In the absence of space itself a subspace will expand to fill the
void. A typographic proof:
On this day 62 years ago (Hamle 25, 1934 EC) the Addis Zemen newspaper
(Ethiopia's government run national paper) would use the Ethiopic word
space for the last time (Vol 2. No. 13). In the next issue a week
later (Nahasse 2, 1934) the word space was gone from articles and in
its place were the blank spaces in use today -save for the paper's
title which still retains it.
No explanation was offered for the change in the paper itself, I've
never managed to uncover an explanation for it. Was it merely
a stylistic change perhaps brought on by a new editor, an economic
move to conserve ink perhaps brought on by World War II, or other
forces of modernization? We may never know.
Certainly Ethiopic word space would live on in any number of
publications after this period and is still the norm in handwriting.
But this change in practice by the nation's leading periodical for me
has marked a typographic turning point for the character as it entered
into the modern era of mass publishing. No doubt the move by Addis
Zemen helped popularize the new convention, made it publicaly
acceptable and influenced later publishers to follow suite.
Take time if you will today to reflect on the absence of space in your
world today, on this the anniversary of its passing.