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What's the problem with slowly drifting away from solar time? If 9:00am became 9:10am by the time I'm 100 years old I don't think I'd encounter any difficulties

What's the problem with slowly drifting away from solar time? If 9:00am became 9:10am by the time I'm 100 years old I don't think I'd encounter any difficulties. Who requires this level of accuracy?

beerandt 5y ago
Because then you'd still need an almanac of the drift in determining celestial location/navigation. It's easier to just keep high noon at the Greenwich observatory as the defining datum, since most worldwide coordinates ultimately reference back to it, being 0deg longitude. Ultimately, either time or location would need to be adjusted, and it's easier to do time. Plus it's consistent with what's been done historically.
gh02t 5y ago
There isn't a huge problem with changing it, there are people who want to do exactly that and do something else instead. The prominent alternatives that I know of still do something to keep time tied to the mean solar day, though, and changing time standards can be a complicated process so it's likely to take a while. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second#International_proposals_for_elimination_of_leap_seconds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second#International_prop...
IfOnlyYouKnew 5y ago
It’s sorta like asking why we don’t fix pi at 3.1, even if the scale may (initially) be smaller. Or get rid of time zones: It’s sacrificing truth for the convenience of about a dozen people in IT.
- tablespoon 5y ago
  > It’s sacrificing truth for the convenience of about a dozen people in IT. But those dozen IT people think the trade off is really worth it (for them)!
- Gigachad 5y ago
  This is exactly the kind of thing that is often done. Some software will just treat all months as having 30 days because it simplifies logic massively and doesn't cause that much of an issue.
- MiddleEndian 5y ago
  >It’s sacrificing truth for the convenience of about a dozen people in IT. And this kind of thing can never be undone. See: NTSC "60" Hz actually being 59.94 Hz due to the transition between black and white and color TV. Monitors today still have this lasting effect for consistency's sake.

What's the problem with slowly drifting away from solar time? If 9:00am became 9:10am by the time I'm 100 years old I don't think I'd encounter any difficulties. Who requires this level of accuracy?

beerandt 5y ago

Because then you'd still need an almanac of the drift in determining celestial location/navigation. It's easier to just keep high noon at the Greenwich observatory as the defining datum, since most worldwide coordinates ultimately reference back to it, being 0deg longitude. Ultimately, either time or location would need to be adjusted, and it's easier to do time. Plus it's consistent with what's been done historically.

gh02t 5y ago

There isn't a huge problem with changing it, there are people who want to do exactly that and do something else instead. The prominent alternatives that I know of still do something to keep time tied to the mean solar day, though, and changing time standards can be a complicated process so it's likely to take a while. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second#International_proposals_for_elimination_of_leap_seconds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second#International_prop...

IfOnlyYouKnew 5y ago

It’s sorta like asking why we don’t fix pi at 3.1, even if the scale may (initially) be smaller. Or get rid of time zones: It’s sacrificing truth for the convenience of about a dozen people in IT.

tablespoon 5y ago
> It’s sacrificing truth for the convenience of about a dozen people in IT. But those dozen IT people think the trade off is really worth it (for them)!
Gigachad 5y ago
This is exactly the kind of thing that is often done. Some software will just treat all months as having 30 days because it simplifies logic massively and doesn't cause that much of an issue.
MiddleEndian 5y ago
>It’s sacrificing truth for the convenience of about a dozen people in IT. And this kind of thing can never be undone. See: NTSC "60" Hz actually being 59.94 Hz due to the transition between black and white and color TV. Monitors today still have this lasting effect for consistency's sake.