Why and how to transition to a better date format
gist.github.comThat must be satire.
Either that or it's the best demonstration of why techies often totally miss the point when talkng about social issues.
Not knowing enough, but believing they know everything best.
The last section is meant to be ironic. The rest isn't. I'd be curious to hear what I've missed. I've addressed every concern that I've ever heard on this topic, and it is a favourite topic of mine.
Time is a favorite topic of mine too. It began when I read Kant and his conclusion that ~time is an a priori condition of all inner experience [i.e. that time is something that the human mind projects out into the world]. Buy into that as the strong scientific claim that there is no independent process of time independent of our experience of it or not...there's no denying that our systems for measuring and expressing time are artifacts of human culture and that scientific definitions are ex post facto.
The idea that noon is not when the sun is on the meridian and a mere footstep east or west changes time by an hour with all the force of the state's instruments of violence [1] is a mark of tyrannical authority. The Gregorian Calendar is a product of a system in which people act upon a belief in a divine mandate for their authority.
Which brings me to the objection that was not addressed. I don't want to cede my freedom to a theocracy even dressed in technocratic robes. My time isn't yours to decide.
[1]: aka, don't be late for court 'cause the judge will throw your ass in jail.
That seems pretty far removed from any kind of practical concern. The intention is not to rule over people's lives or something. The intention is to make it easier to schedule stuff.
I think you might just have a problem with the concept of timekeeping, and not with this particular system.
I will concede, though, that the hypothetical situation of being late for a court date is plausible near a time zone boundary. More reason to eliminate time zones, right? The time is the same everywhere, so nobody is going to make a mistake due to a time zone discrepancy.