Escaping Time

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Recommended: Opposing side of transhumanism

With each passing moment, each ticking of the clock, any instance, whether significant or not, comes and goes and can never be taken back. With this, each moment in our lives should be cherished and spent wisely for our days are numbered. However, how people use their time as well as their perception of time has changed drastically over the past century. Recently, it has come into question whether or not the rate at which changes in society has been increasing. Since the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, mankind as a whole has gone farther than most people could have ever imagined. By looking back and evaluating the evolution of time’s impact on technology and culture as well as understanding how it is possible to be where we are, technologically, in the present time, there is no doubt that change is rapidly increasing. When this change will stop or slow however, is unknown. Julian Huxley believes that, whether he [man] wants to or not, whether he is conscious of what he is doing or not, he is in the point of fact determining the future direction of evolution on this earth (Huxley, 1957). It is possible that one day the direction of this evolution will lead to a human species transcendent of itself, something “transhuman”. If so, how this could affect the prominence and function of time within our culture could be immense.
Before the clock had become a more prominent device in society, time was measured in a multitude of ways, most commonly in relation to processes of the “working day”. Before a clock was used to convey us the time, the crowing of a rooster could indicate the beginning and ending of a day and the sundial could show the time of the day in accordance with the position of the sun. The notion of ...

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Hargreaves, S. (2013, July 29). Why we're working less than our parents did.
Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/29/news/ economy/working-fewer-hours/ Huxley, J. (1957). Transhumanism. (pp. 10-17). New York: Harper & Brothers

Lederberg, J. (1963). Biological future of man. (pp. 263-273). Little, Brown and Co.
Retrieved from https://ia700400.us.archive.org/9/ items/manhisfutureciba00wols/ manhisfutureciba00wols.pdf

Thompson, E. P. (1967). Time, work-discipline, and industrial capitalism. Past &
Present , 38, 56-97. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/649749

(2012). Hurricane sandy: Hackers, a satellite dish and an ikea canteen. OCHA,
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