Welcome FHS students! Please check your FHS gmail! We'll use this blog to talk about our summer readings. Sign into Google with your Fairview Schools login. Speak, Never Fall Down, and The Age of Miracles discussion questions are all on this page. Scroll down to find each novel's questions. Then, click on Comment link following the questions you wish to answer. Click on the page links on the left to access additional information.
Discussion Questions for All Novels
Saturday, June 15, 2013
The Age of Miracles 8: Clock-timers or real-timers
8. Did you identify more with the clock-timers or with the real-timers? Which would you be and why?
In order to adapt to the slowing, a majority of the human population switched to “clock-time”, meaning that they lived on twenty-four hour days which were out of sync with the sun. Small groups of rebels stuck with “real time” and adjusted their sleep patterns so that they still woke with the sun and slept beneath the stars. Though it doesn’t seem to be of any significance, the choice between clock-time and real-time had a considerable affect on how people were treated in society. If I were given the choice between clock-time and real-time, I would choose to follow the twenty-four hour day. It seems more logical to follow a strict curriculum instead of constantly changing the schedules. Before clock-time was put into effect, no one knew when to be anywhere. People didn’t go to work, school, or other appointments. The confusion of everyone trying to live on real time would have caused pandemonium. Just the idea that there were people who didn’t follow clock-time caused discrimination and hate crimes similar to the acts against Sylvia on page 225. Though I understand the real-timers’ belief in staying in tune with the sun, I believe that it is more important to adapt to change than try to work against it. People in the far Northern reaches of the world have adapted to live out of touch with the rise and set of the sun, and I believe that in the case of the slowing, it was best that everyone else adapt as well.
As much as I agree with the idea of adapting, I think it belongs on the real-timers side of the argument. When the day/night cycle changes, I think we should as well. We have things to do during the day and things to do at night. Over centuries and centuries we have developed those jobs and they have been glued to a certain time of day. If day becomes night and night becomes day, and it always changes, how do you do the jobs that require light or require darkness (however more uncommon)? There are reasons we don’t mow our lawns or farm at night. The lack of visibility impairs the people trying to work. As much as artificial lighting may help, it does not replace the sun’s endless reach. With the lack of visibility, it becomes harder for people who support the country to do their jobs. Certain events that require light would not be easily planned because of the unpredictable light cycle. Both sides of this issue require adaptation. One side would cost millions in lighting and other faculties needed to operate at night or sleep during the day, and the other would result in lenient schedules. Adaptation is what would need to happen, but adapting to the sun and not against it seems like a cheaper and easier alternative.
I also agree with Caelan more than Bryce. I feel I would be a real timer because they are staying real on what is happening, they aren't faking that nothing is wrong. They are taking a stand and actually facing the problem instead stuck in denial like the clock-timers. I understand that for some people, continuing the same every day routine of doing certain things at certain times would help some people adapt, but the idea of trying to ignore that outside world to fit your own daily schedule seems unnatural. I feel it just depends on the type of person you are and the type of life you live.
In The Age of Miracles, Julia lives in an era when the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow down. With this unexplainable phenomenon comes numerous complications; as the slowing of the earth throws everything previously known about the planet into disarray, people have no choice but to adjust to their new lives. Perhaps one of the most pressing issues humans must address is the fact that the twenty-four-hour day has lengthened, and continues to lengthen, as each day comes to an end. Fourteen days passed after the start of “the slowing”, the days already swelled to thirty hours, when the government was forced to make a decision: Americans would remain living on the twenty-four-hour clock even as the days continued to surpass that length. The people who decided to abide by this arrangement were known as clock-timers, and the few people who chose to stay in-tune with the sun and extend their days referred to themselves as real-timers.
