• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    6829 days ago

    This is based on a cool, but ultimately incorrect historical theory called “phantom time.” The general premise being that European history (and world history) was mostly fabricated as propaganda by royalty. It wouldn’t be so crazy except, a) archeology exist and validates certain medieval records and b) non European Nations exist, and record their own interactions with Western Nations.

    • Flying SquidOP
      link
      3329 days ago

      Right. And even leaving radiocarbon dating aside, you can’t really cheat dendrochronology unless you make a gargantuan effort with the specific point of doing so.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrochronology

      Any piece of wood can potentially be dated if it is large enough. Pieces of wood like roof beams in buildings.

  • @setsneedtofeed
    cake
    link
    5229 days ago

    The Gregorian calendar didn’t go into effect until 1582. Because it’s a modification of the Julian calender. Which replaced the Roman calender.

    Almost like there’s a continuity or something.

    • athos77
      link
      fedilink
      1629 days ago

      The Gregorian calendar didn’t go into effect until 1582.

      And 1583. And 1589. And 1587 and 1610 and 1700. And also 1752, 1873/74, 1916, 1918, 1923, and 1926/27.

    • @TexasDrunk
      link
      1728 days ago

      Until we invented it everything was happening at once. It was chaos!

        • @stoly
          link
          227 days ago

          look at the username and this context

    • mechoman444
      link
      127 days ago

      Time is the curvature of space or the 4th dimension or both.

      The way humans keep track of future events is indeed made up but is also grounded in celestial movements of the sun moon and earth.

  • @whotookkarl
    link
    3328 days ago

    Easy, it’s 1715894564 after Jan 1 1970 00:00:00.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        328 days ago

        Out of curiosity, is there a “time limit” for this epoch value, or can it go on indefinitely?

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          2128 days ago

          Sort of. There’s one coming up in 2038 where the number overflows a signed 32 bit integer. Anything using 32 bits for timestamps is going to get a wee bit confused.

          This should be the last time that happens though as a 64 bit signed int can carry us to something like the year 290 billion

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          2
          edit-2
          28 days ago

          You count up 1 second for each second from midnight on Jan 1st, 1970. The Unix epoch.

          It can go on as long as we go on counting. Interestingly, it does ignore leap seconds.

      • @Sorgan71
        link
        227 days ago

        Guys, I fucked up, its actually 1716002297. Apologies for the inconvenience

  • Cyrus Draegur
    link
    fedilink
    26
    edit-2
    29 days ago

    it has been approximately 12000 years since our ancestors constructed what are now the ruins at Gobekli Tepe. But saying it’s been exactly 12,000 years would be silly, so let’s toss in some variation and call it the present 12,024 years since then. I like this because it puts the history we presently call “ancient” into perspective. By this measure, the bronze age began around the year 6,800 and its collapse happened around the year 8,800. Two thousand years, our species toiled at working bronze. Yes, a lot of explosive progress (some of it literal) happened in the 11,900s, but it took us over eleven thousand years to get there in the first place. We’re really not so far from the 11,500s when we were just getting used to connecting the whole globe with transoceanic trade. It seriously stunts our achievements to write off everything that happened prior to year 10,000 as if it were irrelevant.

    • @grue
      link
      English
      1129 days ago

      And humanity existed for hundreds of thousands of years before that.

      • Cyrus Draegur
        link
        fedilink
        1228 days ago

        oh yes! Anatomically modern humans have been around for like 200,000 years before we developed agriculture and started to develop permanent settlements!

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          628 days ago

          I think the number is 600,000 years for how long we’ve been around in total.

          I completely agree with you. If you actually think about it seriously our history as a species is amazing. Things like the discovery channel with the “Aliens” guy piss me off. It’s a fundamental disrespect of what real people have done, and what we’re capable of.

          The long ramp up to what we have right now today is fascinating. No other animal has ever done anything like we have. From loin clothes to fire to farming is mind blowing. Hell, just one of those things is already way past every other species to ever live.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            227 days ago

            They kinda seem like jerks. My 𝘏𝘰𝘮𝘰s tended to get along best in groups of a dozen dozen, enjoyed gossip, killing Neanderthals, and their fave: magical thinking.

    • Flying SquidOP
      link
      829 days ago

      Why Gobekli Tepe? Karahan Tepe is likely significantly older. We may find something older still.

      • @AWistfulNihilist
        link
        728 days ago

        Just the fact that we’ve pushed back the point where early hominids were controlling and cooking with fire to some 2 million years in the past. Burying dead to 250,000 years.

        I’m totally willing to believe there are much earlier signs of what we would call complex societal behavior like those temples and the infrastructure required to build them. We’re just going to get better at detecting and dating it as time passes imo.

        It’s sad that we will likely never know why they did any of this stuff. It’s probably all very familiar to us even now, but wouldn’t it be fascinating to know how far back our “modern” behaviors go.

  • @OutsizedWalrus
    link
    1927 days ago

    The reality is that it doesn’t matter. It’s all arbitrary.

    What matters is we all agree on it.

    • @BoxerDevil
      link
      226 days ago

      But we don’t all agree. I can think 3 different year systems that are still used today in other countries

  • @reattach
    link
    1029 days ago

    My son struggled with the similar concept of daylight saving time this year.

    He’s 6 though - I’m sure he’ll grow out it by the time he’s on Twitter.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    8
    edit-2
    28 days ago

    I could actually get behind this conspiracy theory if it wasn’t so easily debunked. Think about it, wouldn’t it be beneficial for some rulers to pretend that the glorious battle victory everyone has heard about happened relatively recently, as opposed to centuries ago?

    • @Starbuck
      link
      226 days ago

      There’s also a fun “lost time” theory were they rearrange Egyptian history to better align with the Bible. Interesting read on Wikipedia until you get to the debunking.

  • mechoman444
    link
    827 days ago

    It’s amazing how many people don’t know what time is and think it’s something that’s kept track of on a man made calendar.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    527 days ago

    It’s only a surprising observation if you never thought about the not so distant past, when each town had its own time. Even now, if you spend a week or a month hiking or living off the grid out in nature, although your watch or cell phone might have a clock on it, you learn quite soon that what really matters is when the sun goes up and goes down.

  • @profdc9
    link
    427 days ago

    I thought the calendar was based on the event when Xenu exploded all of the body thetans on volcanoes with hydrogen bombs.

  • burgermeister
    link
    fedilink
    English
    3
    edit-2
    27 days ago

    Jimmy is insane. Still waiting for his video on semen retention though.

  • @Mostly_Harmless_Variant
    link
    227 days ago

    TIL I don’t have to involve religion with timekepeping. How have I not heard BCE and CE before (or more probably how did I forget hearing it)?

    • @stoly
      link
      427 days ago

      You have to study history at a university to see it for the most part. I’m talking into classes here. It’s probably getting out there now though.

    • Ricky Rigatoni
      link
      fedilink
      228 days ago

      Sniff for the smell of the subway. That is near the entrance and your freedom.