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From: What you are reading is Philosophy and P Versus NP. on 29 Mar 2010 17:35
Our units of temporal measurement, from seconds on up to months, are
so complicated, assymetrical and disjunctive so as to make coherent
mental reckoning in time all but impossible. Indeed, had some
tyrannical God contrived to enslave our minds to time, to
make it all but impossible for us to escape subjection to sodden
routines and unpleasant surprises, he could hardly have done
better than handing down our present system. It is like a set of
surfaces, like a language in which the simplest thought demands
ornate constructions, useless particles and lengthy circumlocutions.
Unlike the more successful patterns of language
and science, which enable us to face experience boldly or at least
level-headedly, our system of temporal calculation silently and
persistently encourages our terror of time.
From: M Purcell on 29 Mar 2010 18:27
On Mar 29, 2:35 pm, "What you are reading is Philosophy and P Versus
NP." <marty.musa...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Our units of temporal measurement, from seconds on up to months, are
> so complicated, assymetrical and disjunctive so as to make coherent
> mental reckoning in time all but impossible. Indeed, had some
> tyrannical God contrived to enslave our minds to time, to
> make it all but impossible for us to escape subjection to sodden
> routines and unpleasant surprises, he could hardly have done
> better than handing down our present system. It is like a set of
> surfaces, like a language in which the simplest thought demands
> ornate constructions, useless particles and lengthy circumlocutions.
> Unlike the more successful patterns of language
> and science, which enable us to face experience boldly or at least
> level-headedly, our system of temporal calculation silently and
> persistently encourages our terror of time.

I suspect the basic conflict is between cyclical time and linear time.
It is comforting to believe things will continue as they always have
but unfortunatly all things come to an end, even a lifecycle, entropy
increases. We call it progress and are discovering we really can't
predict the future.
From: John Stafford on 29 Mar 2010 19:51
In article
<b54f360a-d7e0-41de-be88-40eb68c928ec(a)y11g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
"What you are reading is Philosophy and P Versus NP."
<marty.musatov(a)gmail.com> wrote:

> Our units of temporal measurement, from seconds on up to months, are
> so complicated, assymetrical and disjunctive so as to make coherent
> mental reckoning in time all but impossible.

I find the metric of $47.23 an hour for my work to be stabilizing enough.
From: What you are reading is Philosophy and P Versus NP. on 29 Mar 2010 21:03
On Mar 29, 4:51 pm, John Stafford <n...(a)droffats.ten> wrote:
> In article
> <b54f360a-d7e0-41de-be88-40eb68c92...(a)y11g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
>  "What you are reading is Philosophy and P Versus NP."
>
>  <marty.musa...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> > Our units of temporal measurement, from seconds on up to months, are
> > so complicated, assymetrical and disjunctive so as to make coherent
> > mental reckoning in time all but impossible.
>
> I find the metric of $47.23 an hour for my work to be stabilizing enough.

472,320 ÷ 1,000 = 472.32 KWH @ 10¢ ea = $47.23

Dear Mr. Stafford:

The value of one hour of your work is consistently equal to the value
of the energy consumed over the period of one month by a 1/2 horse-
power water pump inside a koy pound.

It is very zen.

Martin Michael Musatov
From: Sue... on 29 Mar 2010 21:08
On Mar 29, 5:35 pm, "What you are reading is Philosophy and P Versus
NP." <marty.musa...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Our units of temporal measurement, from seconds on up to months, are
> so complicated, assymetrical and disjunctive so as to make coherent
> mental reckoning in time all but impossible. Indeed, had some
> tyrannical God contrived to enslave our minds to time, to
> make it all but impossible for us to escape subjection to sodden
> routines and unpleasant surprises, he could hardly have done
> better than handing down our present system. It is like a set of
> surfaces, like a language in which the simplest thought demands
> ornate constructions, useless particles and lengthy circumlocutions.
> Unlike the more successful patterns of language
> and science, which enable us to face experience boldly or at least
> level-headedly, our system of temporal calculation silently and
> persistently encourages our terror of time.

What wonderful words! It is so much more liberating
than narrow confining expressions like:

"invariance with respect to time translation gives
the well-known law of conservation of energy"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noether%27s_theorem#Applications

Could I get you to write a few more lines of prose
and mail it to me along with your petrol charge card.

Then I would feel wholly and completely liberated from
the shackles of time and you will forever be my
spiritual guiding light.

Thanks in advance,

Sue...



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