When the government first announced that Americans would continue with twenty-four-hour days, I, along with most of the characters in the book, thought that it was an irrational decision. Julia was in disbelief and her mom states on page 84, “This is never going to work.” How could humans continue to live as usual when the world was changing? It made logical sense to adjust the length of the days as the earth slowed; it seemed reasonable to continue to wake up as the sun rose and go to sleep as it set. However, later in the book, as the days stretched past seventy and eighty hours, it was clear that clock-time was the way to go. The real-timers were forced to adjust their bodies so they could sleep and stay awake for longer periods of time. Their calendars fell weeks behind the clock-timers, as one day for real-timers could end up being three or four for clock-timers. On the other hand, clock-timers were completely out of tune with the sun, and as the days surpassed forty hours, several of their measly twenty-four-hour days could be filled completely with darkness or daylight. As most of society switched to clock-time, the few people who continued to live on real-time were ridiculed, ignored, bullied, and chased out of town, forced to build their own communities that were separate from the rest of the world. Sylvia, a woman in Julia’s neighborhood, had her house vandalized multiple times because of her choice to live on real-time, until eventually she was forced to flee her house and escape to one of the real-time communities.
If I lived in this world, I would definitely choose to be a clock-timer. It is not healthy to force yourself to sleep up to thirty hours a day and stay awake for the same amount of time when our bodies are not accustomed to that schedule. Although clock-timers are out of tune with the sun, they are in-tune with society. Every business, school, and organization chose to run by clock-time, as well as most people. If you wanted to continue living life as normally as possible, meaning having a job, going to school, and shopping, then clock-time is the only reasonable choice. Although I can recognize the appeal of staying in-tune with the sun and being a real-timer, I would rather remain in sync with society and be a clock-timer.
I could identify more with the clock-timers because it is unrealistic in our society today to run on sun. We need to be accurate and precise to the minute so we aren't late or miss crucial appointments because of the ever changing length of a day. Our world cannot function without being precise it would be like if someone but a loaf of bread in the oven and said i’ll put in for about twenty minutes and not setting a timer. If they took it out too early it wouldn't be fully cooked, and if they took it out too late it would be burned. We need the preciseness in our world to be able to meet deadline properly.
I would definitely be a clock-timer because i couldn't stand not knowing when something was going to happen and what time of the day it was. It would be hard to adapt to being awake at night and asleep during the day but I could figure out how to adapt and learn. I couldn't be a real-timer because it would leave me confused and disoriented about where a have to be and when.
As the slowing wears on, it becomes apparent that the people of Julia’s town, along with the rest of the world’s citizenry, must make a decision. Should they seek to stay in tune with their natural circadian rhythms by waking at dawn and sleeping at dusk, or should they continue to govern their sleep schedule by the previously adhered to “24 hour day” that the slowing of the Earth’s rotation has made completely obsolete? Although the so-called “real-timers” were considered outcasts by the majority of the inhabitants of Julia’s town, I found that I identified with the real-timers much more than I did with the clock-timers. My reasoning for wanting to be a real-timer as opposed to a clock-timer is best understood by simply examining the labels given to the two groups of people. By choosing to be a “real-timer,” I would be making a choice to be real. I would be living in my natural human state; I would be choosing to abide by the laws of nature and not by the laws of society. Deciding to be a real-timer might subject me to abusive and possibly even violent behavior from my neighbors and friends. It may even turn my own family against me. However, this would not matter much to me, because I would have peace of mind from knowing that I was living in the “real” world ruled by the rising and setting of the sun, and not in the “fake” world governed only by the tick-tock of a man-made clock. Another incentive for me to support the “real-time” movement would be that it offers the best option to ensure survival, for both myself and the human race as a whole. As Charles Darwin once said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Knowing this, would it make sense for me to be so stubborn as to ignore as colossal of a change as the slowing of the Earth’s rotation? Of course it wouldn’t; I would adapt to my surroundings, to my altered environment. By adapting to the world around us, the rest of the real-timers and I would have an advantage over the clock-timers, who are desperately trying to hold on to their “pre-slowing” way of life. In conclusion, if I were in a situation like the one described in “The Age of Miracles”, I would choose be a “real-timer.”
Ben starts off his response with talking about how he feels he identifies more with the real-timers than the clock-timers. I understand this is an opinion question, but I have things I both agree and disagree with in his well written response. Ben says that one of the reasons he agrees with real-timers is because he says he would be in his “real human state”. I understand his point of view, saying that humans sleep when it’s dark and are awake when it is light. I disagree with this statement, for the 24 hour clock is not “man made” nor fake. The 24 hour day is what nature gave us to live in as of today, a time that we adapted to, not to mock the quote of Charles Darwin he uses. Also, if you were to adapt to the rotation of the Earth slowing, it would take some time to get used to. I could compare it to jet lag, for the sun isn’t aligned with your body. This is what humans would have to adapt to for the rest of their life. Lastly, Ben did not mention the fact that there is not set time, meaning you would never know when to show up to places you need to be. Time is a necessity for humans to survive and Ben, while making valid points about why he would side with real timers, would have trouble being a “real timer”.
