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This reminded me of something I saw at the Science Museum in London a few years ago. A round clock face is used to represent the history of the earth and a nar
by chestnut-tree 13y ago
This reminded me of something I saw at the Science Museum in London a few years ago.
A round clock face is used to represent the history of the earth and a narrator tells us the geological events that happen as the clock hands travels around the clock face. At a few seconds to midnight, we're told this is when humans appear.
I thought it was a clever way of illustrating how human history occupies such a tiny segment in the overall scale of the earth's history. (I don't know if the exhibit is still there)
- therandomguy 13y ago3000 years over 360 degrees.
- SageRaven 13y agoOne of the first couple of episodes of Cosmos (maybe the first?) has a similar thing to convey the scale of time in our existence in the universe. Pretty cool.
- charlieok 13y agoRather than place the present day at midnight on the clock, how about placing the present day on the current value given by the Doomsday Clock [1]. Then, with a little arithmetic, you can label midnight with the projected date of Doomsday :) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Clock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Clock
- roc 13y agoAt that scale, I don't think there'd be an appreciable difference between the two.
- twinge 13y agoThis reminded me of http://www.chronozoomproject.org/ http://www.chronozoomproject.org/ There's a growing academic discipline called "Big History"[1] that attempts to examine all of history from the big bang to the present. Bill Gates sponsors a project to teach a free public course to high school students[2]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_History [2] http://www.bighistoryproject.com/Home http://www.bighistoryproject.com/Home
- D9u 13y agoTime is relative to the observer...