3 ms·

My favorite depiction of your dream world: https://qntm.org/abolish https://qntm.org/abolish

bvanheu 7mo ago
thank you for sharing, I was trying to find something similar that explains why UTC everywhere is such a bad idea!
allknowingfrog 7mo ago
> Uncle Steve is zero hours ahead. Uncle Steve is the same number of hours ahead that he has always been, and that's a thing that could be looked up just as easily as finding his time zone. I think the author is greatly exaggerating the degree to which time zones solve any of the problems mentioned. Uncle Steve might be on a different sleep schedule from me, regardless of whether or not he's in a different time zone. Days of the week definitely become interesting in a global UTC system, but noon used to literally mean "the sun is at it's highest point". I suspect that people would grumble for a year or two and then forget that another system ever existed.
- redfern314 7mo ago
  There's certainly a bit of dramatization/exaggeration here, but the main point is that it doesn't really fix the stated problem while also being a huge change for everyone to adapt to.
- stackskipton 7mo ago
  I think you missed entire point of operation. If everywhere runs on UTC, they will still have different times when people are working/not working/sleeping so you still have to look something up and figure it out. With time zones, you look up "What time is it?", realize it's 4:30AM and since most people around the world follow similar schedule, you quickly realize he's fast asleep.
  - iggldiggl 7mo ago
    Also time references in stories would become much more cumbersome, and never mind how you'd handle fictional locations…
- Arch485 7mo ago
  I feel like days are a non-issue; they would just start at different times (UTC) in different territories. This wouldn't make things any more complicated than they already are (currently, if I want to talk to someone in Australia, I have to look up what time it is in Australia and infer the day of the week from that, if necessary. If everything is under UTC, I know what "time" it is, but I still have to look up what day it is). Most of the issues time zones cause are not "day of the week" related anyways (at least in my experience), so I think having to figure out what day of the week it is somewhere else wouldn't be a common problem anyways.
Groxx 7mo ago
tbh I think a more realistic depiction would be: Before UTC4ALL: is UB awake? what time zone is UB in? idk, what zone is Melbourne? +11? uh... carry the one... 6:25, maybe a bit early, let's try in an hour[1]. After: is UB awake? he said gets up at 13:30, so call in a couple hours. You want to call someone, but you don't know when they're available? Maybe you should ask them, so they can tell you it's 13:30 to 4:00, with zero "is that my time or your time" worries. Or check your shared location-aware calendar, which already handles both cases equally well. How often do you do several-thousand-mile phone calls without knowing anything about the recipient's schedule? Where I come from that's gonna be rude, send an async message instead. 1: yes, the math/calculated time is wrong. on purpose. as an example.

thank you for sharing, I was trying to find something similar that explains why UTC everywhere is such a bad idea!

> Uncle Steve is zero hours ahead. Uncle Steve is the same number of hours ahead that he has always been, and that's a thing that could be looked up just as easily as finding his time zone. I think the author is greatly exaggerating the degree to which time zones solve any of the problems mentioned. Uncle Steve might be on a different sleep schedule from me, regardless of whether or not he's in a different time zone. Days of the week definitely become interesting in a global UTC system, but noon used to literally mean "the sun is at it's highest point". I suspect that people would grumble for a year or two and then forget that another system ever existed.

redfern314 7mo ago
There's certainly a bit of dramatization/exaggeration here, but the main point is that it doesn't really fix the stated problem while also being a huge change for everyone to adapt to.
stackskipton 7mo ago
I think you missed entire point of operation. If everywhere runs on UTC, they will still have different times when people are working/not working/sleeping so you still have to look something up and figure it out. With time zones, you look up "What time is it?", realize it's 4:30AM and since most people around the world follow similar schedule, you quickly realize he's fast asleep.
- iggldiggl 7mo ago
  Also time references in stories would become much more cumbersome, and never mind how you'd handle fictional locations…
Arch485 7mo ago
I feel like days are a non-issue; they would just start at different times (UTC) in different territories. This wouldn't make things any more complicated than they already are (currently, if I want to talk to someone in Australia, I have to look up what time it is in Australia and infer the day of the week from that, if necessary. If everything is under UTC, I know what "time" it is, but I still have to look up what day it is). Most of the issues time zones cause are not "day of the week" related anyways (at least in my experience), so I think having to figure out what day of the week it is somewhere else wouldn't be a common problem anyways.

Groxx 7mo ago

tbh I think a more realistic depiction would be: Before UTC4ALL: is UB awake? what time zone is UB in? idk, what zone is Melbourne? +11? uh... carry the one... 6:25, maybe a bit early, let's try in an hour[1]. After: is UB awake? he said gets up at 13:30, so call in a couple hours. You want to call someone, but you don't know when they're available? Maybe you should ask them, so they can tell you it's 13:30 to 4:00, with zero "is that my time or your time" worries. Or check your shared location-aware calendar, which already handles both cases equally well. How often do you do several-thousand-mile phone calls without knowing anything about the recipient's schedule? Where I come from that's gonna be rude, send an async message instead. 1: yes, the math/calculated time is wrong. on purpose. as an example.