4 ms·
These discussions around setting clocks to full hours from GMT get us nowhere, they miss the point: our problem is that our lives are organised around arbitrari
by lazyjones 7y ago
These discussions around setting clocks to full hours from GMT get us nowhere, they miss the point: our problem is that our lives are organised around arbitrarily set, typically "rounded" times of day, for no real reason other than that we've always done it that way. We now have the means to change that and e.g. set school timetables relative to sunrise and can expect everyone to have the means to follow them (e.g. a school app that shows you the exact times for every day, or a general converter from "Sunrise +6 hours" to clock time). Workplaces, buses could also adapt similarly. So we could finally get rid of living by fixed timetables and switch to healthy schedules according to sunlight.
TL;DR switch from "GMT+X" to "Sunrise+X" assisted by IT for most things to solve all problems.
- 1_player 7y agoWhat's GMT got to do with this?
- lazyjones 7y agoAll timezones are defined relative to GMT (usually in full/half hours), so all clock times in the US are, too.
- 1_player 7y agoGotcha. Though in this day and age having our time based on the sun is a bit of an anachronism, as we work under artificial lighting and not in a field. And in any case Sunrise is not good enough, as some Nordic countries don't have any sunrise at all during winter. What's Sunrise+1 in Iceland in December?
- lazyjones 7y agoI'm sure for those extreme cases, their government would be able to determine the most suitable/healthy time to wake up for each day of year, using scientific methods.
- Scarblac 7y agoWhy not relative to sunset? I care about daylight much more after work when I have time for myself than in the mornings where I get up and hurry to get there, and I think most people are similar.
- henrikschroder 7y agoIt's kinda funny, discussions about time zones usually devolve into the idiotic "UTC everywhere" suggestion, but your suggestion is the complete opposite, and will result in time being different for everyone, from city to city. So you'll have a gradual half-hour difference between San Diego and Seattle in the summer. When it's sunrise in San Diego, it's Half Past Sunrise in Seattle. You're in Seattle, you have a phone meeting with someone in San Diego at two hours past sunrise. Uh, when is that again? Oh, and you bring in a third party from someone in SF, he's 15 minutes off to both of you.
- lazyjones 7y ago> Uh, when is that again? Uhm, it will be 18:26 or so for everyone. What's the problem?
- henrikschroder 7y agoAh, ok, you don't want to move time, you want to move opening hours relative to sunrise. Gotcha. That's not insane, but it's a very, very, very hard sell. I think the closest you can get is having schools and workplaces move their starting hours by half-hour increments across the year.