The Tyranny Of Time
November 26, 2022 9:42 AM Subscribe
Every day, tens of thousands of people line up outside the Temple of Time where the Great Clock resides, waiting their turn to enter and bow before it. “They stand quietly, but secretly they seethe with their anger. For they must watch measured that which should not be measured. They must watch the precise passage of minutes and decades. They have been trapped by their own inventiveness and audacity. And they must pay with their lives.” from Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman.
"The clock is a useful social tool, but it is also deeply political. It benefits some, marginalizes others and blinds us from a true understanding of our own bodies and the world around us." Joe Zadeh writes a compelling essay in Noema magazine about the origin and meaning of globally standardized clock time.
I have in the past argued that slavish devotion to wall clock time is silly, and I stand by that. However, at this very moment it is that devotion to wall clock time that is making it possible to coordinate activities that eventually result in me getting money, which I require to live. Thus, it is hard for me to be an absolutist on the topic.
posted by wierdo at 10:44 AM on November 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by wierdo at 10:44 AM on November 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
I still want that Japanese clock that measures time based on the world around us.
posted by aniola at 11:49 AM on November 26, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by aniola at 11:49 AM on November 26, 2022 [5 favorites]
Well, not having a unified and coherent timeframe sure would make air travel a lot more complex. The internet would also be much more difficult to construct. And forget about such things as imaging black holes.
And while tightly scheduling your meals instead of eating when you are hungry is a bit rigid, there have been busy times where I looked at the clock and I think that I should eat because it is getting late for lunch|dinner. And sure enough, I was really quite hungry but hadn't noticed it.
posted by coberh at 2:06 PM on November 26, 2022 [5 favorites]
And while tightly scheduling your meals instead of eating when you are hungry is a bit rigid, there have been busy times where I looked at the clock and I think that I should eat because it is getting late for lunch|dinner. And sure enough, I was really quite hungry but hadn't noticed it.
posted by coberh at 2:06 PM on November 26, 2022 [5 favorites]
The real measurements of time on our planet are the perceived motions and changes of the sun and moon combined with the cycle of the seasons. Those three give the notions of days, months and years. All else is just humans being humans...
posted by jim in austin at 2:08 PM on November 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by jim in austin at 2:08 PM on November 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
I spent the summer mostly working on two vegetable farms; one small grant-supported one and a larger (still minuscule by national standards) one that supports half a dozen people by selling food. At the first one I could just show up whenever and leave whenever for almost every task. Work could be scheduled to the day (by weather) but not the hour.
Even for the same tasks at the larger farm, we showed up in shifts on time, because it got so much more work done. Just digging roots, filling bins, getting them onto the tractor and into the cooler needs to be coordinated across jobs (especially the tractor). Laying out and gathering in irrigation, definitely a group task. And since we don’t all live in shout distance of the fields, we used clock time.
posted by clew at 2:41 PM on November 26, 2022 [4 favorites]
Even for the same tasks at the larger farm, we showed up in shifts on time, because it got so much more work done. Just digging roots, filling bins, getting them onto the tractor and into the cooler needs to be coordinated across jobs (especially the tractor). Laying out and gathering in irrigation, definitely a group task. And since we don’t all live in shout distance of the fields, we used clock time.
posted by clew at 2:41 PM on November 26, 2022 [4 favorites]
*attempts to bomb observatory due to frustration with clock time*
*is killed because fuse goes off too early*
Besides the obvious coordination benefits, having a formalized clock time is an invaluable child-rearing tool. Being able to set a fixed schedule, and to point to a clock and say "look, it's bedtime", is just so important for dealing with small children.
Also, you can change the clock when they're not looking.
posted by phooky at 4:33 PM on November 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
*is killed because fuse goes off too early*
Besides the obvious coordination benefits, having a formalized clock time is an invaluable child-rearing tool. Being able to set a fixed schedule, and to point to a clock and say "look, it's bedtime", is just so important for dealing with small children.
Also, you can change the clock when they're not looking.
posted by phooky at 4:33 PM on November 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the sudden extinction of species that have lived on Earth for millions of years, the rapid spread of viruses, the pollution of our soil and water — the true impact of all of this is beyond our realm of understanding because of our devotion to a scale of time and activity relevant to nothing except humans.
I don't think this is a problem of how we monitor or create seconds, days, and years. Instead it has to do with our difficulty in imagining large scales, plus modern capitalism's focus on the very short term (quarters for business, immediacy for media).
posted by doctornemo at 5:10 PM on November 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
I don't think this is a problem of how we monitor or create seconds, days, and years. Instead it has to do with our difficulty in imagining large scales, plus modern capitalism's focus on the very short term (quarters for business, immediacy for media).
posted by doctornemo at 5:10 PM on November 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I don't really buy the "tyranny of time" angle; the concept of clock time is value-neutral, it's the way in which it's used by various social structures that privileges or oppresses various people.
But with that out of the way, there are things about clocks that annoy me.
