As
scientists and philosophers debate the meaning of time and seek to understand
the relationship of time to things like space, distance, and matter, ordinary
humans have a different conflict to iron out: How to record time.
Watches
are giving way to cellphones. For the past year I put my watch in a drawer and
relied on the digital glow of my iphone4 to tell me what time it was. Or I’d
glance at my computer screen. Or my TV screen. It seems time is all around us,
except on our wrists.
Now
there’s chatter about a smartwatch, where you essentially wear a phone around
your hand, ala Dick Tracey.
But
I decided to go back to my watch the other day. I plunked down 15 bucks at a
nearby jeweler and had them install a new battery. Do people still wind their
watches?
I
now feel like I have an ornament on my hand, more decoration than a functioning
tool of precise measurement. Someone asked me what time it was (he must have
forgotten his phone) and instead of glancing at my watch, I whipped out my
smartphone to reveal it was 8:34.
Though
I cling to newspapers, magazines, and books made of paper and held in my hands, I realize
that I cling to the old world. It’s hard to give up what you like, what you are
used to. After having known print, I don’t crave digital, but truthfully if I
was born today, I think I’d only go to the digital world.
It’s
faster.
It’s
cheaper.
It’s
updated more frequently.
It’s
the new norm.
Never
mind that flipping through print has its advantages when it comes to discovery.
Never mind the eyes need a screen-break. Never mind that the Internet seems at
times to be less accurate or centralized or authoritative. Digital is where
it’s at for the new and uninitiated humans.
My
watch is the same thing, in terms of where it stands in society. A watch used
to serve a purpose and now it’s been replaced by our myriad devices that keep
time down to the nuclear nano-second. You simply don’t need a watch -- unless you
are in a place that doesn’t allow cellphone usage or your battery runs dry.
But
your watch can serve as an accessory, a piece of jewelry.
People still hold onto watches. They feel sentimental. Someone gave them a
watch as a gift or heirloom. They can recall learning to tell time by looking
at a watch or clock with a second hand. But cards on the table: Do we really
need a separate device to tell time any more than we need a second wallet or
purse?
I
wonder how today’s younger generation will respond to the day when cellphones
become obsolete, and when any of the devices or tools they’ve come to rely on give
way to other forms of communication or entertainment. The one thing that will
make it easier for youths to transition to the next new thing is that they’ve
been trained to accept, even look for, the next new thing at a far more rapid
pace than past generations. What used to be a 30-40 year cycle of change now
comes in the length of a holiday shopping season.
There
is a pattern to things. First, develop a new technology -- a TV, a radio, a
computer, a phone. Next, make it smaller, portable, faster, cheaper. Add more
capability and functionality. Then combine multiple devices into one unit.
Then, create something so new and different that it shelves the other devices.
My
watch is ticking today, but time is running out for it. What used to serve a
need and purpose is now just an ornament. Perhaps next time the watch won’t be
replaced, but humans will.
BOOK EXCERPT
Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do
by:
Michael Sandel
Life
in democratic societies is rife with disagreement about right and wrong,
justice and injustice. Some people favor abortion rights and others consider
abortion to be murder. Some believe fairness requires taxing the rich to help
the poor, while others believe it is unfair to tax away money people earned
through their own efforts. Some defend affirmative action in college admissions
as a way of righting past wrongs, whereas others consider it an unfair form of
reverse discrimination against people who deserve admission on their merits.
Some people reject the torture of terror suspects as a moral abomination
unworthy of a free society, while others defend it as a last resort to prevent
a terrorist attack.
Elections
are won and lost on these disagreements. The so-called culture wars are fought
over them. Given the passion and intensity with which we debate moral questions
in public life, we might be tempted to think that our moral convictions are
fixed once and for all, by upbringing of faith, beyond reach of reason.
But
if this were true, moral persuasion would be inconceivable, and what we take to
be public debate about justice and rights would be nothing more than a volley
of dogmatic assertions, an ideological food fight.
At
its worst, our politics come close to this condition. But it need not be this
way. Sometimes, an argument can change our minds.
How,
then, can we reason our way through the contested terrain of justice and
injustice, equality and inequality, individual rights and the common good?
One
way to begin is to notice how moral reflection emerges naturally from an
encounter with a hard moral question. We start with an opinion, or a conviction
about the right thing to do: “Turn the trolley onto this side track.” Then we
reflect on the reason for our conviction, and seek out the principle on which
it was based: “Better to sacrifice one life to avoid the death of many.” Then,
confronted with a situation that confounds the principle, we are pitched into
confusion: “I thought it was always right to save as many lives as possible,
and yet it seems wrong to push the man off the bridge (or to kill the unarmed
goat-herds).” Feeling the force of that
confusion, and the pressure to sort it out, is the impulse to philosophy.
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Brian Feinblum’s
views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of
his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter
@theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This
is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2013
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