[LEAPSECS] What timekeeping system should the Terra Nova settlers use?

[Rob Seaman]

On Oct 3, 2011, at 10:46 AM, Warner Losh wrote:


> For Electrical Engineering, nobody cares about earth angles, but they do care that all seconds are the same length.


It depends what project the electrical engineers are working on.  Astronomical projects employ plenty of engineers.

The fundamental issue is precisely the attempt to take two different things and pretend they are one and the same.  The conceptual model is broken.


> And again, civil time is just an approximation of solar time of day. There are many ways to approximate this with differing degrees of luck.


And the ITU proposal doesn't pursue any of them.


> Then again, if astronomers are such power users of time scales, why would they need to force everybody else to use something that's convenient for them and would cost them lots of cash to retool?


Oh please.  Use GPS for intervals and UTC for angles.  The ITU proposal is to take universal time away and replace it with something equivalent to GPS.


> Balance also dictates that you not waste time on losing ideas...


Who said balance is a requirement?  And who determines whether the time is wasted?

"Losing" is not a description of the idea, but of the point of view of some observer.  It also implies a zero sum game.  Both TAI and UTC can coexist.  We have proof of this because it is the status quo.  Some may want to tweak the way they coexist.  By all means discuss modifications.  Drowning UTC in the bathtub is not a description of "balance".

Returning to the original question: how can a timekeeping system millions of years in the past or future or on another planet like Mars function?  How will a standardized chronometer significantly different that any round fraction of the solar day be coordinated with the need to keep a rational time-of-day?  Ignore UTC and TAI.  Ignore the ITU politics.  Focus on this issue.

Rob