ok, on earth, we have a pretty good system of time. seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, decades, centuries.... and all that is important. but what do you think it would be like to live in an environment where time isn't so tidy? as in we have planets around us that take several years to just make 1 trip around the sun. or what if a day is like 10 years? Or as my dad asked after learning on The History Channel that there are hurricanes the size of the earth and last almost 400 years, "what kind of life can you have to be born, die and your great grandkids get old during the same storm?" I suppose The Weather Channel would be almost pointless, FTW. i just can't fathom the impact time would have on a person in worlds like that. are there perks in that? i suppose you could FORCE our time in that, but would ya wanna think like that? i am just curious what you think about how important time can be, depending upon the space... and this isn't an emopost
Well time as you discribed it is a man-made thing anyway. IMO time only exsists when you talk about how long the universe has been around, not small little things like seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries.....ETC.
What's funny is that I was thinking this EXACT thing yesterday but decided to go to bed instead of post it. My main thought was for any potential colonists for Mars or the Moon. On Mars the day wouldn't be that different as one revolution only takes about 40min longer than it takes Earth. But that gets more complicated when you start looking at the Martian year of 687 Earth days. So if you were born on Mars would you still adhere to Earth time for your age? Or would you use Martian years? Or would you use both? You'd be nearly two Earth years or one Martian year old after 687 Earth days. It's an interesting thing to think about. The only thing I can think of is an adoption of two calendars. A Universal calendar based on Earth time could be used on the interplanetary communication/travel level. But for day to day life a local calendar would be adopted tailored to how long a day and a year is on a particular planet.
Once colonies start happening, they'll probably do just that, make a universal calendar as a point of common reference (Metric Time, anyone?), and have individual calendars for each planet. There might also be a need for a separate form of time measurement for space itself, where it would be difficult to measure days and years from the perspective of planetary cycles. I imagine, at first, time would still be measured in seconds, hours, etc. but days and years would differ from planet to planet. Of course, down the road, measurement systems on that planet could change to suit its inhabitants, as measurement systems have done in the past (we don't really use leagues, fortnights, or fathoms anymore, do we?). I figure since it would be pretty easy to synch up clocks using a computer program, it would end up being no more inconvenient than having one person on earth using the gregorian calendar, and another using a lunar calendar. The average person would probably perceive and reckon time in the same rough manner, and simply semgent and name it differently. "How long until the next shuttle?" "About a glip." "What's a glip?" "2 thirds of a terran hour. You know, like how long a broadcast by our glorious and fearsome imperial leaders is, without commercials." "Oh, okay, half a bren." What interests me, however, is closer to what the OP said. How would human activity and behavior react to a different cycle? We're pretty in tune with the time of our planet, in terms of custom and even biological function, so would we try and stay with earth rhythms, or would we (or could we) adapt to the time schedule on another planet. For example. On Earth: 1 day = 24 hours = 1/3 (8 hours) work, 1/3 personal time, 1/3 sleep On some other planet: 1 day = 72 hours = 8 hours work, 2 hour personal time, 8 hours sleep, 8 hours personal time, 2 hours work, 8 hours sleep, repeat that cycle twice in a given day. Its an interesting question. People living in the arctic have shown that extended periods of daylight or darkness can mess with people's health and state of mind. How much of how the human body works is simply to fit in with its environment, and how much is actually hardwired into it biologically.
Wait. Time is a construct of man. Surely where you are is irrelevant, a second is still a second. We have made a day 24 hours and a year 365 days. Who cares where you're at, it's all the same.
time is dictated by what ever position you are in, in space, Our star is our center point, and everything is measured from there. I would assume, that if we ever started getting to other planets, and other solar systems, you would have to create a larger focal point in space, which would be the center of our galaxy, and go from there giving each planet it's own time system, and then a larger time system on top of that to keep any kind of order, end run on sentence. But even then, it all depends exactly where you are in space that determines what time it is. Even where I am right now, is not the same time, as it is in L.A. and while im up eating breakfast, you are in bed sleeping still.
