Simul-Time
A Simultaneous Global Community Time
It is indeed a global community that we live in. Thanks to the internet and all the easy to use social media communication services out there, it is easier than ever to stay in touch with friends and family from all around the world. With a few simple taps on a keyboard, I can get an email message out to my parents in Toronto, Facebook chat with my cousin in Switzerland and, iMessage with my friend in Tokyo, all at the same time. And oh yes, just received an email from another cousin in Hong Kong giving me updates on the protesting that’s been happening there. As I stare at the beautiful Bay Area blue skies this morning, I’m thinking of my relatives in Hong Kong who might be staring at their dark skies as they enter another midnight, the beginning of another day.
Perhaps this may seem obvious to some, but time seems different to me now. It’s not as sequential as it used to be, there’s no beginning of a day or end. While the day ends for someone on the other side of the world, it’s just begining for me but it’s already been half gone for someone else. It’s all happening at the same time and I’ve grown more conscious of it now more than ever before. In fact, the only thing that reminds me of what part of the day it is right now is the clock and perhaps the sunlight outside. Those fours digits on my computer and whether it’s AM or PM is the only thing that’s reminding me that my time is specific in a time-scale where there is present, past and future.
As I stare at my clock and think about the simultaneous events that are happening around the world, the more I realize that the idea of time, or more precisely, the clock has misled us. Our clocks only denotes what part of the day we are living in, how long a particular event has elapsed. The past is not recorded on a clock, it is in our memory. The future cannot be projected, it exists only in our imagination. The present is the only time we have, it is happening simultaneously, all around the world. It is not only 9:00 am in San Francisco, it is also 12:00 am in Hong Kong and 6:00 pm in Switzerland. Our technology has enabled us to experience what is happening in our present, our collective present from around the world in ways we never used to before.
Even though Einstein’s theory of relativity may contradict my point, I contend that it is time relative to my consiousness that matter. Until one day we develop a communication system that enables simul-multi-consciousness, we will never be able to experience multiple relativities in order to appreciate the true effects of space time. The past, present and future is finite relative to one’s individual consiousness. I cannot travel to the past or the future. I only have now, the same now that my friends and family are experiencing. Perhaps it’s “time” to rethink the clock and how we measure time.
Suppose for a moment that in order to live and not just communicate in a more global existence, we use one time and remove all notions of timezone, AM or PM [a.m. (from the Latin ante meridiem, meaning “before midday”) and p.m. (post meridiem, “after midday”)]. There is no need to denote midday because after all, it is relative to where we live. We will share one coordinated denotation of time. And let’s suppose we adopt UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) as our universal simultaneous time, I will wake up tomorrow 15:00, formerly known as 7:00 am, have lunch at 20:00, dinner at 02:00 and probably bedtime at 06:00. Is it so hard for me to remember to have dinner at 02:00? It might take some getting use to, but no, probably not. I will eat when I’m hungry. I will work when I have work to do. Next time I chat with my cousin on Facebook, we will schedule a particular time, perhaps 07:00, and it will be the same time, same present, the same now.
Furthermore, without getting into the entire history of how the Gregorian calendar was created, why do we have seven days in a week or even twelve months in a year, will it ever be possible that we dispense all use of the Gregorian calendar? Do we have to wait until Christmas time before we go out and buy presents? Do we have to wait for summer time to take a family vacation? Why is it that we are so set in our ways of spending our time by a pre-determined schedule that we don’t seem to stop and reconsider? It is a radical or perhaps ridiculous idea, but we must admit, we live in a different era. Our use of time and ability to communicate globally has evolved well beyond our fore-fathers. As significant as the establishment of the Greenwich Mean Time or the Gregorian calendar is to our history, we must continue to refine the tools we use everyday to define our lives that is more relevant to us and our current simul-global community.
