Spacetime

Class as the ‘final analysis’ of international affairs is also the result of a methodical and scientific approach towards the analysis and understanding of international affairs, given that what we are left with as a result of the deduction to class as a final analysis is actually the concept or principle of relativity which had been developed and made famous by the legendary Albert Einstein in the 20th century. There is also traditional philosophy and the traditional weltanschauung on one hand, and modern philosophy and the modern weltanschauung on the other hand, as well as the issue of who espouses one or the other philosophy and weltanschauung. Moreover, there are limits to an ontological argument and explanation of everything, given that we cannot know the essence of things, and on the other hand, a quantum explanation of everything is also impossible given that the two basic pillars of quantum theory (uncertainty and duality) renders both quantum behavior and quantum properties unexplainable and in turn renders quantum theory as a limited explanation or theory for the totality of natural and physical phenomena.

And what relativity or the principle of relativity dictates is that all actions and motions are relative actions and motions, hence the term ‘relativity.’ Space is actually a “continuum” rather than a Euclidean geometrical shape, as Einstein argued, in which the sum of all relative actions and motions occur and take place. Relativity also dictates that space and time form an ‘interwoven fabric’ and as a result, space and time are not independent and separate entities as classical or Newtonian physics had suggested. Space and time are also an illusion, given that space is infinite and that one single point in time can be present, past, and future. 

In turn, we have to view both space and time as ‘spacetime’ given that both space and time together form an interwoven fabric of sorts. ‘Spacetime’ is thus a continuum, given that spacetime is an interwoven fabric which consists of space as a continuum rather than a fixed Euclidean geometrical shape on one hand and time as an illusionary entity which does not distinguish between past, present, and future and which enables the past to affect the present and the present to affect the future and the future to affect both the past and present on the other hand. 

As Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote: “Time and space shape our perception of reality. The specific moment and the particular setting dictate the way international estimates and priorities are defined.” Brzezinski added: “Sometimes, when the moment is historically ‘ripe,’ the setting and the time may coalesce to provide a special insight.” Also in terms of space and time and their overall impact on international affairs, Brzezinski wrote: “Time and space have become so compressed that global politics manifest a tendency toward larger, more interwoven forms of cooperation as well as toward the dissolution of established institutional and ideological loyalties. Humanity is becoming more integral and intimate even as the differences in the condition of the separate societies are widening.” But there is also a downside to greater integration and intimacy or intimation between peoples as a result of the broader and fundamental changes in both space and time, for as Brzezinski wrote: “Under these circumstances proximity, instead of promoting unity, gives rise to tensions prompted by a new sense of global congestion.”

In a sense, our final analysis of international affairs gives way to the realization that our basic perception of space and time can affect not only our own analysis of international affairs, but our basic perception of space and time can have a direct impact on both the conditions of international affairs and the state of international affairs, as implied and suggested by what we have just expressed and stated.