4 ms·

I know my opinion is unpopular, but I sure would love it if the world would simply rid itself of timezones and stick to a singular time. Does it _really_ matte

by ulkesh 7y ago

I know my opinion is unpopular, but I sure would love it if the world would simply rid itself of timezones and stick to a singular time. Does it _really_ matter if it's broad daylight at 0200 Earth Standard Time? Circadian rhythms aren't affected if people still go to sleep at night and wake up at day. It standardizes time relativity on a single scale. And it saves us software engineers a lot of headache.

telaelit 7y ago
I 100% agree.
riantogo 7y ago
I think Timex or some other company attempted this. Was it Internet time?
- synack 7y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time
gpm 7y ago
China sort of does this, with one timezone that spans 5 geographically correct time zones.
pfranz 7y ago
This link often gets posted to rebut proposals to abolish time zones: https://qntm.org/abolish https://qntm.org/abolish
- david_ar 7y ago
  > Do normal humans publish "waking hours"? Not typically. It would kind of be great if they did though, it's not necessarily the same for everyone in the same geographic location.
  - wilg 7y ago
    You can do this in Google Calendar, so sort of.
- mimixco 7y ago
  This is great. "How do I know if it's too late to call?" is the ultimate TL;DR.
  - ulkesh 7y ago
    We already have that problem now.
    - golf1052 7y ago
      How so? I live on the West coast of the US. I want to call my friend on the East coast of the US. It's 9 PM (21:00) where I am. What time is it there? Is it too late to call them? Thanks to time zones I look up what time it is on the East Coast, 12:00 AM (00:00). When it's 12:00 AM (00:00) on the West coast I know it's really late so that means it's probably too late to call my friend on the East coast. Now in a world without time zones. It's now 21:00 where I am (AM/PM doesn't make much sense anymore). What time is it there? It's 21:00. It's 21:00 everywhere on Earth. Does 21:00 mean really late on the East coast? Not sure. Time zones help us answer "What time is it?" or maybe better put "What time does it feel like right now?" with answers of (usually) "morning, the sun is about to rise or has risen recently", "midday, the sun is at it's highest point", "evening, the sun is about to set or has set", "night, the sun has set or hasn't risen yet". Time zones make it easier to know "Where is the sun right now?" in any area of the world. Yeah, with one global standard time we can always just refer to a day night map (https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunearth.html https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunearth.html) to figure out if it's too late to call someone or schedule a meeting but I feel like it's easier with our current time zone system. I can easily remember if it's too late to call someone somewhere if I remember what their time zone offset is compared to me. East coast is +3 hours, so it's 12 AM there, too late to call. London is +8 hours, so it's 5 AM there, too early to call. Bangkok is +14, so it's 11 AM there, I can call!
      - katsura 7y ago
        There are multiple solutions to this. For example if you'd want to call a business, they would have the working hours presented on their website, like 20 - 04. If they are in a different timezone then how would you know what time is that in your time? And if you want to call friends, then a friendly message like "Hey, when are you going to be available for chat?" would solve most of your problem. I usually don't like when people call me out of blue. And also, if someone has bad news they will probably call me anytime anyway, be it 4 in the morning, or 7 in the afternoon. Also, you mention Bangkok is +14, and you have 11AM, but this assumes that you remember the offset. How is it different from remembering that for example in Bangkok the sun comes up at 7PM?
- ulkesh 7y ago
  Easily solved with technology that allows a person to specify when they're available. We've had such technology for decades in the form of presence.
panic 7y ago
One major problem is day transitions. It would be pretty confusing if it went from Tuesday to Wednesday in the middle of the day.
- ulkesh 7y ago
  Why? Because our preconceived notions of a "day" is that it must mean the sun has risen and set. I get past this pretty easily by imagining I'm in space where I would have to divorce that from my mind.
  - macintux 7y ago
    Or because when someone says “I’ll call you Tuesday afternoon” and your day changes at 1pm (historic time) it’s a little confusing. Or does afternoon now mean 12-5 UTC? So until we adjust everyone’s semantics, no one has any idea what “Tuesday afternoon” means.
    - splintercell 7y ago
      I am not in favor of abolishing time zones, but I am sure we will find better ways to communicate with each other about time if that were to happen.
      - macintux 7y ago
        We can’t even agree on whether the earth is flat, or how to spell/pronounce aluminum. Changing thousands of years of traditions because programmers are tired of dealing with the vagaries of time zones isn’t going to be terribly successful.
        ulkesh 7y ago
        And that’s really not an argument against the idea. Time zones are a construct that isn’t necessary any more. And it literally wastes people’s time with unnecessary legislation, unnecessary calculations, and unnecessary notions of displaced relativity. As I originally said, though, mine is an unpopular opinion.
strait 7y ago
Why not have 2 time systems. One Earth Standard Time system for scheduling with different parts of the world and one system that is centered on solar noon at one's longitude and is updated daily at solar midnight, for daily awareness and routine activities. This system would count up from -12:00 at solar midnight, reach 0 time at solar noon and proceed to count up from there towards the reset time around 12:00.
- berbec 7y ago
  How would that work north of the arctic circle? Would it be 300 a week after the sun came up?
  - strait 7y ago
    There would still be a solar noon (sun at zenith) unless one was directly at the pole. Admitted, it would be more difficult to visually tell, the closer one got to the pole.
- perilunar 7y ago
  > One Earth Standard Time system for scheduling with different parts of the world That's pretty much what UTC does. The aviation industry does everything in UTC for example, and you convert to local time as required. > one system that is centered on solar noon at one's longitude and is updated daily at solar midnight We have that already, it's called (local) Mean Solar Time.

