Talk:Time discipline

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I've added the above notice because the article purports to be global in scope but further on only talks about time in Western societies. — mark ✎ 13:35, 31 May 2005 (UTC)

The base ten number system is a deliberate raping of children's minds.

' ' [Mathematics] is also the language of science--how deep we must go, how far back to reveal the "reason" for damaged life? The tangled skein of unnecessary suffering, the strands of domination, are unavoidably being unreeled, by the pressure of an unrelenting present. ' ' -- John Zerzan, in Number: Its Origin and Evolution GabrielAPetrie

' ' Concerning this "fiction" that upholds and accompanies all the forms of imprisonment, "the world is filled with propaganda alleging its existence," as Bernard Aaronson (1972) put it so well. "All awareness," wrote the poet Denise Levertov (1974), "is an awareness of time," showing just how deeply alienated we are in time. We have become regimented under its empire, as time and alienation continue to deepen their intrusion, their debasement of everyday life. "Does this mean," as David Carr (1988) asks, "that the 'struggle' of existence is to overcome time itself?" It may be that exactly this is the last enemy to be overcome. ' ' -- John Zerzan, in Time and its Discontents GabrielAPetrie

The base ten number system is a deliberate raping of children's minds? Damned straight! I find myself struggling constantly against the vile scourge of creeping decimalism. Any system of units or measures based on ten and only ten is the spirit of Antichrist. -- Smerdis of Tlön 15:17, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

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I couldn't agree more! As the alarm clock and the "social currency" of a disrupted sleep cycle is the rape of the working populace!! Since when is punctuality an acceptable substitute for productivity? Bow down to the time god everyone, suck his shiny boots!

[edit] GPS

I would like to see another paragraph added to address the distribution of electricity. The generation of electricity has to be synchronized to an even greater degree than raildorads and television, or the system doesn't work. There is also the use of a time component in navigation. The GPS system makes use of synchronized clocks, and transmits the time to GPS receivers so the position of the receiver can be accurately calculated. So the use of time governs our power and navigation. It might also be useful to point out that an ocean-going clock that did not rely on a pendulum was what first made it possible to acccurately measure longitude at sea. [Left by anon 216.52.22.7]

Considering that the accurate measurement of longitude at sea predates written history, and by a very definite and wide time-margin the invention of WH Harrison's or any other mechanical clocks, I think your last statement might be false. GabrielAPetrie

You're thinking of latitude. The fact that accurate measurement of longitude was solved by the invention of a clock is a fascinating story; see Longitude prize. —Sean κ. ⇔ 23:43, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

No, I am specifically talking about maps, some of them predating 1500(a.d.) and according to their authors were copied from maps of even older (and lost) sources -- some of which show coastlines that had not yet been explored or discovered -- and which are accurate longitudinally. Either the task of monks aboard ships chanting and counting knots was more accurate on some trips than everyone believes is humanly possible, or else history has lost to us some once-held knowledge of the accurate discernment of longitude. Which do you think is the case? GabrielAPetrie

I would say that I find it hard to believe that ancient cultures had some "lost" knowledge. But if you have sources and provide them, then it'd be interesting to see these longitudinally accurate maps.

Of course, creating maps of coastlines is bound to be easier due to the existence of landmarks---triangulation gives us a way to determine how far west we've gone. The hard problem is when you're at sea and have no landmarks except the stars and planets. Now, it is entirely possible that ancient civilizations had knowledge of astronomy that was lost, but I'll wait and see what the experts say on that. —Sean κ. ⇔ 16:39, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

There's a fairly standard narrative that claims that some maps from late antiquity were reasonably accurate. Having a good longitude check is one way to make a map more accurate the first time, but if old maps are constantly being revised, and checked even by sailors who have nothing but dead reckoning to go by, they will eventually improve. The claim is that these good maps based on navigation charts were discarded in favour of worse ones in reference books; one, on the authority of Ptolemy; two, on the desire of medieval churchmen to put Jerusalem in the centre of the world. -- Smerdis of Tlön 18:17, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

Umm... okay perhaps that's true. But can you tell me how longitude was measured then? Dead reckoning isn't going to help you one bit when you're 1000km out at sea. Did they just have superior astronomy? —Sean κ. ⇔ 18:43, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

Some people find coincidences in longitudinally exact distances between ancient megalithic monument sites around the world, and find connections between the placements of those temples and the drawing of constellations between stars. IF those coincidences occured on purpose, that would suggest that there was some system of determining exact longitudes (and not just coastline-to-coastline but actual location longitudinally around the globe), then that would suggest longitude was measured accurately. If not I nor anyone else can tell you, today, how it was they, back then, managed it, that doesn't mean they didn't manage it. It probably just means we must have gone through some kind of "dark age" or something where information was lost. Considering that some of these old maps featured land masses not currently visible due to their being underneath several miles of long-standing ice but currently detectable due to modern electronic surveying conveniences, I would say that the trend of losing knowledge may have been going on for quite some time. But depending on how you look at it, that is either seen as "quack" psuedoarchaeology or else "enlightened" supressed archeaology. One has an establishment behind it, and one doesn't; I guess it just matters how much of a scientist one is and whether or not one values the academic establishment as truly scientific. GabrielAPetrie 19:00, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

(restarting new series of colons) The superior ancient maps of which I am aware were maps of the Atlantic coastline and the Mediterranean basin. Not sure how long a "km" is, but I suspect that these maps were improved by sailors who never got quite that far out to sea. Smerdis of Tlön 14:01, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

But the issue this conversation is revolving around isn't measuring coastlines, but measuring longitude without a reference point, It might also be useful to point out that an ocean-going clock that did not rely on a pendulum was what first made it possible to acccurately measure longitude at sea. —Sean κ. ⇔ 15:06, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] base 10 number system

I imbrace the base 10 number system, and if it were up to me, would implement metric time. Why would base ten be any worse than any other system? In fact I would go a step further and give a circle (or globe) 1000 degrees instead of 360. It makes no sense not to fully use the base ten number system for everything. I think it's important for everyone to be able to understand things and making it easy for people to understand by utilizing the base 10 system seems to be a good way to start. Any scientist or engineer will tell you why they prefer metric measurement over another system, ease of use. And why shouldn't something so major as time measurement be included? Unless one wants to deceive another or twist facts to thier own advantage. We might as well make writing/language so complicated that only the upper-classes have the time and resources to learn and use it, therefore disempowering the common person.

-time, make it easier

What if you found that the number system behind '360' and '12' and such was based on some ancient religious dogma? Would you be as enthusiastic to scrap it? GabrielAPetrie