Episode 7: Time’s Arrow
31 01 2008
This month, guest essayist Scott Lough concludes his exploration of time’s strange behavior, this time focusing on how early human societies understood and measured it.
Guest essay - Scott Lough, “The Weirdness of Time” (part 2)
- for further reading:
- Abel, K. Drum Songs: Glimpses of Dene History. Montreal and Kingston: McGill and Queen’s UP, 2005.
- Aveni, A. F. “Old and new world naked eye astronomy.” In Brecher, K., Feirtag, M., (eds.), Astronomy of the Ancients (pp. 61-89). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1979.
- Aveni, A. F. Empires of Time: Calendars, Clocks, and Culture. New York: Basic Books, 1989.
- Aveni, A. F. Conversing with the Planets: How Science and Myth Invented the Cosmos. New York: Times Books, 1992.
- Barbour, J. B. The End of Time. New York: Oxford UP, 1999.
- Cobo, Bernabé. Inca Religion and Customs. Hamilton, R. (ed. and trans.), Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990.
- Ferris, T. Coming of Age in the Milky Way. New York: Doubleday, 1988.
- Galison, P. L. Einstein’s Clocks, Poincaré’s Maps: Empires of Time. New York: W. W. Norton, 2003.
- Gleick, J. Faster. New York: Vintage, 2000.
- Hawking, S. W. A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. New York: Bantam, 1998.
- Hesiod. Works and Days. Tandy, D. W., Neale, W. C. (eds. and trans.). Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.
- Krupp, E. C. In Search of Ancient Astronomies. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978.
- Krupp, E. C. Echoes of the Ancient Skies. New York: Meridian, 1983.
- Krupp, E. C. Beyond the Blue Horizon: Myths and Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Planets. New York: Harper Collins, 1991.
- MacDonald, J. The Arctic Sky: Inuit Astronomy, Star Lore, and Legend. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum/Nunavut Research Institute, 2000.
- Massie, P. “Time and Contingency in Duns Scotus.” The Saint Anselm Journal 3, no. 2 (2006): 17-31.
- Smith, A. A., II. “Time and the Medieval World.” Philosophy Now Magazine 62 (July/Aug. 2007): 18-20.
- Smolin, L. The Life of the Cosmos. New York: Oxford UP, 1997.
- Staley, K. M. “Omniscience, Time, Eternity: Is Aquinas Inconsistent?” The Saint Anselm Journal 3, no. 2 (2006): 9-16.
- Urton, G. At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky: An Andean Cosmology. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981.
- Scott Lough is a husband, father, Montessori teacher trainer, educational consultant, science writer, lay preacher and resident of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, in Canada.
On the Shelf:
- David Edgerton, The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History since 1900. New York: Oxford UP, 2007.
Audio credits:
All music on this program courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network, except where noted.
- Sunburn in Cyprus, History (intro & outro)
- Happy Gemini 3, Pondering the 10th Planet (transitions)
- Paul Avgerinos, Dawn of the Gods, parts 1, 2, 3, & 4 (during first segment; courtesy of Magnatune)
- Dan Warren, Parallel Universes (following first segment)
- Sound effects courtesy of the FreeSound Project:
From someone you don’t know…
I have been listening regularly since Episode 4, and greatly appreciate what you’re doing. To my knowledge there aren’t a whole lot of podcasts devoted primarily to the history of science and technology. Please keep it up!
I am also very much looking forward to the upcoming Evolution/ID episodes, particularly with regard to how alternatives to evolution are being pushed by popular movements and what this sort of thing might mean for the future of the practice of science.
Hello,
First time ever I’ve been listening to a podcast, and I’m enjoying it thoroughly! So first I’d like to say: keep up the good work!
I still got some episodes to go, but I was especially intrigued by ‘weirdness of time’ essay. I’ll definitely give that one another listen, but I already have a comment / remark / question:
). Anyway it got me wondering about how the increase of entropy is associated with the probability distribution, i.e. milk mixes in coffee because it’s the most probable thing to happen! Is then time not merely our interpretation of what’s more likely to happen? Of course that still leaves me somewhat confused on the subject of things happening sequentially…
It’s of course fascinating that none of the ‘big sciences’ as relativity and quantum theory have an directionality in time. However, usually thermodynamic entropy is the only physical quantity which is directional. I don’t think this was really mentioned in the essay (perhaps I’m wrong though
I see a lot of book recommendations, if anyone can recommend me one that deals more with these kinds of issues, let me know!
I’m also looking forward to the evolution/ID episodes. Even though I live in Amsterdam (the Netherlands), where the whole issue isn’t that widely discussed, I’m still interested about what your podcast will have to say about it, especially on the historic perspective.
Cheers,
Willem-Jan van Zeist