# Anno...What? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 16, 2016, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910 "2016-05-16T11:41:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/21 "2016-05-16T21:53:44Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The day that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the moon. That’s a nice one! Much more cheerful than using the first nuclear explosion (Trinity test) as the new starting point. (More than one science fiction writer has used that as the basis for a new dating system.) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/22 "2016-05-16T21:59:42Z")
What will actually happen, I suppose, is that as the entire globe marches toward a union of the diverse oligarchies, a central despot-in-name-only will, as an executive edict, declare that a new calendar starts now. Didn’t Napoleon do that in France, which caught on there for a few years, but nobody joined in. ---
**Author:** ![Totenfeier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Totenfeier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totenfeier)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/23 "2016-05-16T22:11:58Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > What will actually happen, I suppose, is that as the entire globe marches toward a union of the diverse oligarchies, a central despot-in-name-only will, as an executive edict, declare that a new calendar starts now. > > Didn’t Napoleon do that in France, which caught on there for a few years, but nobody joined in. Um…unfortunately, I’m with you on the “diverse oligarchies” thing… ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/24 "2016-05-16T22:37:04Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > How about we use Unix time for everything? I’m pretty sure this is going to be the correct answer in retrospect. The official start of time is 00:00:00 Jan 1, 1970 UTC. We meatbags just mostly haven’t noticed yet, since our machines are kind enough to convert things into the various calendars we think we use. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/25 "2016-05-16T22:55:38Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > What will actually happen, I suppose, is that as the entire globe marches toward a union of the diverse oligarchies, a central despot-in-name-only will, as an executive edict, declare that a new calendar starts now. > > Didn’t Napoleon do that in France, which caught on there for a few years, but nobody joined in. Actually Bonaparte _restored the Gregorian Calendar_, after a prior revolutionary government (the “Convention”) established a “rational” [Republican Calendar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar) with, but of course, a decimal week and decimal hours of the day. Those Enlightenment dudes did not know where to quit revolutionizing and enlightening others even if it killed them (which is how they wound up getting Napoleon… he must have figured a Civil Law Code and metric weights and measures were good enough for standardizing the things that needed standardizing, so why keep antagonizing regular folk and the church). ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/26 "2016-05-16T23:13:57Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > There are all kinds of reasons why a life form could be as advanced as we are, and have little or no concept of “outer space”. A planet where the sky is always completely obscured by dense clouds would not have established an astronomy as early s we did, even before we had settled agriculture or portable wealth. > > Exploring outer space is not a unique and exclusive measure of intellectual development Well the OP mentioned space aliens and I riffed off that. If we bump into aliens in space and they ask “how old are you” do they mean how old is life on Earth or how long have we been living in space? Anyhoo, could a technologically advanced species develop completely obscured by dense clouds? I don’t know. Here on Earth we wouldn’t have oxygen without photosynthesis, and oxygen is pretty handy for lots of things. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/27 "2016-05-17T00:10:48Z")
The photosynthesizing organisms could live in the top levels of the clouds, with the surface and pelagic organisms being consumers (animals) or fungi equivalents. Sent from my LG-V410 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/28 "2016-05-17T00:28:42Z")
Moment Zero was noon UTC on January 1, 4713 BC. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/29 "2016-05-17T04:48:43Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > How about we use Unix time for everything? Or how about September 1, 1993, the first day of [Eternal September](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September)? – Posted on September 8294, 1993. (ETA: P.S. to Linux users: See if you have the command _sdate_ on your system.) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/30 "2016-05-17T06:27:37Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The day that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the moon. Not the best choice in my opinion. Rather than the portentous beginning we considered it at the time, it has since diminished to the status of an increasingly remote historical event. Meanwhile, it seems that, in the area of space exploration, a kind of reverse Moore’s law has taken hold. What were once perceived as reasonably scaleable and easy “next steps” for human crewed space travel are now proving more and more difficult. For example, it’s my understanding that we **still** lack the technical know-how to get to Mars, particularly with regard to protecting the crew from cosmic rays as well as the higher energy end of the solar spectrum. Anyway. We already have a non-religious substitute for AD, namely C.E. for “Common Era”. Actually this works well not only as a non-religious expression, but also for religious people wanting an expression that is not centered on one particular faith. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/31 "2016-05-17T11:56:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Moment Zero was noon UTC on January 1, 4713 BC. That’s only for astronomers, and even they don’t always use it. For those who don’t get it, see [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_day) ---
**Author:** ![Chihuahua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Chihuahua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chihuahua)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/32 "2016-05-17T14:12:51Z")
Birth of the glorious leader Kim! No, not really. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/33 "2016-05-17T14:19:48Z")
Another problem with our current system for marking the passage of time is that it’s dependent on knowing what a year means. We can describe this in a neutral way by using the SI definition of a second and then relating that to days and years. And for longer periods, we might express time periods in terms of the half-lives of various isotopes. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/34 "2016-05-17T14:25:48Z")
Ford? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/35 "2016-05-17T14:50:36Z")
What is a non sequitur, Alex? I’ll take Potent Potables for $200. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/36 "2016-05-17T14:52:59Z")
I’m sorry. The response we were looking for was " What is Brave New World… " ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/37 "2016-05-17T20:39:20Z")
Let’s pick the year 0 (or 1?) to be the very first year when we can positively and specifically point to as the “start” of recorded history. I don’t know what that might be. A record of a comet that we can calculate was visible on some specific year? Tree rings that could be counted back to … whenever it might be? I suppose, then, that we’d be in perpetual danger of finding even older stuff that we can date to an even earlier year. How about the dinosaur killing asteroid impact? That was a big day for our shrewish ancestors and for us! ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/38 "2016-05-17T21:10:06Z")
Columbus’s voyage to the New World was a major turning point in history. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/39 "2016-05-17T22:13:02Z")
Let’s see- Earth does have some natural Ice Ages happening every so often that could be used as an objective measure. The Quaternary Glaciation being the latest. Sadly, the count is about a couple of millions of years long. So, how about separating the years in ages based on some highly influential development of the human race. For instance, From the invention of writing with the Jiahu symbols (6600 BC) to the development of the printing press (1440 AD) and from there to the development of the Internet (with the release of the WWW’s source code in 1993) So happy year 23 A.W.W.W, everyone. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910/40 "2016-05-17T22:49:36Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I suppose, then, that we’d be in perpetual danger of finding even older stuff that we can date to an even earlier year. Then go with the Big Bang. Won’t find anything earlier than that. > [@](#): > > How about the dinosaur killing asteroid impact? That was a big day for our shrewish ancestors and for us! Those shrewish ancestors probably didn’t think so at the time. This did occur to me, and it definitely happened at a single time, but we don’t know when it was to closer than about 10,000 years. > [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > Let’s see- > > Earth does have some natural Ice Ages happening every so often that could be used as an objective measure. The Quaternary Glaciation being the latest. Sadly, the count is about a couple of millions of years long. They didn’t start or end in any specific year. It was all gradual changes. > [@](#): > > So, how about separating the years in ages Oooh, that’s a good idea. How about counting from the time Sauron was defeated. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anno-what/754910.md?page=3)