In The Age of Miracles, the real-timers are regarded as a sort of rebellion. They stick to the sun, and could get more or less sleep accordingly. From the beginning of humanity, we have woken with the sun and slept under the moon. This is because it was a constant cycle. Every day was nearly identical in time, so our bodies conformed to a day/night schedule. We then would see where the sun was in the sky to see what time it was in day, and everyone bided by that large, unclear clock. When timepieces were created, everything became more finite. Each hour of the day was named, and everyone bided by that time. But, through the changes, the days remained constant.
When the slowing occurred, the day/night cycle was thrown off. The days were no longer constant. Some days would have darkness during the “day” and light during the “night.” Most people stuck to their now incorrect clocks, now longer stuck to the base day/night cycle. There are problems with both sides of this issue. Clock-timers may have trouble doing things during the day if it is dark, and may not be able to sleep at night. Real-timers may have an inconsistent amount of sleep, and will not be in sync with the clock timers (they are a minority). Personally, as I have discovered over the course of writing this blog, I would remain with the day/night schedule of the real-timers. Before we invented clocks and even sundials, we relied on the day and night to tell us when it was time to rest. It was the base measurement that all clocks and time systems were built around. If the length of a foot changed, would the yard change accordingly, or would it remain the same? When the base measurement is changed, it only makes sense to change with it. Adapting is what humans do best, and the real-timers know that.
I don't agree with how adapting to the day night cycle is easier than using clock-time. In our world today we can’t have an inconsistent schedule. We need to have a set time so we know when to do things. If there wasn't clock time the world would be thrown into disarray because people wouldn't be on time or know when to have things done.
Also as the days increased they grew to the length of weeks. No human can survive for weeks without sleep at a time. It wouldn't be healthy for people to live like that. After awhile people would need to sleep during the day and be awake during the night just to live a healthy life.
I definitely identified more with the clock-timers than with the real-timers. The clock-timers’ way of life seemed much more practical and reasonable to me. I am a type-A person, so I like my life to be organized and orderly, and a clock-time community would clearly be much more organized than a real-time community. Soon after the beginning of the slowing, Julia talks about her school schedule saying, “A hasty plan had been devised to push back our start time by ninety minutes, roughly the amount by which we were running behind.” In a community run on real-time, decisions like this one would have to be made every day; there would be no way to plan for the days to come. On clock-time, you could plan for upcoming days just as you normally would have before the slowing. If real-timers did figure out a system that worked for their way of life, everyone would have to take time to learn that new system. This situation would be inconvenient when you could easily stay with the clock-timers’ original system. Large-scale time keeping would also be much easier under clock-time. Real-timers would have no way to tell their age after a couple of years of real-time. They wouldn’t even be able to create a calendar or predict when the seasons will change. All of these matters would be incredibly more convenient under clock-time. Besides clock-time being more convenient, biologically, it is also a much safer way of life. On clock-time, our bodies would be on the same sleep cycle as we have been since the beginning of humanity. Disturbing the sleep cycle could cause many problems. First of all, it would be difficult or, more likely, impossible to truly follow real-time once the days become significantly longer than normal. Humans are designed for twenty-four hour days, so it would be biologically difficult to stay up for twenty or more hours and stay asleep for fifteen or more hours. Also, if people forced themselves to stay awake later in the long day, their minds and bodies wouldn’t be able to function. Mistakes having trivial to life-or-death consequences would constantly be made around the community. Because of fatigue, reactions would be slowed behind the wheel resulting in many more accidents, and people would risk their health by forgetting to take medications. In addition, the timing of medications would be difficult. If someone with high blood pressure had to take medication twice a day before the slowing, they would eventually have to take it three, four, or more times a day under real-time. This varying schedule would become difficult to keep track of. Since the slowing or a situation like the slowing has never occurred, not all affects to human health on real-time can be analyzed, but it is clear that operating under real-time wouldn’t be a good environment for people. The fact that clock-time is more practical, natural, and safe for humans than real-time causes me to identify more with clock-timers than real-timers.
