The Expanse is the second finger of planetarity: scales of time and space that exceed human perception and also our tools for making meaning. Engineering it, as I put it, means cultivating patience. The Expanse is long and our lives are short.
How the word moved
I named it in October 2025, in the first part of PAPE, after my favourite SF show ever. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old and elections, markets and news cycles squeeze attention into months. Morton's hyperobjects live here. In March 2026 I developed the time half of it as the Planetary Durée.
In my words
"The Expanse is long and our lives are short."
from Bhumics: Planetarity as Philosophical Engineering (PAPE), Part 1, 23 Oct 2025
Related
- Related Five Fingers of Planetarity - It's the second finger.
- Related Planetary Duree - That's the Expanse in time.
- Related Hyperobject - Morton's hyperobjects are things only the Expanse can hold.