"Spotism" A Weird Concept I Cannot Stop Thinking About (college, thoughts)

[g500]

Hello everyone, I am a geography nerd and really interested in different places of the world. There is this concept that I cannot stop thinking about: I call it "Spotism". I am fascinated with the idea that various places of the world (and I really mean specific points) are all existing right now, at the same time. The entire earth, and all its specific points exist right now (obviously, at different times of day of course). So, right now there is a specific spot off of a deserted highway in Tajikistan, a small park in Minneapolis, and a beach near Surabaya, Indonesia, (all I chose at random) and they all exist right now. Something is probably happening in those places too. Isn't it weird that I could go pile-up a bunch of rocks in the middle of the forest and they might remain untouched/unseen for hundreds if not thousands of years from now?

Can anyone help identify what this concept/slight fascination is (I came up with "spotism", but Idk if there is something else it might be called)?

I think this concept also fascinates me historically too, like "this exact spot existed in 1989 / 1070 BC / 15,000 years ago, etc." Isn't it weird that you can stand where historical figures once stood?

Any thoughts/opinions appreciated! If you think this idea is crazy or stupid, please also feel free to say so, I do not get offended!

Edit: isn't it weird that certain spots on earth are very important now or historically to humans and human society (Times Square, the Oval Office, The Kremlin, The Eiffel Tower, the Kaaba, The Great Pyramids, and yet some are completely ignored or unimportant (i.e. the middle of a forest only a few hundred yards from my house near Harrisburg, PA where I am typing this)?

[JustMike77]

I get these same feeling while traveling in Europe, perhaps because it's so much older and more history has happened there.

[ClaraC]

I think I know the feeling you're describing. I call it time flattening. Old cemeteries feel like that for me, especially if they're kind of neglected and all you can hear are birds and insects, like you would have heard 100 years ago. Just standing there before tombstones, I can imagine I'm feeling the mourners who were there when the person was buried, as if it was going on now.

There's a rocky riverbed I like to visit, and I'm guessing how very many people sat right where I'm sitting, years and years and centuries ago. And it probably still looks largely the same. Different trees, maybe.

Like this. This photographer has superimposed her current image into images of herself as a child. There's time flattening - as if the adult and child exist together at one time.

https://mymodernmet.com/chino-otsuka...ne-finding-me/

[E-Twist]

I think that about many places or things but have never felt the need to have a name for it. Let's say you have an old house. Someone was walking around in it before you. Maybe they died there. And after you are gone, someone may be eating dinner in the same spot, looking out the same window at the same view. Probably at a different table. Lol.

[Sassybluesy]

Originally Posted by g500

Hello everyone, I am a geography nerd and really interested in different places of the world. There is this concept that I cannot stop thinking about: I call it "Spotism". I am fascinated with the idea that various places of the world (and I really mean specific points) are all existing right now, at the same time. The entire earth, and all its specific points exist right now (obviously, at different times of day of course). So, right now there is a specific spot off of a deserted highway in Tajikistan, a small park in Minneapolis, and a beach near Surabaya, Indonesia, (all I chose at random) and they all exist right now. Something is probably happening in those places too. Isn't it weird that I could go pile-up a bunch of rocks in the middle of the forest and they might remain untouched/unseen for hundreds if not thousands of years from now?

Can anyone help identify what this concept/slight fascination is (I came up with "spotism", but Idk if there is something else it might be called)?

I think this concept also fascinates me historically too, like "this exact spot existed in 1989 / 1070 BC / 15,000 years ago, etc." Isn't it weird that you can stand where historical figures once stood?

Any thoughts/opinions appreciated! If you think this idea is crazy or stupid, please also feel free to say so, I do not get offended!

Edit: isn't it weird that certain spots on earth are very important now or historically to humans and human society (Times Square, the Oval Office, The Kremlin, The Eiffel Tower, the Kaaba, The Great Pyramids, and yet some are completely ignored or unimportant (i.e. the middle of a forest only a few hundred yards from my house near Harrisburg, PA where I am typing this)?