In the Age of Miracles, it was the norm to be a clock-timer. This meant that even though the slowing was occurring, they would still use the normal twenty-four hour day. The group known as the real-timers were thought to be outcasts and rebels. The real-timers tried to adapt to the slowing and stay awake while the sun was up and go to bed when it went down. If I had to choose a side, I would be a clock-timer. This decision is mainly based on the fact that most of the world are also clock-timers. If I were to be a real-timer, I would now longer have any idea of how long was left in the day, except for a crude estimate based on the sun's position in the sky. Also, real-timers would no longer be able to use any type of store, restaurant, or business unless their day also fell on the day of the clock-timers because the companies were advised to run on clock-time, even though some companies ran on real time. I would choose to be on real-time if the days stopped continually growing at around forty hours because I believe that humans would be able to adapt to the slight change over time. As the days grow longer though, it would increasingly get harder to sleep for thirty plus hours and stay awake for just as long. Choosing to be a clock-timer is also not an easy choice, but the practical one. Clock-timers may have to sleep through nights that never get dark, and work on days where the sun never shines. Nevertheless, humans learned to deal with these quagmires. We invented blinds that would make it seem like the sun set, so it would be easier to go to sleep, also in the dark people can always turn on lights to see. No side is perfect, but the clock-timers are the more practical way to go.
In the Age of Miracles, it would be more beneficial to be on clock time due to the fact that most everything is planned around clock time. I would choose to stay on clock time because it is more logical than changing to real time in which you would be awake for an entire day and then sleep for an entire day. Also, I would choose clock time because there would be less hassle in buying food and other products from stores that are only open during clock time. Living according to clock time would also be more hospitable because people wouldn't criticize me for being on real time. Staying on clock time makes more sense because if people live in real time, then they would have to alter their circadian rhythms in order to sleep when the earth is dark and to stay awake the entire time it is light out. Also, the real timers that stay awake during the day time in which it is light out, then they would have to stay indoors later during the slowing because there is radiation that can cause the syndrome in people and other illnesses. Being on clock time is a much simpler solution than switching to real time because real time would just continue to get longer and more impossible to live by. Clock time is easier to live in because every sensible person lives by it and has more of a chance surviving if you are living in the same time as other people. Another reason that clock time is more efficient is because during clock time, all of the stores are opened up to the public which might not be the case of the real timers. The real timers may not be able to get their food for several clock time days which could possibly lead to them having to switch to clock time just so that they can survive with all the necessities that humans need to live. Also, clock timers don’t have to deal with the problems associated with real timers in which they have to deal with ridicule and criticism for being on real time and being different from the clock timers. Therefore, it would be much more simplistic to be on clock time rather than real time. This is due to the facts that it would be much easier to live on clock time by not altering your circadian rhythms to the extent of sleeping a day or two then staying awake for the same amount of time. Also, more stores are open during clock time so that you can still survive with all the necessities that a human needs. That is why I chose to be a clock timer instead of a real timer.
If I could choose between being a clock-timer or real-timer, I would be a clock-timer. I would make this decision due to my reliance on a consistent schedule. The schedule with real-timers would be changing all the time due to every day and night becoming longer and longer. We would have no set schedules, and I cannot stand having no real schedule to follow throughout the day. If we abandoned clock-time altogether, our society would become very disorganized since we would not properly schedule for job shifts. I also doubt that the human body could adapt to staying awake and sleeping for longer periods of time. Perhaps if days had become longer at a much slower rate, perhaps real-timing could have worked a little better. Our civilization works at a very precise, very fast pace, so it cannot just slow down the way the real-timer colonies do. We also would lose track of the years, due to a real-timer year being much longer than a clock-timer year. We then would not be able to accurately designate our individual ages due to real-timers dates being way far behind of a clock-timer. I overall think following a real-timer schedule would be impossible.
I understood the reasoning of the real-timers more than the clock-timers. I feel I would be a real timer because they are staying real on what is happening, they aren't faking that nothing is wrong. They are taking a stand and actually facing the problem instead stuck in denial like the clock-timers. I don't understand how people just ignore the outside world to fit their own schedule. Julia was in disbelief, as was I, and her mom states on page 84, “This is never going to work.” How could humans continue to live as usual when the world was changing? It made more sense to adjust the length of the days as the earth slowed; it seemed reasonable to continue to wake up as the sun rose and go to sleep as it set.
