The Abolishment of Time Zones

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Just a little essay I wrote last year. I haven't thought about it much lately and it doesn't take the theory of relativity into account at all but here it is for your reading pleasure.

The Abolishment of Time Zones (Draft version 2)

Time zones are unneeded relics of an ancient period in our history and have no real purpose and only serve to confuse the concept of time and inhibit international relationships. I will show this by explaining how time zones were probably formed and the multitude of problems they present. As you read this you probably have no idea what I am talking about as you are so indoctrinated into the system that you are unable to see the stupidity of the system without someone to illuminate the truth.


Time zones divide the world into a number of equal segments of the same time. This is believed to make the world easier to live in but does not function appropriately as it marred by a few simple facts.

In fact time zones aren’t even equal. They have squiggly borders and can be disjointed. In some places a time zone can be preceded and succeeded by the same other time zone. Time zones are also morphed to fit a country’s borders. Due to this Cape Town has the same time as Johannesburg even though when tracing a line north from Cape Town you will enter the correct time zone for Cape Town.

Noon (12:00) has always been known as when the sun is directly overhead. Following on that, it is fairly obvious noon occurs at different places at different times, since the sun is in a fixed position relative to the earth and the earth is a rotating sphere. That would support the idea of time zones but, since even a metre’s difference, or smaller for that matter, between two places will affect the occurrence of noon, noon will occur at different times in the same time zone. By that noon is not a sufficient reason to divide the world into time zones.

The reasoning of using noon is, anyway, an entirely archaic measure of time relying on the position of the sun. The sun’s position has no real effect on time and it should therefore be discarded in favour of more advanced methods of measuring the passage of time (which unfortunately is only a concept). It is a fact that the speed of the earth’s rotation is changing due to the effects of gravity in the universe. In fact days are getting longer by twenty seconds every million years. Therefore if we rely on old-fashioned methods such as sundials to determine time, time itself will actually change. That is not supposed to happen. It’s ridiculous to assume that if the earth stays in one position time will stop, which is exactly what you suggest by subscribing to any theory of time measurement which uses the sun, and its light, as a reference point.

Since we must discard the sun as measure of time it is blatantly obvious that time will be the same for any place on the planet. That is reason enough to hopefully convince you of the stupidity and absolutely illogical thought that went into the creation of this system. Do you really think the earth was created sliver by sliver? Of course not! It was created evenly.

The International Date Line occurs because of our use of time zones and must be eliminated with all haste. How can it be a different day on one side and not on the other side? Crossing an invisible line doesn’t change the date. Time zones and the International Date Line are in arbitrary positions that have no purpose.


Since there is no reason for time zones to exist they should be phased out and the world should use a single time. While this would be a radical change it will be of benefit to the world for a number of reasons.

It will be far easier to plan international schedules when you can specify a time without calculating time zone differences between a number of places. Since globes have an attachment showing the position of the sun on the world you will still be able to determine whether the country is in daylight or not. As it is you’ll soon learn the sun rises at 13:20 at X and at 21:00 at Y. In this day of more international co-operation a system like that will remove a lot of confusing calculations and streamline networking. There will also be no need for websites to waste space with settings asking for your time zone in order to display the correct time.

If the entire planet uses a single fixed time many small hassles will also fade away. For example, when travelling around the globe there will be no need to waste time resetting your watch at each destination. Another benefit will be that you won’t phone your relatives in the middle of the night. The reason this occurs is that you look at the clock and see that it is lunch time and the suns up and phone without considering that your relatives are on the opposite side of the planet. But, if we use a single time you will look at your watch and see it’s 16:00, lunch time and the sun is up but will also say to yourself, ‘At home the sun is down at 16:00’ and know not to phone as your relatives are sleeping. Sports are a big event worldwide and wouldn’t it be nice to hear that the final match is starting at a certain time without needing to wonder if that is the time in the host country or the time in your country.

The change will be a lot of hard work especially with records such that include times such as births and deaths but the longer we delay the bigger an issue it will be to eliminate time zones in the future. I do believe they will be eliminated and we will adopt a universal standard of time. I say that because of places like the North and South Pole. They are at the point where the time zones converge. What time is it there? At the point where the time zones converge it is undefined, or is there a circular time zone? There should be no question about that. As technology advances we are looking toward space travel. What time is it on the moon? The time of whatever country it’s over? What about the time on other planets? If we adopt one system of time we can streamline all of these issues and prevent the occurrence of complications in planning.


For these reasons I call for immediate action to draw up a plan to eliminate time zones. It’s the way of the future. We must act now or suffer the consequences. Soon we will be overcome by confusion and uncertainty. As humanity has advanced it has one by one discarded the outdated and unneeded ideas. Why should something that has such a big impact on our lives be allowed to perpetrate its lie for so long?

[Dracius]

Wow Raki, thats a pretty interesting discussion about time zones. I love the point you put down where if the earth stood still, time doesnt exactly stop.

