Time 2

I say it is arbitrary because, like all other forms of measurement we define it. We say, ok here, this is a second. For a long time (far beyond what my lifetime should have been) everybody knew time was arbitrary. Only in big cities did anybody have any right to say their time was right. Most of us, myself included had no way of measuring the time outside of the church bells. I once knew a man who claimed that the Babylonians were far more intelligent about their time system and so he followed theirs. Instead of 24 parts he divided the day up into 60 and I daresay he was never on time for anything (even his own funeral, but don’t ask how that happened). But we had absolutely NO concept of what a second was. Now everybody knows what a second is. Oh don’t worry I’m not going to start lecturing; I’m old enough to know that nobody ever listens. In fact I do see a need for things to speed up. The definition of a second (and you know, I keep waiting for somebody to change the second and make time run on intervals of 10 just like meters and liters) may be arbitrary, but it is also very necessary. Physics, at very least, needs it.