Thursday, July 16, 2020
Was the creation of time really necessary?
The concept of “time” was created long before we ever existed. In Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, it was mentioned that the philosophy of time was an interesting topic. Time is sometimes discussed today as fuel for an occasional existential crisis, or a question of why humanity thought it was necessary. Why did early society just agree to the world being regulated by seconds and minutes, to years and decades? Even today we have all unintentionally agreed that time is going to be a huge factor of our everyday lifestyle. It determines when you wake up, fall asleep, do certain tasks throughout the day, and even creates an immense amount of stress if you did not manage it correctly. Some people strongly believe that time itself is an illusion, and it truly doesn’t matter. I find it weird that the time “changes” twice a year because we want the days to be longer, and the nights shorter, or vise versa. Some parts of the world don’t take part in daylight savings time, so why do we? Animals have a sense of time through the sun cycle, an instinct. Did we filter out that instinct because of our knowledge of clocks and time? I get overwhelmed when I think about the fact that time never stops, and I have to keep going no matter what. Do you get those thoughts sometimes? Do you believe that if time was never created, certain qualities of life would be similar? We have unconsciously learned the dynamic of time, but was it necessary?
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I do not think the creation of time was necessary, but I think it was bound to happen. In my opinion, humans have the need and desire to control everything. Everything needs a title, everything needs to be claimed, nothing can just be nothing (as we even named it "nothing"). Nevertheless, time is helpful in many ways. For instance, it would be quite difficult to determine when to perform tasks such as when work starts: at sunrise, sunset, dusk, but how could you describe the times in between that? Without the perception of time that we have been predisposed to, I feel like life would be more calm and less rushed. I don't like the idea that we cannot destroy or undo this perception of time. Extreme measures would have to be taken to truly separate ourselves from time and everything time-related, including books, news, etc., and doing so seems disadvantageous. I do not mean by this that the creation of time was the best option, but it seems inconceivable to determine if time has more benefits than limits, or even to imagine what a timeless world would be like.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the creation of the concept of time measurements was necessary. I do not see any alternative. It brings order to society and helps tasks get done when needed. Without the creation of time, many people would never finish things when they need to be done. Sure, time can make life feel little more rushed. But, time can also bring calmness to our lives. For example, after working hard, we are given some time off to relax. Humans did not claim or try to control time because that is out of our reach (for right now at least). All they did was give it a name to make it easier to describe when and how things occur, from decades to microseconds. Every civilization, from the Aztecs, to the English, to the Chinese developed some form of time. Time measurements are the same thing as volume, density, mass, and distance. All in all, I think time measurements have only benefited us.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the creation of time was necessary. If we did not have a set time, we would be in turmoil. A few examples are that we would not be able to complete tasks promptly, we could not wake up for plans, and would not be able to sleep at an ideal time. Time prevents us from slacking off by keeping everything in order. In comparison to having a concept of time, to not, I do not believe our lives would be the same. Yes, sometimes it may feel overwhelming knowing that time never stops, but that only makes us value time even more. As Zachary said, if you are trying very hard on something, the downtime afterward would make you feel at ease. Overall, I strongly believe the concept of time has only ever encouraged us.
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