off topic: new car advice for senior
Don Y wrote:
On 10/6/2015 9:18 PM, Muggles wrote:
The solution hasn't really changed. But, how you think about it and how
you approach it has. Some people get (got!) too wired to the previous
procedural approach and weren't able to adopt this other way of
viewing problems. They kept wanting to think in "old terms".
I remember a past discussion about quantum physics in another group, and
it went along the lines of how do we measure time in deep space.
Someone brought up the idea that time had a curve to it, and with that
the discussion got VERY interesting (and fascinating for me, any way).
I noticed that some people were entrenched in particular ideas about
time, but a few people actually enjoyed discussing the possibilities and
"what-ifs" on the subject.
Some years ago, I posed what I thought was a (deceptively) "simple"
question regarding how we think of "local time" -- given that we
have control over our (individual) "timepieces".
E.g., my timepiece claims it is 11:25-ish. If I want to do something
at 12:00, that is ~35 minutes hence. So, I can think of it as being
tied to "12:00".
But, if I change my timepiece's notion of "now" to indicate 11:45,
what does that mean for that "12:00" event? Is it, suddenly, just
15 minutes hence? Or, is it really a 12:20 event, now?
I.e., how do you note which times (events) are "relative" (and, the
reference against which they relate) vs. "absolute"? How would the
answers to the above questions change if I'd said "If I want to do
something ~35 minutes hence" instead of "at 12:00"?
Think also of *dates* in the future. An appointment 3 days hence
is supposed to occur on 9 Oct. But, if I mark an appointment for
9 Oct and later decide my clock is off by a day, how do I know
whether that "9 Oct" appointment should be moved (to reflect
"3 days hence" vs. "on 9 Oct"?
[It's a very subtle difference but has profound consequences when you
are instructing a machine to do something at a particular "time"...
esp given that *YOU* can change that machine's notion of the *current*
time!]
And, now it's "time for SOAP!" :
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