Bryce Yahn
ReplyDeleteIn order to adapt to the slowing, a majority of the human population switched to “clock-time”, meaning that they lived on twenty-four hour days which were out of sync with the sun. Small groups of rebels stuck with “real time” and adjusted their sleep patterns so that they still woke with the sun and slept beneath the stars. Though it doesn’t seem to be of any significance, the choice between clock-time and real-time had a considerable affect on how people were treated in society.
If I were given the choice between clock-time and real-time, I would choose to follow the twenty-four hour day. It seems more logical to follow a strict curriculum instead of constantly changing the schedules. Before clock-time was put into effect, no one knew when to be anywhere. People didn’t go to work, school, or other appointments. The confusion of everyone trying to live on real time would have caused pandemonium. Just the idea that there were people who didn’t follow clock-time caused discrimination and hate crimes similar to the acts against Sylvia on page 225.
Though I understand the real-timers’ belief in staying in tune with the sun, I believe that it is more important to adapt to change than try to work against it. People in the far Northern reaches of the world have adapted to live out of touch with the rise and set of the sun, and I believe that in the case of the slowing, it was best that everyone else adapt as well.
As much as I agree with the idea of adapting, I think it belongs on the real-timers side of the argument. When the day/night cycle changes, I think we should as well. We have things to do during the day and things to do at night. Over centuries and centuries we have developed those jobs and they have been glued to a certain time of day. If day becomes night and night becomes day, and it always changes, how do you do the jobs that require light or require darkness (however more uncommon)? There are reasons we don’t mow our lawns or farm at night. The lack of visibility impairs the people trying to work. As much as artificial lighting may help, it does not replace the sun’s endless reach. With the lack of visibility, it becomes harder for people who support the country to do their jobs. Certain events that require light would not be easily planned because of the unpredictable light cycle. Both sides of this issue require adaptation. One side would cost millions in lighting and other faculties needed to operate at night or sleep during the day, and the other would result in lenient schedules. Adaptation is what would need to happen, but adapting to the sun and not against it seems like a cheaper and easier alternative.
DeleteI also agree with Caelan more than Bryce. I feel I would be a real timer because they are staying real on what is happening, they aren't faking that nothing is wrong. They are taking a stand and actually facing the problem instead stuck in denial like the clock-timers. I understand that for some people, continuing the same every day routine of doing certain things at certain times would help some people adapt, but the idea of trying to ignore that outside world to fit your own daily schedule seems unnatural. I feel it just depends on the type of person you are and the type of life you live.
DeleteIn The Age of Miracles, Julia lives in an era when the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow down. With this unexplainable phenomenon comes numerous complications; as the slowing of the earth throws everything previously known about the planet into disarray, people have no choice but to adjust to their new lives. Perhaps one of the most pressing issues humans must address is the fact that the twenty-four-hour day has lengthened, and continues to lengthen, as each day comes to an end. Fourteen days passed after the start of “the slowing”, the days already swelled to thirty hours, when the government was forced to make a decision: Americans would remain living on the twenty-four-hour clock even as the days continued to surpass that length. The people who decided to abide by this arrangement were known as clock-timers, and the few people who chose to stay in-tune with the sun and extend their days referred to themselves as real-timers.
ReplyDeleteWhen the government first announced that Americans would continue with twenty-four-hour days, I, along with most of the characters in the book, thought that it was an irrational decision. Julia was in disbelief and her mom states on page 84, “This is never going to work.” How could humans continue to live as usual when the world was changing? It made logical sense to adjust the length of the days as the earth slowed; it seemed reasonable to continue to wake up as the sun rose and go to sleep as it set. However, later in the book, as the days stretched past seventy and eighty hours, it was clear that clock-time was the way to go. The real-timers were forced to adjust their bodies so they could sleep and stay awake for longer periods of time. Their calendars fell weeks behind the clock-timers, as one day for real-timers could end up being three or four for clock-timers. On the other hand, clock-timers were completely out of tune with the sun, and as the days surpassed forty hours, several of their measly twenty-four-hour days could be filled completely with darkness or daylight. As most of society switched to clock-time, the few people who continued to live on real-time were ridiculed, ignored, bullied, and chased out of town, forced to build their own communities that were separate from the rest of the world. Sylvia, a woman in Julia’s neighborhood, had her house vandalized multiple times because of her choice to live on real-time, until eventually she was forced to flee her house and escape to one of the real-time communities.