I can relate I think.


I used to work at a place that faced a very busy highway. Sometimes I'd get stressed and go take a break, and I'd watch cars speeding by, and I'd think "all those individuals have places to go. If they see me, they have no idea the stress I'm dealing with, or know that I'll probably be staying for overtime, or know that my ex is late with the child support check. And I don't know what the occupant of THAT car is dealing with, or if they're happy or not.


Or...one time our family and my paternal grandmother were looking up family landmarks. One of the landmarks was the foundation to an Indian school. At the time, I was maybe 13, and was minimally interested.


Later as I got older, and got into genealogy, I came across pictures that my grandma had of an Indian School many of her aunts uncles and cousins attended. Now, I'm guessing that old foundation we went to look at was the foundation of the school I saw in the picture. And it messes with my head kind of...not really in a bad way, that that old foundation was part of many of my ancestor's lives.

[g500]

Thanks everyone for the interesting responses! Another point I'd like to make is that, many specific spots exist in countries that are extremely restrictive or isolated. But, no matter how isolated, restrictive, or backwards they may be, these are still places that really do exist, right now, this instant. There is a large farm in North Korea, a pile of trash (maybe an abandoned car) along the roadway in Chad, a small tiki hut for a family located deep in the jungle of Ethiopia, and there's an old wooden house missing its siding and slightly overgrown in rural Belarus, etc... It's just WEIRD to me that these places all co-exist on this planet simultaneously. Almost like you could login and view these places at any time. Even though they might not be important, famous, or appreciated, they still do exist. No matter how isolated a specific place physically is, or tries to be (politically, psychologically), it still exists just like everywhere else does.

Edit: so I guess my point is, why do we humans assign such value to certain specific places? I mean, for all intent and purposes, I could say that a certain bench in a nearby park (walkable from my house) is an important and valuable place, and I could visit it regularly. Even though Times Square is obviously more famous than my special bench in a park, is it any "better"? Idk I feel like this is about as deep as the thought exercise goes, I am probably getting too deep here at this point. Maybe this makes no sense and is honestly stupid. But, I'd still really like to know if there is another term for this though. Time Flattening is an interesting concept. I still feel like "spotism" is the best term thus far... appreciate the responses thus far everyone!

[Sassybluesy]

Reminds me of something else. When I was 18 or 19 years old, a neighbor asked if I would watch her elderly mother for 2 or 3 hours. I think maybe her mother was in her 90's at the time. The neighbor just wanted me to be around in case she needed to use the restroom, or got hungry...things like that.


At one point, this elderly lady got out of her chair, went over to the picture window, and got all happy because papa was pulling up in the wagon, and he was home! She was very happy.


Of course...to my eyes, papa didn't pull up in a wagon, and there were no horses, and no tree to tie the horses to. But SHE saw that. It was REAL to her.


And she saw that once, long long before that moment when I stood at the window with her, and pretended to see what she saw.

[Gohangr]

I don't really get why you call it spotism. This is typical travelling and thinking of the past :P
But yeah i've also been in that position.

[Murk]

This concept makes me think of "sonder" -- the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own, except it's focused on places instead of people.

[K12144]

Originally Posted by E-Twist

I think that about many places or things but have never felt the need to have a name for it. Let's say you have an old house. Someone was walking around in it before you. Maybe they died there. And after you are gone, someone may be eating dinner in the same spot, looking out the same window at the same view. Probably at a different table. Lol.

Sure. It's something you think about a lot when you live in an apartment, I suppose. Some people probably aren't able to compartmentalize and drive themselves nuts thinking it's not really "their" space because so many people have been in it before and will be after.

You could do the same thing with experiences-- here you are cooking dinner/disciplining your child/getting married/buying college textbooks, just like so many people before and around you.

Then there are places you remember as being a certain way, that have changed. And that's an odd feeling, too, especially if they were a certain way for a long, long time.