Class 10/5, Time Zones and Mind Blown

Today's class really took my mind to another dimension. Literally. We discussed in class why the whole word isn't on the same time all the time. For example, why isn't it 9am everywhere at once. My argument is that the reason that all around the countries around the world is because of the circadian rhythm that humans have keeps them awake during the day and asleep at night. If the time all around the world was the same, then this would interrupt the sleep patterns of different individuals across the world. Now that I look back once this, it was really the best argument. As the discussion went on, we came to the conclusion as a class that the present time really doesn't exist. I also made the point that time is essentially something that humans made up to provide order and structure in their lives. We could live without the reference of time it is just that it help us manage what we are doing. Animals are a perfect example of how organisms can live without time. Animals just simply react to their surroundings and their actions are based off what they instinctual feel. We then started to talk about the way time zones came about. Here are some points that I thought were important from Mr. Schick's blog:

• Sir Sandford Fleming proposed a worldwide system of time zones in 1879. He advocated his system at several international conferences, and is thus credited with the instigation of "the initial effort that led to the adoption of the present time meridians."
• His first proposal was for a global 24-hour clock, conceptually located at the center of the Earth and not linked to any surface meridian. In 1879 he specified that his universal day would begin at the anti-meridian of Greenwich (180th meridian), while conceding that hourly time zones might have some limited local use. 
• By about 1900, almost all time on Earth was in the form of standard time zones, only some of which used an hourly offset from GMT.
• Today, all nations use standard time zones for secular purposes, but they do not all apply the concept as originally conceived.