If I lived in this world, I would definitely choose to be a clock-timer. It is not healthy to force yourself to sleep up to thirty hours a day and stay awake for the same amount of time when our bodies are not accustomed to that schedule. Although clock-timers are out of tune with the sun, they are in-tune with society. Every business, school, and organization chose to run by clock-time, as well as most people. If you wanted to continue living life as normally as possible, meaning having a job, going to school, and shopping, then clock-time is the only reasonable choice. Although I can recognize the appeal of staying in-tune with the sun and being a real-timer, I would rather remain in sync with society and be a clock-timer.
I could identify more with the clock-timers because it is unrealistic in our society today to run on sun. We need to be accurate and precise to the minute so we aren't late or miss crucial appointments because of the ever changing length of a day. Our world cannot function without being precise it would be like if someone but a loaf of bread in the oven and said i’ll put in for about twenty minutes and not setting a timer. If they took it out too early it wouldn't be fully cooked, and if they took it out too late it would be burned. We need the preciseness in our world to be able to meet deadline properly.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely be a clock-timer because i couldn't stand not knowing when something was going to happen and what time of the day it was. It would be hard to adapt to being awake at night and asleep during the day but I could figure out how to adapt and learn. I couldn't be a real-timer because it would leave me confused and disoriented about where a have to be and when.
As the slowing wears on, it becomes apparent that the people of Julia’s town, along with the rest of the world’s citizenry, must make a decision. Should they seek to stay in tune with their natural circadian rhythms by waking at dawn and sleeping at dusk, or should they continue to govern their sleep schedule by the previously adhered to “24 hour day” that the slowing of the Earth’s rotation has made completely obsolete? Although the so-called “real-timers” were considered outcasts by the majority of the inhabitants of Julia’s town, I found that I identified with the real-timers much more than I did with the clock-timers. My reasoning for wanting to be a real-timer as opposed to a clock-timer is best understood by simply examining the labels given to the two groups of people. By choosing to be a “real-timer,” I would be making a choice to be real. I would be living in my natural human state; I would be choosing to abide by the laws of nature and not by the laws of society. Deciding to be a real-timer might subject me to abusive and possibly even violent behavior from my neighbors and friends. It may even turn my own family against me. However, this would not matter much to me, because I would have peace of mind from knowing that I was living in the “real” world ruled by the rising and setting of the sun, and not in the “fake” world governed only by the tick-tock of a man-made clock.
ReplyDeleteAnother incentive for me to support the “real-time” movement would be that it offers the best option to ensure survival, for both myself and the human race as a whole. As Charles Darwin once said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Knowing this, would it make sense for me to be so stubborn as to ignore as colossal of a change as the slowing of the Earth’s rotation? Of course it wouldn’t; I would adapt to my surroundings, to my altered environment. By adapting to the world around us, the rest of the real-timers and I would have an advantage over the clock-timers, who are desperately trying to hold on to their “pre-slowing” way of life. In conclusion, if I were in a situation like the one described in “The Age of Miracles”, I would choose be a “real-timer.”
Ben starts off his response with talking about how he feels he identifies more with the real-timers than the clock-timers. I understand this is an opinion question, but I have things I both agree and disagree with in his well written response. Ben says that one of the reasons he agrees with real-timers is because he says he would be in his “real human state”. I understand his point of view, saying that humans sleep when it’s dark and are awake when it is light. I disagree with this statement, for the 24 hour clock is not “man made” nor fake. The 24 hour day is what nature gave us to live in as of today, a time that we adapted to, not to mock the quote of Charles Darwin he uses. Also, if you were to adapt to the rotation of the Earth slowing, it would take some time to get used to. I could compare it to jet lag, for the sun isn’t aligned with your body. This is what humans would have to adapt to for the rest of their life. Lastly, Ben did not mention the fact that there is not set time, meaning you would never know when to show up to places you need to be. Time is a necessity for humans to survive and Ben, while making valid points about why he would side with real timers, would have trouble being a “real timer”.
