Rate this one thing after another

Time

Time is an awesome and powerful creation that the world would be lost without. The very concept is breathtaking in its simplicity, we now have a system to devise the distance between now…

… and now. Isn’t that something? Time is measured based around one standard unit, the second. What defines a second is the radiation cycle of a Caesium atom. Every 9,192,631,770 cycles of this radiation decay (half life) amounts to one whole transition between the two observed states of the Caesium atom, the time it takes to move from one state through these 9 billion cycles is one second. Once this is established as an SI unit (an international and irrefutable standard unit) then further extensions can be made, from minutes to hours to days to weeks to months to years… To decades to centuries to millennia to aeons… It’s endless.

The exciting aspect of time is that it has defined our every day life in almost every conceivable way. The philosophical argument that time is an illusion will rage on, rather ironically, for many years to come but in the meantime the system that is currently in place means that we can get things done. It’s hard to quantify exactly what time is in a tangible sense and try as you might we as human beings cannot conceive of a world without a concept of distance between two points, a distance which cannot be measured by conventional means. It’s an overwhelming concept when looked through philosophical, psychological or scientific eyes and one which is a constant source of inspiration for many people. Just think about it for a moment, if we had no concept of time there would be no Back to the Future.

As awe-inspiring as time is, at the heart of the matter is the fact that measuring any event using the Caesium atom oscillation as a reference is questionable. What exactly are you measuring? Time is such an abstract device is baffling, bewildering and brilliant.

Ability of time to mess with your head when considering time travel: 7 out of 7

The way Back to the Future dealt with paradoxes and causality: 5 out of 7

Rated: 5 out of 7

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Colour

Colour shows us so much about the world but I can’t help but wonder whether they could go further. It seems that this intangible substance which permeates every part of our lives is getting nice and comfy on some lusciously green laurels, happy knowing that it really has delivered excellent service over the years. But has it?

I don’t think that colour is perhaps the best it can be, I think the best is yet to come, at least I hope that’s the case. The potential is already there, just look at TV remote controls. There’s usually the 4-button classic combination of  red, yellow, green and blue; but what about a fifth? I’m sure humans can get used to the psychological rhetoric impact of a 5th common colour but we just need to wait until Colour gets its finger out and actually does some work. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a rainbow as much as the next guy and I will gladly wax lyrical about the pyrrhic military bumblings of Richard (from York), however I just feel that the rainbow could be so much more.

We’ve been used to the same products from this entity for so long that we’ve given up hope of seeing anything new. Colour is perfectly functional at the moment but could do so much better.

Rated: 3 out of 7