You did the right thing, Uncle Ken, that's all that matters. It would have been nice to have your virtuous act publicly acknowledged, but that's not the main reason we do the right thing. We do the right thing because it is the right thing.
I read in the paper the other day that someone has proposed that we establish one or more time zones on the moon. Apparently, when people go to the moon now, they keep their watches set to the time back home. Now that several different countries are making plans to go to the moon, it would be more convenient for everybody who is there at the same time to be on moon time. That got me to thinking. If I call Uncle Ken in Chicago shortly after midnight tonight, it will not only be an hour ago to him, but it will also be yesterday. Nevertheless, it will still be "now" for both of us. I seem to remember that it takes a radio signal nine minutes to travel to Mars. I suppose there is a similar time lag between Earth and the Moon, albeit a shorter one. I think this goes beyond a simple time differential, it's also a "now" differential. It's now on the Earth at the moment the signal is transmitted, and it's now on the Moon when the signal is received. The time that the signal spends traveling through space is not now for either location, but it's now for the signal. I wonder if the people who are planning to establish moon time have thought of this.
No comments:
Post a Comment