DeleteIn The Age of Miracles, the real-timers are regarded as a sort of rebellion. They stick to the sun, and could get more or less sleep accordingly. From the beginning of humanity, we have woken with the sun and slept under the moon. This is because it was a constant cycle. Every day was nearly identical in time, so our bodies conformed to a day/night schedule. We then would see where the sun was in the sky to see what time it was in day, and everyone bided by that large, unclear clock. When timepieces were created, everything became more finite. Each hour of the day was named, and everyone bided by that time. But, through the changes, the days remained constant.
ReplyDeleteWhen the slowing occurred, the day/night cycle was thrown off. The days were no longer constant. Some days would have darkness during the “day” and light during the “night.” Most people stuck to their now incorrect clocks, now longer stuck to the base day/night cycle. There are problems with both sides of this issue. Clock-timers may have trouble doing things during the day if it is dark, and may not be able to sleep at night. Real-timers may have an inconsistent amount of sleep, and will not be in sync with the clock timers (they are a minority). Personally, as I have discovered over the course of writing this blog, I would remain with the day/night schedule of the real-timers. Before we invented clocks and even sundials, we relied on the day and night to tell us when it was time to rest. It was the base measurement that all clocks and time systems were built around. If the length of a foot changed, would the yard change accordingly, or would it remain the same? When the base measurement is changed, it only makes sense to change with it. Adapting is what humans do best, and the real-timers know that.
I don't agree with how adapting to the day night cycle is easier than using clock-time. In our world today we can’t have an inconsistent schedule. We need to have a set time so we know when to do things. If there wasn't clock time the world would be thrown into disarray because people wouldn't be on time or know when to have things done.
DeleteAlso as the days increased they grew to the length of weeks. No human can survive for weeks without sleep at a time. It wouldn't be healthy for people to live like that. After awhile people would need to sleep during the day and be awake during the night just to live a healthy life.
I definitely identified more with the clock-timers than with the real-timers. The clock-timers’ way of life seemed much more practical and reasonable to me. I am a type-A person, so I like my life to be organized and orderly, and a clock-time community would clearly be much more organized than a real-time community. Soon after the beginning of the slowing, Julia talks about her school schedule saying, “A hasty plan had been devised to push back our start time by ninety minutes, roughly the amount by which we were running behind.” In a community run on real-time, decisions like this one would have to be made every day; there would be no way to plan for the days to come. On clock-time, you could plan for upcoming days just as you normally would have before the slowing. If real-timers did figure out a system that worked for their way of life, everyone would have to take time to learn that new system. This situation would be inconvenient when you could easily stay with the clock-timers’ original system. Large-scale time keeping would also be much easier under clock-time. Real-timers would have no way to tell their age after a couple of years of real-time. They wouldn’t even be able to create a calendar or predict when the seasons will change. All of these matters would be incredibly more convenient under clock-time.
ReplyDeleteBesides clock-time being more convenient, biologically, it is also a much safer way of life. On clock-time, our bodies would be on the same sleep cycle as we have been since the beginning of humanity. Disturbing the sleep cycle could cause many problems. First of all, it would be difficult or, more likely, impossible to truly follow real-time once the days become significantly longer than normal. Humans are designed for twenty-four hour days, so it would be biologically difficult to stay up for twenty or more hours and stay asleep for fifteen or more hours. Also, if people forced themselves to stay awake later in the long day, their minds and bodies wouldn’t be able to function. Mistakes having trivial to life-or-death consequences would constantly be made around the community. Because of fatigue, reactions would be slowed behind the wheel resulting in many more accidents, and people would risk their health by forgetting to take medications. In addition, the timing of medications would be difficult. If someone with high blood pressure had to take medication twice a day before the slowing, they would eventually have to take it three, four, or more times a day under real-time. This varying schedule would become difficult to keep track of. Since the slowing or a situation like the slowing has never occurred, not all affects to human health on real-time can be analyzed, but it is clear that operating under real-time wouldn’t be a good environment for people. The fact that clock-time is more practical, natural, and safe for humans than real-time causes me to identify more with clock-timers than real-timers.