by ulkesh 7y ago

telaelit 7y ago

I 100% agree.

riantogo 7y ago

I think Timex or some other company attempted this. Was it Internet time?

synack 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time

gpm 7y ago

China sort of does this, with one timezone that spans 5 geographically correct time zones.

pfranz 7y ago

This link often gets posted to rebut proposals to abolish time zones: https://qntm.org/abolish https://qntm.org/abolish

david_ar 7y ago
> Do normal humans publish "waking hours"? Not typically. It would kind of be great if they did though, it's not necessarily the same for everyone in the same geographic location.
- wilg 7y ago
  You can do this in Google Calendar, so sort of.
mimixco 7y ago
This is great. "How do I know if it's too late to call?" is the ultimate TL;DR.
- ulkesh 7y ago
  We already have that problem now.
  - golf1052 7y ago
    How so? I live on the West coast of the US. I want to call my friend on the East coast of the US. It's 9 PM (21:00) where I am. What time is it there? Is it too late to call them? Thanks to time zones I look up what time it is on the East Coast, 12:00 AM (00:00). When it's 12:00 AM (00:00) on the West coast I know it's really late so that means it's probably too late to call my friend on the East coast. Now in a world without time zones. It's now 21:00 where I am (AM/PM doesn't make much sense anymore). What time is it there? It's 21:00. It's 21:00 everywhere on Earth. Does 21:00 mean really late on the East coast? Not sure. Time zones help us answer "What time is it?" or maybe better put "What time does it feel like right now?" with answers of (usually) "morning, the sun is about to rise or has risen recently", "midday, the sun is at it's highest point", "evening, the sun is about to set or has set", "night, the sun has set or hasn't risen yet". Time zones make it easier to know "Where is the sun right now?" in any area of the world. Yeah, with one global standard time we can always just refer to a day night map (https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunearth.html https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunearth.html) to figure out if it's too late to call someone or schedule a meeting but I feel like it's easier with our current time zone system. I can easily remember if it's too late to call someone somewhere if I remember what their time zone offset is compared to me. East coast is +3 hours, so it's 12 AM there, too late to call. London is +8 hours, so it's 5 AM there, too early to call. Bangkok is +14, so it's 11 AM there, I can call!
    - katsura 7y ago
      There are multiple solutions to this. For example if you'd want to call a business, they would have the working hours presented on their website, like 20 - 04. If they are in a different timezone then how would you know what time is that in your time? And if you want to call friends, then a friendly message like "Hey, when are you going to be available for chat?" would solve most of your problem. I usually don't like when people call me out of blue. And also, if someone has bad news they will probably call me anytime anyway, be it 4 in the morning, or 7 in the afternoon. Also, you mention Bangkok is +14, and you have 11AM, but this assumes that you remember the offset. How is it different from remembering that for example in Bangkok the sun comes up at 7PM?
ulkesh 7y ago
Easily solved with technology that allows a person to specify when they're available. We've had such technology for decades in the form of presence.

panic 7y ago

One major problem is day transitions. It would be pretty confusing if it went from Tuesday to Wednesday in the middle of the day.

ulkesh 7y ago
Why? Because our preconceived notions of a "day" is that it must mean the sun has risen and set. I get past this pretty easily by imagining I'm in space where I would have to divorce that from my mind.
- macintux 7y ago
  Or because when someone says “I’ll call you Tuesday afternoon” and your day changes at 1pm (historic time) it’s a little confusing. Or does afternoon now mean 12-5 UTC? So until we adjust everyone’s semantics, no one has any idea what “Tuesday afternoon” means.
  - splintercell 7y ago
    I am not in favor of abolishing time zones, but I am sure we will find better ways to communicate with each other about time if that were to happen.
    - macintux 7y ago
      We can’t even agree on whether the earth is flat, or how to spell/pronounce aluminum. Changing thousands of years of traditions because programmers are tired of dealing with the vagaries of time zones isn’t going to be terribly successful.
      - ulkesh 7y ago
        And that’s really not an argument against the idea. Time zones are a construct that isn’t necessary any more. And it literally wastes people’s time with unnecessary legislation, unnecessary calculations, and unnecessary notions of displaced relativity. As I originally said, though, mine is an unpopular opinion.

strait 7y ago

Why not have 2 time systems. One Earth Standard Time system for scheduling with different parts of the world and one system that is centered on solar noon at one's longitude and is updated daily at solar midnight, for daily awareness and routine activities. This system would count up from -12:00 at solar midnight, reach 0 time at solar noon and proceed to count up from there towards the reset time around 12:00.

berbec 7y ago
How would that work north of the arctic circle? Would it be 300 a week after the sun came up?
- strait 7y ago
  There would still be a solar noon (sun at zenith) unless one was directly at the pole. Admitted, it would be more difficult to visually tell, the closer one got to the pole.
perilunar 7y ago
> One Earth Standard Time system for scheduling with different parts of the world That's pretty much what UTC does. The aviation industry does everything in UTC for example, and you convert to local time as required. > one system that is centered on solar noon at one's longitude and is updated daily at solar midnight We have that already, it's called (local) Mean Solar Time.