…measuring time

Regardless of how we think of time –as a divine invention, human convention, or something else-, there is something fascinating in certain numbers that by themselves create milestones and call us to certain behaviors. For example, reaching years that end in zero somehow inspire journalists, commentators and many others to think about the greatest achievements of the decade or make predictions not just about the coming year but about the next ten years.

Why seven days a week?
But how did society conclude that there should be seven days in a week? Why not eight or six or any other number? Those of us in Western-influenced civilizations would probably attribute this to the story of creation in Genesis (the first book of the Bible and of the Torah); and the Muslims’ Qur’an also describes creation in six days and one dedicated to rest. Still, some sources suggest that Babylonian, Persian and Chinese calendars had seven-day weeks that predate the most ancient vestiges of Jewish civilization.

Some attempts to change the way time is measured include the French Revolutionaries in the 18th and 19th Centuries (1793 to 1805 and then the Paris Commune in 1871) and the USSR between 1929 and 1940. The former was a 10-day week that attempted to reject Christianity while neglecting any consideration of how the French would like working for nine days before having a day to rest! The Soviet attempt to reject Western customs also failed, even though their calendar had a rest day after five work days –after experimenting with only four work days followed by a rest day between 1929 and 1931. Inefficiency, lack of popular support, and other reasons converged to a return to the seven-day calendar.

Still, other cultures have used different lengths for their weeks. A Wikipedia entry documents weeks from three to twenty days, defined by peoples around the world, including some from currently Hispanic areas like the Basque, the Mayans and the Aztecs.

Why 24 hours, 60 minutes or 60 seconds?
Even more intriguing to me is how we currently have 24 hours in a day, each composed by 60 minutes, which in turn have 60 seconds each. A credible explanation suggests that “sexagesimal” systems are based on the multiplication of the twelve phalanxes that our four fingers have (not counting the thumb), times the five fingers in the other hand. Just like the decimal system is allegedly based upon ten fingers from both hands, ancient civilizations would use their fingers to keep track of the number of units they were trading or keeping track of. Alternatively –or complementarily--, there are twelve lunar cycles in a year. An added benefit that enhances this number is that both 60 and 24 are divisible by various numbers, making it easy to split hours, minutes, or days in halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, etc.

Again, the French revolutionaries tried to change civilization by defining a new clock for which the day was divided in ten hours of a hundred minutes of a hundred seconds, yielding 100,000 seconds per day. Having received my basic education and two university degrees outside the British metric system, these attempts make sense in my mind. Dividing multiples of ten is easier to my mind than using other factors. However, these arrangements did not last long.

What if things were different?
It’s hard to imagine what our world would be if we were using another time measurement paradigm. It is possible that nothing would be that different since we still have to customize time to our own professional needs. For example, lawyers, accountants, psychologists, career coaches, music teachers, and so on may use 15, 30, 60 minute intervals for a basic session in which they are able to meaningfully interact with their clients. Ultimately (or, should I say ideally!), the task is what determines the time needed but some standard measure is often needed to be able to make an adequate diagnosis and provide an adequate service.

Have you come across a profession or a service with an unusually short or long billing cycle? What is the “outstanding event of your decade”? What do you expect to be the “outstanding event” for the next one?

Let me know your thoughts or comments on my facebook profile or via email to drolivaslujan_at_gmail.com.

To learn more:
The site: http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars describes a variety of ways to measure time. It is one of ten fascinating “WebExhibits” of an interactive, online museum.

http://www.horology-stuff.com/time/24hours.html gives interesting explanations to why we have 24 hours in a day.

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