raise demand When a reply becomes faster, expectations of more frequent replies can consume the saved time.

Scarcity is organised Deadlines, staffing, metrics and competition distribute time pressure. It is not only a feeling produced by devices. PARADOX TIME SAVED PER TASK + more tasks + faster expectations = TIME SCARCITY C12.2 ACCELERATION TYPE AskSia practice Prompt. Software halves report time, but reports double. Which forms appear? Worked answer.

Technical acceleration saves task time; organisational expectation raises pace of life and may accelerate change in reporting norms.

· · C12 · TIME / SPACE CHAPTER 12 · PAGE 3 TIME-SPACE COMPRESSION Time-space compression changes relational distance Faster transport and communication reorganise geography connection point wide distance compressed duration space does not disappear; relations are reorganised Figure 12.2. A rebuilt compression cone: reduced travel or transmission time reorganises distance without making space disappear.

Time-space compression describes how faster transport and communication reduce the duration needed to coordinate across distance. The lecture’s transport-speed series shows “faster means better” becoming common sense. Yet compressed time does not annihilate geography. Routes, hubs and unequal access become more important because they decide whose distance is reduced and whose location becomes peripheral.

Compression audit Question Example Distribution issue What duration shrinks? Message, delivery, commute or capital transfer Whose wait is reduced? Which route enables it? Cable, airport, platform or logistics hub Which places become central? Which cost rises? Energy, labour intensity or infrastructure Who carries the externality? Which space persists? Jurisdiction, border, housing or ecology What

What this chapter covers

• 01

  Three accelerations

• 02

  Time-space compression

• 03

  Timeless time

• 04

  Dromology and refusal

• 05

  Assemblages and futurisms

Delivery countdown

Key terms

Acceleration

Change in process time, social stability or pace of life.

Dromology

Study of speed as a political relation.

Hyperstition

Fiction helping produce its imagined conditions through action.

Speed, Acceleration and Futurisms FAQ

Assessment move

Measure process, expectation, space, time distribution, accident and future narrative; compare positions and intervals.

Working through Speed, Acceleration and Futurisms in MECM90041? Sia is AskSia’s AI Arts and Humanities tutor — ask any MECM90041 Speed, Acceleration and Futurisms question and get a clear, step-by-step explanation grounded in how MECM90041 is taught and assessed. Read this chapter free, then take your hardest questions to Sia.