The death of time, as a poetic and philosophical expression of the superseding of an epoch by another one, is itself a recurring theme which historians have called epochal consciousness.23 To conceptualize this here means seeking to capture time by means of concepts: The concept lives on time. Its work consists in capturing the problem of development, fixing and shaping it.'24 But neither the consciousness of change, nor capturing it by means of concepts, escapes the basic experience of repetition and of irreversible change, to which all aspects of time return. The repetitions which this epoch has set itself are those which stem from the production of what is always new – it is the process of innovation, which is accelerated with the aid of science and technology. But through the repetition aid of science and technology. But through the repetition which lies in the creation of what is new, the irreversible changes arise. The artificially created time of the laboratory, where under experimentally designed conditions nature is kept temporally present, leaves the laboratory, embodied in information technologies. This is also an irreversible process. It leaves options open – this is also the fundamental characteristic of the social constitution of time. The original myth of Cronos, as historians and anthropologists explain it, is in reality a creation myth. What is created is a concept of time, which in turn itself bears the historically social features of the society creating it.25 The portrayal of the same myth at another time, and with other means of artistic expression, reflects at least as much very personal fears and ideas for overcoming them. Cronos's fear of the new age is understandable in view of what was then approaching in the way of acceleration and institutionalized willingness for constant, even though ‘creative' destruction. The new age has kept on incessantly spewing forth its children ever since: the triumphal entry of laboratory time into society is one of its last up to now. The culture of science and technology dominant today finds other prerequisites and limitations in dealing with this, but it can look back on all previous experiences at the same time. Cronos does not have to devour his children a second time. But will the myth of creative destruction through innovation be sufficient to prevent it?
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Cronos's Fear of the New Age