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Re: ITC copped out on UTC again

2012-01-20 09:28:14
On 20/01/2012 15:13, Tony Finch wrote:
We can paper over this difference by adjusting time zones every few
hundred years. In fact time zone adjustments will work further into the
future than leap seconds. But speculating about what will happen that far
into the future is foolish.

it's also a valid concern.  Abolishing leap seconds kicks the can down the
road as far as this is concerned.  And while it's tempting to push this
sort of decision down on future generations, they're not going to love us
for it in a couple of hundred years if they need to adjust by an hour to
get solar time in sync with UTC again.  Of course, you can talk about this
and say that it's a theoretical nicety, but it will also break the tie
between TAI and UTC at that stage, which invalidates most of Phillip's
arguments to some degree or other - not to a degree that affects us here
and now, but that will affect humankind in the future.  That's assuming
that we haven't reverted to hunting with spears by that stage.

I'm not arguing the point either way, btw.  Just pointing out that there's
a lot more to this argument than Phillip's clear and well-articulated
reasons why leap seconds should be abolished.

Nick
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