Time to Dump Time Zones • Hacker News Board

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#51

Post by codeka » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 9:48 PM UTC

edblarney wrote: post #19

The article is upside down. "Perhaps you’re asking why the Greenwich meridian gets to define earth time. " It doesn't. Everybody gets to have their own, proper time. In comparing times, we +/- based on an arbitrary spot, and that's it. Time zones are a great solution to a problem. People want their time in local terms. Everyone waking up and going to bed at different times is an utterly ridiculous concept. FYI - if y…

I agree. The article says there'd be some benefits to switching, but there'd also be costs (for example when I travel I don't have to do mental calculations to figure out what time to eat lunch, or when to set my alarm clock).

I think removing daylight savings is a good idea, there's no benefit at all to it, and a lot of costs.

But timezones are handy. Maybe you could simplify them a bit, but to rid of them completely is overkill.

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#52

Post by zwily » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 9:48 PM UTC

rcarmo wrote: post #21

I'd be happy with doing away with Daylight Savings Time.

I'd be happier making DST permanent :)

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#53

Post by artpepper » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 9:49 PM UTC

This is basically a form of Utopian thinking, that we should adopt a convention because it's "logical" rather than one that meets human needs.

> People forget how recent is the development of our whole ungainly apparatus. A century and a half ago, time zones didn’t exist.

That's true, but not because everyone was living on GMT. Time zones are somewhat arbitrary, but aligning everyone to a single time zone is even more arbitrary.

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#54

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 9:49 PM UTC

olliej wrote: post #28

Someone wrote an article a while back about why this is a stupid idea -- mostly things like "if I want to call so and so in Australia I would now need to find out what time of day in Australia is the time I consider to be evening" Computers already work in terms of utc (assuming correct code ;) ) -- this article is mostly "I know what time I'm in, why should I have to consider other people?" If we were to get rid of…

[deleted]

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#55

Post by M_Grey » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 9:49 PM UTC

mjevans wrote: post #44

M_Grey wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

^This. Lets tackle the thing that's definitely a good idea, and much easier to manage before shooting for the metaphorical moon.

I want to shoot for the moon; because if you actually try you can sometimes accomplish great things.

Even Wernher von Braun aimed a little lower first...

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#56

Post by namank » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 9:50 PM UTC

So 2pm Earth Time for me in North America means afternoon but it means night for Asia?

This might make sense if Earth's communication with extraterrestrial localities significantly outweighed communication across Earth.

But it doesn't.

So, no.

But upvote to the OP for posting an interesting idea. :)

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#57

Post by artpepper » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 9:51 PM UTC

darawk wrote: post #17

Hmm...this is an interesting idea. However, the core of the argument seems to be this: > “The economy — that’s all of us — would receive a permanent ‘harmonization dividend’ ”— the efficiency benefits that come from a unified time zone. But this editorial is pretty light on actually supporting that. The basic argument seems to be that it reduces 'translation costs'. But..does it? What about the benefits of being able…

The real inefficiencies stem from daylight savings, and the fact that (in some places) time zones change for political reasons.

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#58

Post by CalChris » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 9:52 PM UTC

zwily wrote: post #43

edblarney wrote: post #19

The article is upside down. "Perhaps you’re asking why the Greenwich meridian gets to define earth time. " It doesn't. Everybody gets to have their own, proper time. In comparing times, we +/- based on an arbitrary spot, and that's it. Time zones are a great solution to a problem. People want their time in local terms. Everyone waking up and going to bed at different times is an utterly ridiculous concept. FYI - if y…

China does this. They span what would be 3 (edit: 4) time zones in the states (I believe), but are only one.

China has one time zone, Beijing time. It could have 5 timezones:

  UTC+5 on its Western border with Afghanistan
  UTC+9 on its Eastern border with Russia (Harbin province)

http://www.worldtimezone.com/

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#59

Post by twic » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 9:52 PM UTC

pixie_ wrote: post #45

pfarnsworth wrote: post #29

Getting rid of Daylight Savings makes complete sense, and it's something we should really pursue. Getting rid of Time Zones is ridiculous. People know that 6am roughly is morning, and 6pm is roughly the evening. When you're dealing with someone internationally, you know not to call them at midnight their time because there's a high probability they may be sleeping. Having time roughly follow a standard around the wor…

We need permanent daylight savings time. Yesterday sunset was around 6pm in LA. Today it will be at 5pm. At least I had a little bit of daylight after work, now it's just depressing.

We need midday to be roughly the average of when the sun is at its highest across the year. I think that corresponds to permanent standard time.

If that leaves people working later in the day than they'd like, then we also need different working hours in the winter.

Re: Time to Dump Time Zones

#60

Post by nealmydataorg » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 9:53 PM UTC

It will be difficult for all the countries to agree to dump time zones. If they agree then adjustment of computer systems will bring time similar to Y2K effect.