Generally speaking, I prefer analog clocks to digital ones, but I also think 24-hour time makes fundamentally more sense than 12-hour + AM/PM time. It's unfortunate that the combination is rather rare. (I'm aware that 24-hour analog clocks do exist, but they're like hen's teeth.) But being able to visualize the entire day as a circle just seems like a better mental model.
If I had a lot of disposable money (or DIY time) and was going to design a bespoke clock for myself, it would have a 24-hour dial (with the minute hand still revolving once every hour), but then have a slowly-revolving background with shutters that moved over the course of the year, to show sunrise and sunset (and between them, nighttime) as a portion of the entire day. Because that's really what we should be driving our schedules from: the day/night cycle. Having that a part of the standard clock face might discourage people from planning activities at wholly inappropriate times, as well.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:28 PM on November 26, 2022
But with that out of the way, there are things about clocks that annoy me.
Generally speaking, I prefer analog clocks to digital ones, but I also think 24-hour time makes fundamentally more sense than 12-hour + AM/PM time. It's unfortunate that the combination is rather rare. (I'm aware that 24-hour analog clocks do exist, but they're like hen's teeth.) But being able to visualize the entire day as a circle just seems like a better mental model.
If I had a lot of disposable money (or DIY time) and was going to design a bespoke clock for myself, it would have a 24-hour dial (with the minute hand still revolving once every hour), but then have a slowly-revolving background with shutters that moved over the course of the year, to show sunrise and sunset (and between them, nighttime) as a portion of the entire day. Because that's really what we should be driving our schedules from: the day/night cycle. Having that a part of the standard clock face might discourage people from planning activities at wholly inappropriate times, as well.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:28 PM on November 26, 2022
then have a slowly-revolving background with shutters that moved over the course of the year, to show sunrise and sunset
The Solar face on Apple’s watch is basically this. It makes it clear just how much or, for this time of year at 45° north, how little sunlight is left in the day.
posted by nathan_teske at 9:13 PM on November 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
The Solar face on Apple’s watch is basically this. It makes it clear just how much or, for this time of year at 45° north, how little sunlight is left in the day.
posted by nathan_teske at 9:13 PM on November 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
Do you want trains crashing into each other? Because this is how you get trains crashing into each other!
posted by Naberius at 10:51 PM on November 26, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Naberius at 10:51 PM on November 26, 2022 [5 favorites]
There’s an amazing JG Ballard story, “Chronopolis” about a world that thinks time is tyrannical.
posted by johngoren at 12:28 AM on November 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by johngoren at 12:28 AM on November 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
I was just thinking about that story! It’s fairly early Ballard, I believe, and a little silly really, but a fun read.
posted by adrianhon at 2:27 AM on November 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by adrianhon at 2:27 AM on November 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
II enjoyed this post and don’t think it is a bad thing to realize that time as we measure it is invented. I also found it ironic that the dude trying to strike a blow against a certain timekeeping was foiled by mistiming a chemical reaction. I absolutely need timekeeping to help bind me to reality and society, but I don’t always like it.
For all the peevishness around TFA lashing timekeeping to capitalism (maybe industry in the abstract sense would have been better) - you can’t tell me you’ve never experienced the satisfaction of ignoring clocks as a sign the day was truly yours.
I liked learning about Bristol and the Uighurs and not to USian this but I don’t think I’d survive in South Bend, IN, straddling time zones.
posted by drowsy at 2:34 AM on November 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
For all the peevishness around TFA lashing timekeeping to capitalism (maybe industry in the abstract sense would have been better) - you can’t tell me you’ve never experienced the satisfaction of ignoring clocks as a sign the day was truly yours.
I liked learning about Bristol and the Uighurs and not to USian this but I don’t think I’d survive in South Bend, IN, straddling time zones.
posted by drowsy at 2:34 AM on November 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
and a little silly really
Yeah it does kind of have that stock Fahrenheit 451 / 1984 thing to the plot, (SPOILERS) “oh my god it turns out the guy who persecutes clock owners actually loves to collect time pieces” if I remember right. So I could imagine JG getting bored with that stuff and wanting to move on to work closer to “Why I Want To F Ronald Reagan.” But I loved it and it has some images that stick in my mind of an ultra time-focused, worker-scheduling city.
posted by johngoren at 2:43 AM on November 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
Yeah it does kind of have that stock Fahrenheit 451 / 1984 thing to the plot, (SPOILERS) “oh my god it turns out the guy who persecutes clock owners actually loves to collect time pieces” if I remember right. So I could imagine JG getting bored with that stuff and wanting to move on to work closer to “Why I Want To F Ronald Reagan.” But I loved it and it has some images that stick in my mind of an ultra time-focused, worker-scheduling city.
posted by johngoren at 2:43 AM on November 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
None of this is true. The Earth is not a perfect sphere with perfect movement; it’s a lumpy round mass that is squashed at both poles and wobbles. It does not rotate in exactly 24 hours each day or orbit the sun in exactly 365 days each year. It just kinda does. Perfection is a manmade concept; nature is irregular.
