Clocks tick the same everywhere. A second is a second, whether you are in
France, in Maccau, or in Saskatchewan. Also, it is the same second. The
hour hands might be on different hours, but the minute and second hands
are the same the world over. Thus my sattelite uplink can schedule to transfer
video to your television station at a time as specific as 2/26/95 01:25:03:11
GMT.
Clocks allow us to do things we would never be able to do otherwise. We
take it for granted that we can set a precise date and time for a meeting
or a transaction, and expect everyone to show up or to transact. Only a
few hundred years ago, many nations had different calendars. In England,
May first would mean a particular day, and in Germany, May first might occur
2 days later.
In many senses, the clock lies at the very core of the modern worldview.
Our way of life would be immeasurably different if it weren't for our ability
to tell time with accuracy and synchrony throughout the world. We would
be unable to manage complicated manufacturing processes, unable to navigate
oceans, airways, or space, unable to conduct global transactions.
The Tyranny of Clock Time
By strictly adhering to the abstract and rigid time structure of our clocks
and calendars we risk denying the importance of our own natural rhythms.
We have evolved to function within the intricate rhythmic webwork which
is life on Earth - the rise and set of the sun, the phase of the moon, the
cycle of the seasons, the growth cycles of various plants and animals, and
even the very long cycle of our own lives. The cost may be an increased
level of stress, a greater feeling of disconnectedness, and increased physical
fatigue resulting from the dissociation of the clocks' rhythm from the rhythms
of the natural world - for instance, it is dark in the winter when you go
to work, but it has been light for two hours already when you go to work
at the same hourly time in the summer.