Time is not a construct of man. I.E. Measure of Current, Amperes Measure of Force, Newton (change of momentum) Measure of Speed The measure of time is a construct of man. For example. Think the number 10. 10 is 1 unit of a decimal, but in another sense 10 is 2 units of binary, but in count it is 1010. Seconds is the basic unit of time. We evolved to our planet. (More Scientific, but also not ruling out religion beliefs ) If we did live in such environment where it didn't take 365 days 6 hours to revolve around a star (sun) or 24 hours (+/- x minutes) to rotate on our planet's axis, We will adapt or die to such environment. The point is like any living thing, if you cannot adapt, you will die. And don't dwell on it.
Fixed. Time is a concept, not a physical thing that we made. Technically, there is only the now, and things move in the now. We measure this movement as time. There is no past, it's not somewhere you can go. Without humans or other intelligent beings there would be no concept of time, only velocity, mass, space, etc. yeah, I take Philosophy.
Time is a concept, a dimension that corresponds with what we know as space. Einstein shows in his theory of General Relativity, that the faster we go through space towards the speed of light, time slows down, so what might seem like a 6 year trip to Sirius for the astronauts would be several decades to us on earth. Time is relative to space, and without space there would be no time, without time there would be no space. Everything is born, ages, and dies, from the smallest quark to the universe itself. Even our sun is just a small flaming spark in the large picture of it all. We are a grain of sand(you, me, the human race) on a grain of sand(the earth) in the suburbs of a grain of sand(the Milky Way) in the suburbs of a grain of sand(the Local Group) in the suburbs of a grain of sand(the Universe) that is probably a quark particle in a molecule in a grain of sand and so on.
8 hour workdays? I want your job! Seriously, that is an interesting point, especially your last paragraph. Last night on the History Channel the episode of "the Universe" was about alien life on other planets with differing weather and cyclical patterns. Beyond time and length of units of measure, you have to consider such things as humans adapting (or unable to adapt) to variables such as temperature, weather, and gravitational pull.
Serious ??? This is what you guys worry about ??? I am telling you this from the bottom of my heart. You will all be LONG DEAD before you have to EVER worry about time on another planet. Planetary colonization in our life times is a pipe dream.
So you are basing your facts off a theory? So a group of electrical charges going into a wire is traveling a speed rate faster than the speed of light. (Current) Read the definition of amperes. Time happens what ever happens on earth now will occur a the same time of some event occurring in space. If that 6yr trip to space is true, then the probe sent to Pluto will take a week in it's time. In that case why the probe isn't running out of some car battery? Since time is different in space. The current driven from it's power supply would be different too. Right? The radio waves wouldn't adhere to the c=f*wavelength equation. Therefore, it will be hypocritical because c on Earth, wouldn't be c in space, making c not a constant. Everything in the universe is on the same 3-dimension plane. Time here is no different anywhere else. The thing you have to know, is do our instruments have the same behavior based on location. That's why datasheets exist.
the point i am making is how does man adapt to a world where the cycles and rhythms are so out of tune with earth. on a planet where a a day is six month's worth of earth days....dawn comes (for example) on Jan. 4th, noon is May 23rd, sunset is like August 30th... if that is a day, what pressures would a year put on a man mentally? could we adapt to that. it would make for interesting diaries. "Mom said i was born today....and i am elderly before the year's end." those kinds of concepts. On a planet with a certain cycle, your life can be measured in weeks. like: Oh, he was three weeks old here. wow. he was ancient. yeah, i am just barely on my first Wednesday. (should be legal to drink by Friday, though. WOO-HOO.) i don't know about you, but it wows me to think like that. i suppose it works like the arctic cycles of months with and without night. but just on a massive scale. amazing what time and distance can do to one's imagination.
