Deconstructing the clock Essay

Humans have been using the measurement of time to dictate their day since the early eras of ancient civilizations with sundial then evolving into the mechanical clocks we use today. For thousands of years with time measurement tools, humans have depended on a strict schedule to determine what to do to use up the time they have. In today’s modern world, adult humans use their time to contribute to society by working nine to five jobs and young adults spending their childhood in a classroom. In Henry David Thoreau’s book, Walden; Life in the Woods, Thoreau discusses the concept of time. In Thoreau’s excerpt “Economy,” he offers the paradox whether humans live off borrowed time or stolen time from their employers. He explains in a rhetorical statement that by reading his own book would be “robbing your creditors of an hour,” implying that the human civilization has been putting their work in front of their own self-interests in hope of success and money. Although Thoreau wrote the paradox as a brief commentary for the money driven human civilization, this paradox acts as a metaphor towards Thoreau’s view on the use of time for humanity.

Time, what is time, and why is it important? Well time is a concept that humans’ brains can perceive, in fact their brains basically construct the past, the present, and the future. Basically, time is a measurement system, and without it the human race wouldn’t have ever existed. Humans have a very simple understanding of time, and they still do not understand its full potential. Humans only understand the measurement of time, and the manipulation and capturing of time overwhelms them. To this day the only way humans have captured time is their memory, and even then they still get it wrong sometimes.

Throughout the work, Poe employs a seemingly simple ebony clock to symbolize the destined time of life, which no one can control. The clock is first introduced by describing the pendulum’s “dull, heavy, monotonous clang”, which automatically gives the idea that the clock is oppressive and evokes fear in both the readers and guests (Poe). As the story goes on, the characteristics of the clock unfold even more and reveal the emotions and actions it suggests. For instance, the clock’s “chiming imposes a start-stop movement on the festive

Again I agree with Carr’s theory on changing the brain’s thought processes because the proof is in the history of mankind. When Carr stated the fact of how the clock had made a huge impact on how we go about our day, I realized its significance. Modern culture is completely shaped by time, when we eat, sleep, work, and much more. I have seen this first hand when I worked with Native Americans. They do not rely on time frame, and kind of live, work, and do as they feel and the setting of day. Knowing the clock has made such a huge impact on our lives, I

Thompson starts out describing how people measured time before clocks and the Industrial Revolution. People measured time in units of domestic activities or natural phenomena, which can be described as task-orientation. Thompson considers this type of time-measuring to be “natural” and believes that a task-oriented society results in little distinction between work and life. However, to people used to timed labor, such an attitude to labor appeared to be wasteful.

We are enslaved by our own materials and technology. Why do we work? Perhaps to put food on the table and pay our bills. Owning things is too much work and you work for your things they don’t work for you.

The notion of a biological/social clock is interesting because every single person has their own interpretation of what it means to them. My social clock is not going to start dwindling until I reach my late thirties. I want to enjoy my twenties and learn from them as much as I can. If I reach my late thirties and

The Clockwork Three is book where we first learn about a boy’s life that is named Giuseppe who is an orphaned street musician from Italy. His uncle sold him to a padrone as a slave in the United States. He finds a green violin in the harbor, which gives him a sense of freedom (Kirby1). He soon finds friends named Hannah and Frederick. Hannah is a young girl who helps taking care of her family as a maid in a hotel. Frederick is a very smart apprentice for a clockmaker. Together they discover that they can overcome almost any obstacle.

Postman (1985) then speaks about the clock and how it serves as a metaphor for the way we look at the world, moments turning into other moments. The clock serves as a conversation man has

Dependency on modern media has caused up to depend on smartphones to tell time rather than wearing a watch. We text each other to communicate rather than using the phone to talk, and as opposed to watching the new we go to

Douglas MacArthur, military chief for World War II, once said,”Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” For those who survive battle and return home safely, an entirely unique battle begins: learning how to move on. Vietnam War veterans specifically felt a lack of respect and acknowledgement from their fellow citizens because of the controversial causes of the war. In the chapter “Speaking of Courage” of The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien’s use of the symbolism of circles demonstrates the state of eternal meaninglessness and idleness that Vietnam-War-survivors like Norman Bowker experiences after returning home. In “Speaking of Courage,” O’Brien captures Norman Bowker’s failure to settle into his new life as a veteran

While it used to be believed that the human brain was fixed by adulthood, James Olds, a neuroscientist, notes that nerve cells are continually forming new connections and rejecting old ones. Lewis Mumford, author of Technics and Civilization, explains how the clock “disassociated time from human events and helped create the belief in an independent world of mathematically measurable sequences”. The invention of the clock helped to create the scientific mind but also took away our sense of reason as described in Joseph Weizenbaum’s book, Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation.

Evolution’s various events are calculated and reported in moments of time: eras, millennia, centuries, years, seasons, months, days, hours and minutes. Within those time markers are: formation of our planet, biology, Revolutions, and Homeo Sapiens. Yuval Noah Hariari’s brief history is hardly a brief narrative. However, it is an easy-to-follow delineation of educated statements surrounding humankind’s integrated journey from the beginning of “time” to the year 2014. The book takes the reader on a purposeful, witty and eye-opening account of the various time zones homo sapiens and wildlife, as-well-as biology and science, have traveled. Mr. Hariari leaves one wanting to advance quickly into the next chapter, even though the reader already knows how the story ends. Yuri chose to write about time periods, breaking down our past into orderly sections within his book. Without taking sides, the author tells the tale of how the earth’s inhabitants have evolved, all within the web of a ticking clock. In current day, we live with daylight savings, 24-hour clocks and time zones; our lives are dictated by the hour. The concept of

Time Time is defined as a measured or measurable period, a continuum that lacks spatial dimensions. This broad definition lacks the simple explanation that humans are searching for. There are many scientists, philosophers, and thinkers who have tried to put time into understanding terms. The aspects of time that we can understand are only based on what we can perceive, observe, and calculate. Every day we look at our watches or clocks.

People are slaves to the machine and the bourgeoisie because they need to work more hours daily for lower wages because the jobs become more simplistic and automated. A modern example of this is people on an assembly in Detroit, where cars are made. Things are now to the point were you can learn a job in a week when in the past it would have taken years to learn the same job. Marx believes that to sustain market growth capitalism becomes more automated for the giants of industry. Due to this “machinery obliterates all distinctions of labour and nearly everywhere reduces wages” (Cohen and Fermon, 454). In capitalism people are enslaved for lower wages, as the work becomes less appealing. Marx believed, “As the repulsiveness of the work increases, the wage decreases” (Cohen and Fermon, 453).