In the Age of Miracles, it was the norm to be a clock-timer. This meant that even though the slowing was occurring, they would still use the normal twenty-four hour day. The group known as the real-timers were thought to be outcasts and rebels. The real-timers tried to adapt to the slowing and stay awake while the sun was up and go to bed when it went down. If I had to choose a side, I would be a clock-timer. This decision is mainly based on the fact that most of the world are also clock-timers. If I were to be a real-timer, I would now longer have any idea of how long was left in the day, except for a crude estimate based on the sun's position in the sky. Also, real-timers would no longer be able to use any type of store, restaurant, or business unless their day also fell on the day of the clock-timers because the companies were advised to run on clock-time, even though some companies ran on real time. I would choose to be on real-time if the days stopped continually growing at around forty hours because I believe that humans would be able to adapt to the slight change over time. As the days grow longer though, it would increasingly get harder to sleep for thirty plus hours and stay awake for just as long. Choosing to be a clock-timer is also not an easy choice, but the practical one. Clock-timers may have to sleep through nights that never get dark, and work on days where the sun never shines. Nevertheless, humans learned to deal with these quagmires. We invented blinds that would make it seem like the sun set, so it would be easier to go to sleep, also in the dark people can always turn on lights to see. No side is perfect, but the clock-timers are the more practical way to go.
ReplyDeleteIn the Age of Miracles, it would be more beneficial to be on clock time due to the fact that most everything is planned around clock time. I would choose to stay on clock time because it is more logical than changing to real time in which you would be awake for an entire day and then sleep for an entire day. Also, I would choose clock time because there would be less hassle in buying food and other products from stores that are only open during clock time. Living according to clock time would also be more hospitable because people wouldn't criticize me for being on real time.
ReplyDeleteStaying on clock time makes more sense because if people live in real time, then they would have to alter their circadian rhythms in order to sleep when the earth is dark and to stay awake the entire time it is light out. Also, the real timers that stay awake during the day time in which it is light out, then they would have to stay indoors later during the slowing because there is radiation that can cause the syndrome in people and other illnesses. Being on clock time is a much simpler solution than switching to real time because real time would just continue to get longer and more impossible to live by. Clock time is easier to live in because every sensible person lives by it and has more of a chance surviving if you are living in the same time as other people. Another reason that clock time is more efficient is because during clock time, all of the stores are opened up to the public which might not be the case of the real timers. The real timers may not be able to get their food for several clock time days which could possibly lead to them having to switch to clock time just so that they can survive with all the necessities that humans need to live. Also, clock timers don’t have to deal with the problems associated with real timers in which they have to deal with ridicule and criticism for being on real time and being different from the clock timers.
Therefore, it would be much more simplistic to be on clock time rather than real time. This is due to the facts that it would be much easier to live on clock time by not altering your circadian rhythms to the extent of sleeping a day or two then staying awake for the same amount of time. Also, more stores are open during clock time so that you can still survive with all the necessities
that a human needs. That is why I chose to be a clock timer instead of a real timer.
If I could choose between being a clock-timer or real-timer, I would be a clock-timer. I would make this decision due to my reliance on a consistent schedule. The schedule with real-timers would be changing all the time due to every day and night becoming longer and longer. We would have no set schedules, and I cannot stand having no real schedule to follow throughout the day. If we abandoned clock-time altogether, our society would become very disorganized since we would not properly schedule for job shifts. I also doubt that the human body could adapt to staying awake and sleeping for longer periods of time. Perhaps if days had become longer at a much slower rate, perhaps real-timing could have worked a little better.
ReplyDeleteOur civilization works at a very precise, very fast pace, so it cannot just slow down the way the real-timer colonies do. We also would lose track of the years, due to a real-timer year being much longer than a clock-timer year. We then would not be able to accurately designate our individual ages due to real-timers dates being way far behind of a clock-timer. I overall think following a real-timer schedule would be impossible.
I understood the reasoning of the real-timers more than the clock-timers. I feel I would be a real timer because they are staying real on what is happening, they aren't faking that nothing is wrong. They are taking a stand and actually facing the problem instead stuck in denial like the clock-timers. I don't understand how people just ignore the outside world to fit their own schedule. Julia was in disbelief, as was I, and her mom states on page 84, “This is never going to work.” How could humans continue to live as usual when the world was changing? It made more sense to adjust the length of the days as the earth slowed; it seemed reasonable to continue to wake up as the sun rose and go to sleep as it set.
ReplyDelete