Time

[puretone]

Bumping and old thread here but it would otherwise keep me up all night.

 

The "concept" of time is something that is generally speaking a "human" thing. The vast majority, if not explicitly all, of animals do not take time into consideration nor stalk it so closely. They've got more important things to do and think about. I'd love to sit down with an alien race to ponder their interpretation of the same thing, but alas I have my doubts about them setting foot/paw/hoof/tentacle/silk/wheelchair/avatar/android on this Rock-o-Violence-n-Disappointment (& -Occasional pretty girl in the VS catalog or Sports Illustrated cover) 3rd from the single main sequence star governing this planetary system.

We, along with everything else on this planet, are finely tuned to the, nearly 24 hour, day/night cycle. Same holds true for factors such as the mass/distance of our sun, the satellite of earth called the moon, indeed all other planets that have or have had an effect on the evolution of our planet & it's inhabitants, the type and amount of radiation emitted by our star and/or neighboring planets...to some degree even the location in the galaxy.

As far as I can estimate, we seem to be the only ones worried about time & age. I haven't caught ye olde shrimp rushing about during rush hour trying to be on time for his hot date with Mrs Lobster (who is way out of his league, so say his friends & family, despite my suggestions that their offspring may be tasty indeed...) lest he be caught sooner and end up on my plate with a squeeze of lemon after being quickly sauteed in a wok with some garlic & ginger.

The same probably holds true for the industrialized chicken, providing us with scrambled boneless chicken every morning or so.

Deers are just annoying Lyme disease carriers, except when spit-roasted and generally free of any pathogens designed to put the brakes on us homo-sapienses from over populating this planet some more. Preserved venison is a delight too, especially the methods some Eastern-European folks employ. But that's for an other show down the line.

On the question of "what about the cows?"; well, survival of the fittest, right? Damned & blessings Sir Darwin. Although one would be correct in suggesting the Friesian Holstein cow would probably do the same to us, had they evolved to where we humans are now.

One key part of our evolution is based both on the 12 hour day/night cycles. Now in certain northern regions there are populations who do live through 24 hour daylight seasons, but they too initially evolved from the same 12 hour day/night cycle. Our brains need to recharge in order to be properly/healthily functioning. The likes of which are directly related to our terrestrial life.

All mammals in the oceans do not specifically sleep/recharge the way we do. They are technically awake 24/7, or is that 23.93/7. A drowned whale during deep sleep would be hard to explain to the Pacific Ocean Police Department (PODP), a self-governing law-n-order outfit run by the Cetaceans. Anecdotally: I have it on good order that entrance exam to this academy is a monumental test of strength & buoyancy.

Speaking of, the larger/largest whale has a heartbeat of about 1 or 2 beats per minute, yet they do not live for thousands of years. There are also large species of birds, like the Ara-Macaw, whom have a crazy pulse, yet make it to 100 years of age, looking no more than 8 or 10 years old...right before natural death, after which point they make Yoda look like a teenager.

Plants & trees devoid of a beating heart can live long lives, in some cases eternally if not immortal.

Jellyfish do a similar trick & just reverse their natural "aging", because being bad@ss, or pull an even more sly maneuver by simply auto-cloning.

The 12 hour sleep/wake, day/night cycle is also directly involved & related to predator and prey. Some organisms are not scurrying about at night, making it pointless for their predators to be around. One can assume the predator in question here, would have taken up knitting...promptly given that up and chose to have a nap instead. Unless of course the sexy predatorette decided to have a night out on the town in her newly acquired little black dress.

There is a lot of adapting to do, when the rotation of a habitable is slower/faster. There is also a lot if adapting to do on a similar planet where the main sequence star emits different "light" and radiation. It could be very possible for there to be organisms going about their daily business of working for the man, similar to us in every way but having a skin that's impervious to Gamma rays. Just one thing: we'll never meet them, for they live at opposite ends of the universe. And believe themselves so superior to everythingeelse, that they've never bothered to go off-planet for a bit of a row near Eta Carinae. They know that place by a different name of course. Little do they know the place blew up ages ago...serves them right for being so arrogant.

There is the topic of oxygen to consider as well. Horribly dreadful gas it is indeed. Not only does it kill, but burns things by means of violent oxidation as well. The current "stable" concentrations found in our atmosphere are in part due to our planet's location as well.

So you see a shorter/longer day/night cycle has it's causes and effects/affects.

Mind you, a faster or slower planetary spin will do any number of things to a planet's weather & climate, although there are ratios involved here too, directly linked to the position of the habitable planet in a given planetary system, which may make the place absolutely delightful to live on/in...or vice versa, make it something more akin to what has befallen the Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli Defense (defense?? Seriously??) Forces. Perhaps we do need to move house and place our planet a bit closer/further from the sun in order to get those recalcitrant children to stop picking on the little guy.

 

In other news, The Game.

Edited August 2, 2014 by puretone