[LEAPSECS] Reliability

Rob Seaman seaman at noao.edu
Wed Jan 7 11:05:53 EST 2009


M. Warner Losh wrote:


> I don't think anybody can make any meaningful predictions out 7k

> years.


The Sun will still shine. The Earth will still spin. Lunar tides
will continue their billion year trend. A solar second will be
incrementally a bit longer yet than an SI second.

If humans still exist, they will remain very similar anatomically and
physiologically to the Cro Magnons of 50,000 years ago. Either we
will have restrained our darker selves and preserved the environment -
or we won't. I would suggest that either way our great^N
grandchildren will care more about diurnal rhythms, rather than less.

Meanwhile, computing devices in the 91st century are not likely to
suffer from the ills of POSIX. Even SI units may not still exist.
The simple fact of the existence of multiple kinds of timekeeping
standards won't throw our big domed overlords into a tizzy:

http://www.ufomystic.com/wp-content/uploads/outerlimits_os_05.jpg

Work to improve the infrastructure we have, not degrade the
fundamental standards underlying the infrastructure. If UTC doesn't
do what you want, use GPS and leave universal time to the people who
use it and like it.

Rob



More information about the LEAPSECS mailing list