Re: Standardized World Chronology

Gentlemen - 

With all due respect, you timeframe seems to be way 'out of whack.' 
Total agriculture ecological systems collapse due to loss of topsoil
worldwide is predicted within 15-20 years.  With our water systems
(aquifers, rivers, streams) being polluted at an unprecedented rate by
toxic poisons, it may be that even this estimate of 15 -25 years is too
conservative, or so I have been told.  Lead has infiltrated many wells in
Africa but as there is no other source of water, people are forced to
drink from them.

As well, our coral reefs and rain forests, which form the the bottom of
our food chain are being depleted at an unprecedented rate.  They also
play a role, which we do not yet understand, in regulating the 'earth's
systems.  Within 20 years or less, these systems will have been decimated
to the point where they are no longer able to work effectively.

I don't know if it will be of benefit to you, but R. Buckminster Fuller,
Ph.D. prior to his death published a 'Chronology of Scientific
Discoveries and Artifacts' covering the period from Ancient - 4,000 B.C.
until 1979; and a 'Chronological Inventory of Prominent Scientific,
Technological, Economic, and Political World Events from 1895 to 1980 in
his book, 'Critical Path' which is now out of publication.  The book was
available through: St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York,  N.Y.,
10010.  

With best regards,

marguerite 


Marguerite Hampton
Executive Director - Turtle Island Institute
EcoPilgrim@juno.com
http://tii-kokopellispirit.org
  

     

 

    


On Tue, 13 Feb 2001 17:24:38 -0500 (EST) "colin s. cavell"
<cscpo@polsci.umass.edu> writes:
> 
> Timothy,
> 
> Wonderful suggestion!  I've been interested in this line of inquiry 
> for
> some time now, though you have articulated it publicly.  There is 
> already,
> as far as I know, at least one other suggested framework for
> reconstructing how we view the passage of time, see:
> <http://simpleage.com/>.  As well, there is an interesting article 
> about
> time at the following URL 
> <http://205.160.244.10/~vnn2/TIME_ht.htm>.
> 
> Displacing the current hegemony of the Christian time framework is 
> perhaps
> unthinkable within the next 100 years or so, at a minimum (barring 
> some
> major catastrophe of worldwide significance). As such, a more 
> positive
> tactic would be to create an alternative time framework and see if 
> it
> gains adherence by sheer momentum of its logic and scientific use.
> 
> Creating such an alternative could proceed by means of a separate
> listserv dedicated to analyzing alternative proposals.  At the very 
> least,
> such communication regarding time and its passage would at least 
> determine 
> if there are better, more useful, alternatives to pursue.  I would 
> think
> that a minimum of 10-20 years of discussion would be necessary 
> before
> sufficient agreement on an alternative frameword could be formulated 
> and
> then presented publicly; though I may be persuaded otherwise in the
> course of time.
> 
>
_________________________________________________________________________
_____
> Colin S. Cavell                        "The absence of romance in my 
> history
> Department of Political Science        will, I fear, detract 
> somewhat from its
> Thompson Tower                         interest; but if it be judged 
> useful by
> Box 37520                              those inquirers who desire an 
> exact
> University of Massachusetts            knowledge of the past as an 
> aid to the
> Amherst, MA  01003-7520                interpretation of the future, 
> which in
> INTERNET:  cscpo@polsci.umass.edu      the course of human things 
> must resemble
> VOICE:     (413) 546-3408              if it does not reflect it, I 
> shall be
> http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~cscpo   content.  In fine, I have 
> written my
>                                        work, not as an essay which 
> is to win
>                                        the applause of the moment, 
> but as a
>                                        possession for all time."
> 
>                                        --Thucydides, c. 471-400 
> B.C.E.,
>                                        "The History of the 
> Peloponnesian War"
>
=========================================================================
=====
> 
> __________________________________________
> On Mon, 12 Feb 2001, Timothy Comeau wrote:
> 
> > As someone who likes to occasionally dabble in the study of 
> ancient history, I 
> > find all of those BC negative numbers immensensely annoying. It 
> robs me
> > of an ability to appreciate the time spans of things, in the way 
> that I
> > can appreciate the 1000 year difference between the end of the 
> Roman
> > empire and the stirrings of the Italian Renaissance. In BC terms 
> 1000BC
> > and 1AD is a muddled confusion, since there is that invisible 
> border
> > arbitrarily imposed, and as we all know, incorrectly, by the 
> Catholic
> > church. 
> > 
> > Why can't the academic historians get together and work out some 
> kind of 
> > standardized world chronology? Something that would cast ancient 
> history
> > into a positive scale of order. I've done research into this 
> myself, for
> > example, using the Roman Chronology, or the Egyptian in order to 
> "get a
> > feel" for the stretches of human history.
> > 
> > What I'd like to see is historians getting together at a 
> conference and 
> > deciding on a particular day in ancient history when our 
> international
> > chronology could be established. Civilization is what, 10, 000 
> years old
> > approximately? Shouldn't we keep this in mind, have some form of
> > reminder, have an academic chronological system that would make 
> this the
> > 12th of February in the year 10,876 for example (I just made that 
> up to
> > illustrate)? 
> > 
> > This is the year 2755 in the Roman chronology.
> > This is the year 6242 in the Egyptian chronology.
> > This is the year 5762 in the Jewish chronology.
> > This is the year 1421 in the Islamic chronology (changes over to 
> 1422 on 
> > February 25th). 
> > 
> > Using the Egyptian model as an example:
> > 
> > Socrates would have lived from 3771-3840
> > Julius Caesar would have lived from 4141-4197.
> > 
> > The first atomic explosion would have occurred in the year 6186.
> > 
> > As well, I realize that there are considerations that would make 
> it somewhat 
> > inaccurate regarding the Gregorian and  all that, however, what 
> I'm
> > proposing is a sort of Kelvin scale for chronologies - we all use
> > Imperial or Celsius in our daily lives, but scientist use Kelvin 
> to
> > gauge the relative values in the scale. I can't imagine the 
> Christian
> > chronology disappearing anytime soon, since it has achieved a 
> world wide
> > infiltration (last weeks Israeli elections had a 2001 graphic 
> instead of
> > a 5762 one). And we all know that the Jewish and Islamic calendars 
> are
> > lunar, so they don't cross over very well into the solar.
> > 
> > So, in conclusion, what do you all think? Is this do-able?
> > 
> > TIMOTHY COMEAU
> > 
> 
> 


Marguerite Hampton
Executive Director - Turtle Island Institute
EcoPilgrim@juno.com
http://tii-kokopellispirit.org