Cognitive Scaffold

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MENTAL MODEL · M5251

Time-Space Compression

Time-Space Compression
BusinessHigh supportEconomics
Included
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

In order to accelerate turnover, capitalism continuously eliminates spatial barriers through technology (transportation, communication), leading to an acceleration of time perception and a contraction of space perception. The world becomes smaller, life becomes faster, and anxiety stems from this collapse of physical dimensions.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

The geographical root of modern anxiety. We feel breathless because technology forcibly compresses a journey that originally took a month into a single day. To alleviate anxiety, it is sometimes necessary to artificially "stretch time and space" (such as slow travel, disconnecting from the internet) to restore a natural scale.

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Anchor fast decisions

David Harvey proposed that the acceleration of capitalist development causes space to "shrink" and time to "accelerate," i.e., time-space compression, altering people's experience of time and space and social organization.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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    zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%B6%E7%A9%BA%E5%8E%8B%E7%BC%A9ZH · Explicit
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