Karl Marx, writing in the Grundrisse in 1857, anticipated how the contradictions of capital could spur on the “annihilation of space by time.” He wrote, “While capital … must strive to tear down every barrier … to exchange and conquer the whole earth for its markets, it strives on the other side to annihilate this space with time.” Certainly, advertising has done its best to equate gains in speed with general notions of progress—how often have ads referred to gaining time by using a particular product? In a world seemingly packed to capacity with things to do and places to be, the technology of speed promises to deliver us to a better place.

Breaking speed-barriers is not a new obsession. Speed of movement not only signals our capacity for overcoming the fixity of geographical distance (space), it also has come to suggest the possibility for increased flexibility, efficiency, and productivity. Since its inception, capitalism has measured value in terms of time inputs since the amount of labor required to produce a commodity could most easily be measured in units of time. So it stands to reason that our “common-sense” understanding of technologies of speed connote a future liberation from material scarcity. In contemporary society, where time itself has become perceived as a scarce resource, appeals to instantaneity and immediacy are seductive. Has speed annihilated spatial distance? Paul Virilio writes that one of the most revolutionary transformations occurring today “is the invention of a perspective of real time.”

Which of the following inferences about Marx’s opinions of capital are supported by the passage?

A. Marx, more than any other philosopher, was critical of capitalism’s destructive nature.
B. Marx was critical about the means by which capitalism accomplished its ends.
C. Marx believed that capitalism should be discarded and replaced with a more equitable economic framework.



In the eighth sentence (“So it stands … scarcity”), the author of the passage is most likely suggesting that+

A. speed will be more valuable than material wealth in the future
B. scholarship focused on technology will pay more attention to the speed advantages such technology produces than to the technology itself
C. material wealth, not speed, is the most important aspect of capital
D. the current understanding of speed implies that someday speed will help offset the lack of materials
E. the focus of many advertisements on speed is deceptive