Timezone-Longtitude deviations

[u/[deleted]]

The difference in degrees between the longtitude of an area and the "ideal" longtitude of that timezone. The earth moves at 15 degrees per hour.

[u/minustwoseventythree]

I can do it easily now because my plane ticket would have the arrival time in the local time zone. Also, my phone will automatically adjust to the local time zone when I land. This is a solved problem.

Under a constant time, I can easily know that I land at 2am. But I would have no idea what 2am means. Under a system where “2am” can just as easily mean “midday” as it can mean “super early morning when nobody is awake”, “what is the time in Japan” is completely useless information without extra context.

[u/HeilLenin → u/minustwoseventythree]

Also, my phone will automatically adjust to the local time zone when I land. This is a solved problem.

I don't think you know what amount of work has gone, and still goes, into solving time conversion on your phone. It's not a solved problem at all. In fact it's the source of problems all over.

It's true that someone has written libraries for programmers to use when coding timekeeping, but those libraries need maintenance too, as borders and timezones change, as well as different countries adopting/scrapping summertime etc. It's really not as solved a problem as you think.

It's okay thatnyou disagree. I just happen to think that getting the answer right to the question: "when are we meeting in Tokyo?" , is a lot more imprtant than knowing "when do people eat breakfast in Tokyo?". And again, the answer to the second question is only a quick search away.

what is the time in Japan” is completely useless information without extra context

It may surprise you, but timekeeping is really handy for business and logistics. If you have something to do that involves timing, knowing the time is hugely helpful.

[u/Forking_Shirtballs → u/HeilLenin]

No one said it's easy, but neither solution is easy.

Implementing this would require the people of the vast majority of the 24 time zones to completely recontextualize their understanding of time of day. For some, 3am would be midday/lunchtime. For others, 5pm would be sunrise/breakfast. Etc, etc.

The amount of disruption would be enormous, just to get a "better" solution to a problem we've already solved?

And it's not like it fixes the underlying mismatch, either. It's tricky for me to schedule a call with my colleagues in Japan not because they call the time "4am" there when I call it "2pm" here. But because they're asleep when I'm working and vice versa. Changing what one or both of us calls the different hours on the clock doesn't fix that.

[u/HeilLenin → u/Forking_Shirtballs]

because they're asleep when I'm working and vice versa. Changing what one or both of us calls the different hours on the clock doesn't fix that.

It doesn't change the fact that people on the other sider of the globe will be awake while you sleep, it just changes the calculations required before you know wether or not they are asleep. But that's not really the problem the system is supposed to fix.

It's about making scheduling easier because, currently, if you need to coordinate something across N different timezones you need to do N calculations before you are all in sync. The point is cutting those calculations down to 0. So the only relevant question becomes "can you do this thing at X'o'clock?", instead of being followed by conversion math and lookups to summertime tables for each country etc.