Changing Times

Time flies when you're having fun. At least that's what they say. Time is relative. They say that too.

I guess they're true. Both of the statements. The first by the average citizen and the second by the physicists among us.

And time is adjustable. My watch told me that. Not simply that my watch is adjustable, but that it clearly has its own view of time – a view that goes beyond the standard recording and reporting of the moment's passage.

My watch stops from time to time. The battery's fine but the watch has decided that things are going too quickly. And it sometimes falls behind what the other timepieces say. It's in no rush. At other times it moves in what most of us would consider a more normal manner.

My watch is a metaphor. Times are moving too quickly. Science, especially electronic technology, is surpassing our ability to take it all in and to understand how it's to be used and why it is necessary – apart from its part in making more money for the inventors and the manufacturers. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's an awful strain on our senses and abilities. And on the law. New devices weren't considered when most of them were written, and the rules concerning their use weren't formulated. It boils down to the sad truth that we can't keep up, so it's better to slow down. But we don't.

Other areas of science are also moving forward rapidly. Medical diagnostic tools and therapies are coming on the scene and are certainly helpful, but they're expensive. And the debate about the use of limited resources is causing ethical problems never considered in the past. It's better to slow down and catch our breath. My watch does that. But ethicists (often self-styled as such) move forward rapidly – often with conflicting views. Take your choice. It doesn't matter anyway. What will be will be. The ethicists will tell you you're morally wrong if you disagree with them. And your watch will do the same choose to if you pay it no mind.

Additionally, changing quickly as well are language, social relationships, our images of what (and who) is around us, politics, competitors in sports events and business (and everything else) among other things. We live in fast-moving times. And, notwithstanding what I've said about it, my watch also moves too fast at times. There are certain things I'm used to doing and they seem to take longer than they used to. I've decided that it's because my watch is recording time faster than it used to. It can't be because I'm slowing down. That's a foolish idea.

As I said, time is relative. And its velocity seems proportional to age. When your age is low the days move slowly. As you age, time speeds up. And when you're near the end of the cycle the hours go by too quickly (possibly, in part, because you're nodding off too much). The better reaction is to focus on what you're doing and leave your watch to its own devices (and its own device). There's nothing you can do about it anyway. I know that because it's what the physicists say. And they have all the time in the world to ponder the universe.

August 3, 2017