*applaudes* well done ^..^ hope you got a decent score for this assignment.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

It wasn't an assignment. I just wrote it for myself and to convince others the system is messed up.

[Dracius]

Oh.. My bad. ^^;;

[Denim]

Actually, your essay makes it quite clear why we need timezones :p

Judging time of day by the position of the sun is, perhaps, archaic, but it's necessary. It's the basis of our timescale and you haven't really suggested an alternative, merely that you don't like it becaue... It prevents international relationships. So are we to assume you're miffed because you can't stay up past your bedtime to chat to your international friends? :p

The basis of your timescale is built upon the ideal time during which activity can take place. Daytime. Yes, that means when the sun is out. Are you trying to insinutate that if it's midday here and that it's the same time on the other side of planet that those people should just be fine with waking up to go to work at midnight?

[anoyomouse]

Actually, your essay makes it quite clear why we need timezones :p

Hear hear!

Judging time of day by the position of the sun is, perhaps, archaic, but it's necessary. It's the basis of our timescale and you haven't really suggested an alternative, merely that you don't like it becaue... It prevents international relationships. So are we to assume you're miffed because you can't stay up past your bedtime to chat to your international friends? :p

Ain't we all wishing we could live on the same time scale
I'm lucky cause my wolf works night shift, so he runs almost on the same time as me, where his "day" (wake hours) are the same as mine.

The basis of your timescale is built upon the ideal time during which activity can take place. Daytime. Yes, that means when the sun is out. Are you trying to insinutate that if it's midday here and that it's the same time on the other side of planet that those people should just be fine with waking up to go to work at midnight?

Perhaps it would make more sense to make a new timescale, yes, but it would have to be segmented into blocks where taking a step to the left or the right of your exact position would change an nth of a second
The idea of fragmenting this into specific zones makes a lot of sense, even on today's standard, what could probably work better is changing the zones that countries and places fall into, which would mean 15 minute splits, absoulte confuzion, and south africa would have about 6 splits, i'd love to see the confusion brought on by that

[Denim]

Seconds won't work because the point still stands. When the sun is overhead at noon on side of the planet it's completely dark on the other side of the planet. This isn't so much a matter of senseless indoctrination, it's a necessity based upon ideal functioning of the society.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

It's the basis of our timescale and you haven't really suggested an alternative, merely that you don't like it becaue... It prevents international relationships.

Actually I gave plenty of reasons I don't like it and did suggest an alternative. One constant scale of time. So if it's 12:00 it's 12:00 no matter where in the universe you are.

Are you trying to insinutate that if it's midday here and that it's the same time on the other side of planet that those people should just be fine with waking up to go to work at midnight?

See you missed out on a huge part of the idea. I didn't say we must all act at the same time, I said we should use the same time to make it easier to co-ordinate things. What that means is in New York lunch time could be at 15:00 and in London lunch time is at 5:00. You would still obviously be awake in the day and asleep at night but the actual times of those events will be different.

When the sun is overhead at noon on side of the planet it's completely dark on the other side of the planet.

Yes and on one side people will be awake and on the other side they'll be asleep.

You are proving my point by the fact that you can't seem to seperate time from actions and the position of the sun.

[Denim]

You're right, I really am battling to see the point. Your 'alternative' is moot because it doesn't actually serve to do anything but confuse people more, just as DST does.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

It's actually pretty simple. You only need one clock. It's like all being in one timezone.

And I think DST is one of the stupidest ideas I have ever heard. If you want to use more daylight hours here's an amazing suggestion. Just do things at different times. Why change time. just open your buisness an hour later. Go to sleep an hour earlier. There's absolutely no need to reset your clocks.

[Denim]

Because the simplest association we make, despite it seeming archaic, is that in the middle of the day the sun is directly overhead. Which isn't 100% true, but it makes it simpler for everyone nearer the equator. Those nearer the poles are the only ones who notice a significant difference since their days and nights last 6 months.

I really don't see the benefit, and I apologise for this, it just seems derisive for the sake of it more than beneficial. It'll confuse the Hell out of people because if their cycles remain the same it doesn't actually makes things easier to understand. Your lunchtime may still be at noon, but it doesn't change their cycle, only their form of notation of time.

It doesn't actually change anything, right? :/

[Rakuen Growlithe]

No it's not a huge benefit and for the average person aside from changing what the clock says no it won't change much.

But what it does change are a few flaws in logic. By crossing the international date line you can currently go forward and back in time. That makes no sense. Secondly if you're watching the olympics they will be 6 hours ahead of us or something. Basically you'll be watching stuff that according to our clocks hasn't happened. In reality it's happening as we watch it but according to the clocks it will only happen 6 hours into the future. In the same way I watched the trade centre collapse on TV. For me it didn't collapse at the same time as for Americans. I would have watched it collapse a few hours afterwards. It happened in the past for me.

You also can give schedules without having to say central afrcian time or greenwhich mean time. You would just say the time and no one would have to convert it to see when you're actually leaving or arriving.