This is precisely backward. Nature is perfect, administering the forces and their effects in perfect equanimity, precisely allotted through space and time, remembering everything. It is because of this, because not a single tremble or sigh goes unnoticed, because everything matters, that the Earth is lumpy, and wobbly, and squashed at the poles. On the other hand, humankind is forgetful and myopic, which is why we have to make do with gross simplifications and imperfect approximations. It's the imperfection that's manmade.
posted by dmh at 3:31 AM on November 27, 2022 [7 favorites]
This is precisely backward. Nature is perfect, administering the forces and their effects in perfect equanimity, precisely allotted through space and time, remembering everything. It is because of this, because not a single tremble or sigh goes unnoticed, because everything matters, that the Earth is lumpy, and wobbly, and squashed at the poles. On the other hand, humankind is forgetful and myopic, which is why we have to make do with gross simplifications and imperfect approximations. It's the imperfection that's manmade.
posted by dmh at 3:31 AM on November 27, 2022 [7 favorites]
Over the long term, tidal friction is slowing Earth's rotation down and lengthening our days, but recently — extremely recently in terms of geological time — that trend has reversed itself
Earth’s Fluctuating Spinposted by jamjam at 6:34 AM on November 27, 2022
Earth spins once every 24 hours with respect to the Sun—this is why the Sun appears to rise and set every day.
In general, over long periods, Earth’s spin is slowing. Every century, Earth takes a couple of milliseconds or so longer to complete one rotation (where 1 millisecond equals 0.001 seconds).
Within this general pattern, however, the speed of Earth’s spin fluctuates. From one day to the next, the time Earth takes to complete one rotation goes up or down by a fraction of a millisecond.
Length of Day
Scientists who study Earth’s rotation use the term ‘length of day’ to talk about how slow or fast Earth is spinning.
The length of day is the difference between the time it takes Earth to rotate once on its axis, and 86,400 seconds (which is 24 hours).
When the length of day is rising, it means Earth is spinning more slowly. When it is decreasing and becomes a negative number, Earth is spinning more quickly.
Earth in a Hurry
In recent years, Earth has been speeding up. In 2020, timeanddate reported that Earth had achieved its 28 shortest days since accurate daily measurements using atomic clocks began in the 1960s.
The shortest day of all in 2020 was -1.47 milliseconds on July 19.
Earth continued to spin quickly in 2021, although the shortest day of the year in 2021 was fractionally longer than in 2020.
Now, in 2022, things have speeded up again. On June 29, Earth set a new record for the shortest day of the atomic-clock era: -1.59 milliseconds.
Earth nearly beat its record again the following month, posting a length of day of -1.50 milliseconds on July 26.
aniola: I still want that Japanese clock that measures time based on the world around us
went down a rabbit hole reading about that watchmaker...
I found this which looks to be a web app implementing something along the lines. and there's phone apps too if you search on the app stores for "和時計" (wadokei) altho I don't know if they'll serve your purposes
posted by okonomichiyaki at 12:27 PM on November 27, 2022
went down a rabbit hole reading about that watchmaker...
I found this which looks to be a web app implementing something along the lines. and there's phone apps too if you search on the app stores for "和時計" (wadokei) altho I don't know if they'll serve your purposes
posted by okonomichiyaki at 12:27 PM on November 27, 2022
this essay smacks of libertarian railing against things
It really does, in that the author is complaining about something that gives society a general framework that allows us to interact, build upon, and create community. Like any kind of consensus based organization, it requires compromise and participation, which seem to be things the author doesn't feel they should have to do.
There's something about libertarians that always makes me want to respond in the way we're supposed to traditionally respond to the wicked son in the seder. When a libertarian says "why should *I* be bound by these mutually beneficial agreements that create a society?" all I hear is "Why is this important to *you*?"
posted by Ghidorah at 7:30 PM on November 27, 2022
It really does, in that the author is complaining about something that gives society a general framework that allows us to interact, build upon, and create community. Like any kind of consensus based organization, it requires compromise and participation, which seem to be things the author doesn't feel they should have to do.
There's something about libertarians that always makes me want to respond in the way we're supposed to traditionally respond to the wicked son in the seder. When a libertarian says "why should *I* be bound by these mutually beneficial agreements that create a society?" all I hear is "Why is this important to *you*?"
posted by Ghidorah at 7:30 PM on November 27, 2022
I found out tonight that one of the servers I manage has a disk in it with over 97000 hours on it. I choose to believe that it has somehow actually been inhabiting a part of the universe where time runs about twice as fast as it does here on Earth and not that it has been in service for almost ten years.
posted by wierdo at 2:37 AM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by wierdo at 2:37 AM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
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All of these things can be, and often are, used to marginalize and oppress people beyond their stated purpose. Like any social construct, it is a tool that can be misused.
I find this essay fairly lazy and facile, accusing the hammer of tyranny when the blame lies in who wields it against your skull.
Time is useful, and coordinated time is useful because we live in a society of people, not because it's a convenient tool for the oppression of the masses. Objecting to a common time and common timekeeping is as much a fantasy as objecting to having to respect the boundaries of people around you. It's like those fantasies of a pre-agricultural life that never actually existed.
posted by tclark at 10:33 AM on November 26, 2022 [21 favorites]