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Obligatory reply: http://qntm.org/abolish http://qntm.org/abolish

subleq 11y ago
Yep. Reality is indeed complicated. We have timezones to manage the complexity.
adrianN 11y ago
After reading this I changed my mind about abolishing time zones. Thanks. However, I still think that the time zones we have right now are needlessly complicated. In particular I dislike that they change all the time. zoneinfo is updated several times a year. Why? It makes no sense.
- daurnimator 11y ago
  It's political, but not necessarily in a bad way. e.g. a state decides it wants to be on the same timezone as a neighbour so that trade goes smoothly. or more frequently: in most countries, it's up to individual states/provinces whether they follow daylight savings or not; so there's always a few each year that decide to start doing or stop doing daylight savings.
cheatdeath 11y ago
I agree there are other problems, but most of the issues in this case study could be resolved by googling "work hours in Melbourne" or "waking hours in Melbourne". Is it easier to arrange a common time with someone in a different timezone or someone who is in the same timezone but works a night shift?
- henrikschroder 11y ago
  > resolved by googling "work hours in Melbourne" ...which is the exact same thing as googling "current time in Melbourne" under the current scheme. Abolishing timezones does not simplify anything, it just shuffles the cognitive work differently.
oxplot 11y ago
> Okay, it looks like I'm going to have to do this the hard way. Is the Sun up in Melbourne? > Let me find a webcam somewhere in that city. Seriously? Can't just Google "sunrise time in Melbourne"? Sure way to lose credibility fast with writing like that. In fact, finding out the sunrise time was all s/he needed to do to figure out if it was a good time to call the uncle.
minikites 11y ago
I came up with a less articulate version of this as I read the parent article and I'm disappointed the interviewer didn't ask a question along these lines.

Yep. Reality is indeed complicated. We have timezones to manage the complexity.

After reading this I changed my mind about abolishing time zones. Thanks. However, I still think that the time zones we have right now are needlessly complicated. In particular I dislike that they change all the time. zoneinfo is updated several times a year. Why? It makes no sense.

daurnimator 11y ago
It's political, but not necessarily in a bad way. e.g. a state decides it wants to be on the same timezone as a neighbour so that trade goes smoothly. or more frequently: in most countries, it's up to individual states/provinces whether they follow daylight savings or not; so there's always a few each year that decide to start doing or stop doing daylight savings.

cheatdeath 11y ago

I agree there are other problems, but most of the issues in this case study could be resolved by googling "work hours in Melbourne" or "waking hours in Melbourne". Is it easier to arrange a common time with someone in a different timezone or someone who is in the same timezone but works a night shift?

henrikschroder 11y ago
> resolved by googling "work hours in Melbourne" ...which is the exact same thing as googling "current time in Melbourne" under the current scheme. Abolishing timezones does not simplify anything, it just shuffles the cognitive work differently.

oxplot 11y ago

> Okay, it looks like I'm going to have to do this the hard way. Is the Sun up in Melbourne? > Let me find a webcam somewhere in that city. Seriously? Can't just Google "sunrise time in Melbourne"? Sure way to lose credibility fast with writing like that. In fact, finding out the sunrise time was all s/he needed to do to figure out if it was a good time to call the uncle.

minikites 11y ago

I came up with a less articulate version of this as I read the parent article and I'm disappointed the interviewer didn't ask a question along these lines.