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Ha - I came here to post pretty much the same thing. It always makes me wonder which came first. Did sci-fi/literature-at-large start using crystals this way af

Ha - I came here to post pretty much the same thing. It always makes me wonder which came first. Did sci-fi/literature-at-large start using crystals this way after we started using them for time purposes, or did humans just always think crystals were cool and somehow supernatural and it just turns out we can use crystals to keep time? Probably the latter, given that humans do love shiny rocks, and they've existed much longer than we have.

ghostly_s 4y ago
We've been using crystals to keep time for over 100 years.
- ncmncm 4y ago
  And the better watches had them for more centuries.
bee_rider 4y ago
Apparently (based on the article) these time crystals were thought up in 2012. I'm sure you could find the phrase "time crystal" in sci-fi previously. In fact I bet the person who thought the idea up was extremely pleased that they could get such a cool sci-fi sounding name for their thought experiment. On the other hand, crystal oscillators (riffing off your "using crystals [...] for time purposes") go way back, and pre-date Star Trek style technobabble I guess. But the idea of "magical crystals" goes back even further, and the thing that makes them interestingly shiny is tied to their structure. So I guess we knew there was something kind of funky going on there but didn't have the science to describe it really well. And what's sci-fi anyway? If someone in like 1800 wrote a story about teaching rocks to think, we'd probably call it fantasy. It just so happens that we managed to pull that idea from magic to reality. (reference to): https://twitter.com/daisyowl/status/841802094361235456 https://twitter.com/daisyowl/status/841802094361235456 Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think your "or" should just be treated as an inclusive or, and answered with "yes."
- SoftTalker 4y ago
  Yeah "time crystal" will always make me think of Doctor Who. Not sure if they were ever actually mentioned in any story lines, but it sounds like something their writers would come up with.

ghostly_s 4y ago

We've been using crystals to keep time for over 100 years.

ncmncm 4y ago
And the better watches had them for more centuries.

bee_rider 4y ago

Apparently (based on the article) these time crystals were thought up in 2012. I'm sure you could find the phrase "time crystal" in sci-fi previously. In fact I bet the person who thought the idea up was extremely pleased that they could get such a cool sci-fi sounding name for their thought experiment. On the other hand, crystal oscillators (riffing off your "using crystals [...] for time purposes") go way back, and pre-date Star Trek style technobabble I guess. But the idea of "magical crystals" goes back even further, and the thing that makes them interestingly shiny is tied to their structure. So I guess we knew there was something kind of funky going on there but didn't have the science to describe it really well. And what's sci-fi anyway? If someone in like 1800 wrote a story about teaching rocks to think, we'd probably call it fantasy. It just so happens that we managed to pull that idea from magic to reality. (reference to): https://twitter.com/daisyowl/status/841802094361235456 https://twitter.com/daisyowl/status/841802094361235456 Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think your "or" should just be treated as an inclusive or, and answered with "yes."

SoftTalker 4y ago
Yeah "time crystal" will always make me think of Doctor Who. Not sure if they were ever actually mentioned in any story lines, but it sounds like something their writers would come up with.