Solar accurate timekeeping to borrow from theh future

imagine if time keeping were not based on standardised time zones and instead on your precise geographic location – solar-accurate time

Good but boring time system

let us first understand current time keeping system.
we have a Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) running on atomic clocks where time zones are politically set according to which a agreed upon offset is added based on approximate solar time difference.
seamless for global communications, digital infrastucture, with extreme accuracy across the complete clock network. but notice “politically set”? yes the timezone boudaries are very arbritrary and contradictory at some places even. also it does not align very well with the solar cycle and hence we add leap seconds and leap years.

but the biggest problem. IT IS NOT FUN!

Solar-accurate timekeeping

In our new system, we assume that our tech is extremely ahead of its time and not limiting us. We track exact solar time based on exact gps coordinates on the planet, mainly the longitude becoming the offset. Every coordinate has a “true local time” and moving across space actually means changing your own local time. Time is now relative.

What happens next?

• Noon for you always means the Sun is exactly overhead
• The person sitting across the floor is actually few seconds ahead/behind you
• Coordinating a time to do literally anything with other people is a nightmare (FUN)
  • but considering if the world evolved like this the technology is there to assist in communicating only in terms of your local time.
  • like live translation, anytime someone mentions some time (relative to them and their future location) it gets translated to a relative time in your location.
  • scheduling is very much dependent on your future location
• If you start from the east of your destination and move westwards fast enough, you can reach at the same time or even earlier than the time you started
  • This implies you borrowed time from the future when you actually move back eastwards, you lose more time than you travel (SUPER FUN)
• Yes Einstein would have really loved this method of timekeeping as now everything is literally a practical of general relativity

Now that is FUN.

XKCD like comic showing the chaos of the idea