4 ms·

See this brilliant thread by Foone: https://mobile.twitter.com/foone/status/1572260363764400129 https://mobile.twitter.com/foone/status/1572260363764400129 "S

See this brilliant thread by Foone: https://mobile.twitter.com/foone/status/1572260363764400129 https://mobile.twitter.com/foone/status/1572260363764400129 "Someday aliens are going to land their saucers in a field somewhere in New Jersey and everything is going to go just fine right up until we try to explain our calendar to them..."

DoctorOW 4y ago
I've seen this one before, but I highly recommend anyone in the lucky 10,000 to read this.
tmtvl 4y ago
Hm, I wonder if that guy realizes that there are other languages than English in the world, and that there are different calendars in use.
- drcongo 4y ago
  That's addressed in the thread.
- vehementi 4y ago
  That'll be $50, sir
thunderbong 4y ago
Relevant HN thread (989 comments, posted by, ahem, myself!) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32975173`| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32975173`|
- vehementi 4y ago
  New link, now more correct! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32975173 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32975173
vlovich123 4y ago
Someday aliens are going to land their saucers in a field somewhere in New Jersey and everything is going to go just fine, especially when they too admit they haven't figured out how to keep track of time consistently.
samstr 4y ago
[dead]
chungy 4y ago
He makes the assumption that aliens wouldn't have their own seemingly-arbitrary date and time system. Honestly it's biased for a "everyone but humans are entirely logical and never deviated" viewpoint that cheap (bad) sci-fi goes for.
- Razengan 4y ago
  Lazy sci-fi. Every civilization except humans is unified and monolithic, or has at most maybe 2 subgroups, because it’s hard to invent thousands of years of history. And not just fiction, but science also: “Why haven’t aliens done X by now?”
- samtho 4y ago
  This clearly humorous twitter thread has really nothing to do with aliens, it’s shorthand for a viewpoint we can all understand enough to get the premise.
  - chungy 4y ago
    Eh, if I tweaked the story, it'd probably drive the point home more if the aliens did have a difficult-to-learn-from-scratch system to work with too. Our scientific communities already have the homogenized forms that his hypothetical aliens would actually like.
junon 4y ago
Someday people are going to finally learn that Foone doesn't like when people link to their Twitter from HN.

DoctorOW 4y ago

I've seen this one before, but I highly recommend anyone in the lucky 10,000 to read this.

tmtvl 4y ago

Hm, I wonder if that guy realizes that there are other languages than English in the world, and that there are different calendars in use.

drcongo 4y ago
That's addressed in the thread.
vehementi 4y ago
That'll be $50, sir

thunderbong 4y ago

Relevant HN thread (989 comments, posted by, ahem, myself!) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32975173`| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32975173`|

vehementi 4y ago
New link, now more correct! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32975173 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32975173

vlovich123 4y ago

Someday aliens are going to land their saucers in a field somewhere in New Jersey and everything is going to go just fine, especially when they too admit they haven't figured out how to keep track of time consistently.

samstr 4y ago

[dead]

chungy 4y ago

He makes the assumption that aliens wouldn't have their own seemingly-arbitrary date and time system. Honestly it's biased for a "everyone but humans are entirely logical and never deviated" viewpoint that cheap (bad) sci-fi goes for.

Razengan 4y ago
Lazy sci-fi. Every civilization except humans is unified and monolithic, or has at most maybe 2 subgroups, because it’s hard to invent thousands of years of history. And not just fiction, but science also: “Why haven’t aliens done X by now?”
samtho 4y ago
This clearly humorous twitter thread has really nothing to do with aliens, it’s shorthand for a viewpoint we can all understand enough to get the premise.
- chungy 4y ago
  Eh, if I tweaked the story, it'd probably drive the point home more if the aliens did have a difficult-to-learn-from-scratch system to work with too. Our scientific communities already have the homogenized forms that his hypothetical aliens would actually like.

junon 4y ago

Someday people are going to finally learn that Foone doesn't like when people link to their Twitter from HN.