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I've been thinking about alternative calendars recently. This is quite interesting. I wonder if we will ever get to a point that we can have a "base 10" calenda

I've been thinking about alternative calendars recently. This is quite interesting. I wonder if we will ever get to a point that we can have a "base 10" calendar (10 day weeks, 10 months in a year, etc.) I suppose in-grained traditions that are so hard to change (birthdays, memorials, etc.) make this nigh impossible.

jimktrains2 7y ago
It's more that there are 365¼ days per solar year. and seasons happen at ¼ year intervals. Any calendar will need need to ensure that those relationships can be represented with only minor but consistent variations, e.g. leap years). Weeks largly stem from there being roughly 28 days in a lunar month. If we're freeing ourselves from any relation to Earth's physical progression through space, e.g. 24 hr day, ~28 day solar month, or 365¼ day year, there would need to be a compelling reason, e.g. being a largely and widespread spacefaring civilization.
nradov 7y ago
The ancient Egyptian calendar had 10 day weeks. And the French revolutionary calendar had something similar. But there's nothing particularly superior about a decimalised calendar.
tzs 7y ago
Too much risk that 10 day weeks would end up still only having a 2 day weekend off of work leaving an 8 consecutive day work week.
- james_s_tayler 7y ago
  What? The obvious conclusion is that they would have only 1 day off.
pndy 7y ago
> "base 10" calendar I believe that the closest thing that existed was French Republican calendar [1], accompanied by decimal time [2]. The Swatch Internet Time [3] which uses decimal minute at its base is also worth mentioning - it's almost forgotten nowadays. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time [3] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time

jimktrains2 7y ago

It's more that there are 365¼ days per solar year. and seasons happen at ¼ year intervals. Any calendar will need need to ensure that those relationships can be represented with only minor but consistent variations, e.g. leap years). Weeks largly stem from there being roughly 28 days in a lunar month. If we're freeing ourselves from any relation to Earth's physical progression through space, e.g. 24 hr day, ~28 day solar month, or 365¼ day year, there would need to be a compelling reason, e.g. being a largely and widespread spacefaring civilization.

nradov 7y ago

The ancient Egyptian calendar had 10 day weeks. And the French revolutionary calendar had something similar. But there's nothing particularly superior about a decimalised calendar.

tzs 7y ago

Too much risk that 10 day weeks would end up still only having a 2 day weekend off of work leaving an 8 consecutive day work week.

james_s_tayler 7y ago
What? The obvious conclusion is that they would have only 1 day off.

pndy 7y ago

> "base 10" calendar I believe that the closest thing that existed was French Republican calendar [1], accompanied by decimal time [2]. The Swatch Internet Time [3] which uses decimal minute at its base is also worth mentioning - it's almost forgotten nowadays. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time [3] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time