Being spread out

Shared externality (Copenhagen)

Shared externality, physical and cultural and commercial impingements)

Place norms and expectations should not be treated as if they were self-enclosed sets of rules existing in some Platonic heaven. Place grammars exist spread out in space and time, and cannot fully dominate their medium.

To be spread out is to be out in a shared medium. That exteriority spreads through the place, and through its language and practices. Having this outside is not one of the contrastive features in the grammar of a place; it is a condition for there to be any grammar. That exteriority is neither created nor dominated by the norms of the place.

To be spread out is to have blind sides and to be among meanings and possibilities that are beyond control. Spread out in space, time, and language, the norms and the place can be approached from unexpected angles; they can be encompassed, quoted, re-segmented. In both space and time, to be spread out makes repetition necessary for a place's survival.

• [Nearby: Gateway -- Room to maneuver -- Self-comprehension without pure access ]