If you own time, you own the world
Apparently Microsoft is familiar with this phrase. Today as my professor gauged the time left in class by the time on his computer, I was thinking how he probably doesn't even know where that time comes from. It's just there and "accurate". But is it really either?
The answer to this question lies with Microsoft and of course, the ubiquitous windows operating systems. Starting with Windows XP, Microsoft set your computer to synchronize it's time with an internet time server under Microsoft's care. In most cases this is time.windows.com. So, your clock updates itself periodically with
that time server and hence you see the "accurate" time. What if Microsoft decided to change the time on the time server?
It's akin to a group of really smart scientists getting together and announcing that the day is 24 hours and 17 minutes long. What would we do? Would some people agree and deviate from the "norm" that is currently accepted? Would the whole planet? Who decides? Who controls time? Actually I think it's an international body that oversees time; but I would offer that no one really controls it. It's fake, it doesn't exist. Time is of course a construct of our minds. Yet it has great sway over everything we do.
If I don't want to be affected by Microsoft's control over the clock, I can simply ignore that time or purposely change it and stop my computer from updating with the server, right? Instead I will use my trusty old watch, which I will set with my TV. Oh wait, then I'm relying on RCN to publish an accurate time, well maybe that's better but not by much. So instead, I'll just turn on my radio and get the time - oh wait, that's just as bad, now news media is controlling my time too. So then, I'll stick to my cell phone, right? Wrong again. My GPS? Nope. How about the sundial in the back yard? Unfortunately it's a rainy day. I guess I'm just out of luck.
Is Microsoft likely to change time just to screw with us? No. Is it possible that at some future date there could be a huge advantage for Microsoft to do so and thus affect the hundreds of millions of users worldwide? Absolutely.
I haven't really answered this question well, but it's an important one. What is time and where does it come from? Can you ever be sure just what "time" it is?
The answer to this question lies with Microsoft and of course, the ubiquitous windows operating systems. Starting with Windows XP, Microsoft set your computer to synchronize it's time with an internet time server under Microsoft's care. In most cases this is time.windows.com. So, your clock updates itself periodically with
that time server and hence you see the "accurate" time. What if Microsoft decided to change the time on the time server?It's akin to a group of really smart scientists getting together and announcing that the day is 24 hours and 17 minutes long. What would we do? Would some people agree and deviate from the "norm" that is currently accepted? Would the whole planet? Who decides? Who controls time? Actually I think it's an international body that oversees time; but I would offer that no one really controls it. It's fake, it doesn't exist. Time is of course a construct of our minds. Yet it has great sway over everything we do.
If I don't want to be affected by Microsoft's control over the clock, I can simply ignore that time or purposely change it and stop my computer from updating with the server, right? Instead I will use my trusty old watch, which I will set with my TV. Oh wait, then I'm relying on RCN to publish an accurate time, well maybe that's better but not by much. So instead, I'll just turn on my radio and get the time - oh wait, that's just as bad, now news media is controlling my time too. So then, I'll stick to my cell phone, right? Wrong again. My GPS? Nope. How about the sundial in the back yard? Unfortunately it's a rainy day. I guess I'm just out of luck.
Is Microsoft likely to change time just to screw with us? No. Is it possible that at some future date there could be a huge advantage for Microsoft to do so and thus affect the hundreds of millions of users worldwide? Absolutely.
I haven't really answered this question well, but it's an important one. What is time and where does it come from? Can you ever be sure just what "time" it is?
posted by Andy at 8:49 AM
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