this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2025
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Math Memes
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I'm actually a millennial and when I first read this post, it occurred to me I didn't really "get" why clocks were 12 hours. I think years ago, I had seen a video on it, but for the most part, I didn't have a working knowledge.
The fact is, we take a lot of things for granted, everything from mundane things "Why do clocks have 12 hours?" through to complex ideas. "What do LEDs light up?"
This post (the OP) reflects the opposite of what you're suggesting, that the devices are making people stupid. This post is the start to curiosity. I suspect the author likely took time to look up exactly why clocks have twelve hours, and by extension likely caused many people who viewed it to do the same (myself included actually).
Device exposure has it's problems, certainly, but I don't see this specific post as an example.
if you don't understand how clock relate to the reality of our world, i don't know how to you. we live in two different worlds.
I guess I truly don't understand this comment, like I accept that hours divide our day into 24 segments, of which 12 are represented on the face of a clock.
I also accept that these hours are divided into 60 segments of which 5 are expressed between each of the 12 hours - which of course logically follows through basic division.
I even know the origin of O'Clock "On the clock" and contrary to the post why 6 means 30 (again this part is just math).
What I am referring to are the finer points of why 12 and not 24, or even why divide the day as 24 and hours into 60 minutes. I guess perhaps I do live in a different world, I can of course easily obtain the answers to both these questions through a simple search. My comment was more in regard to how such knowledge is something I didn't have on a holster, given that my day-to-day isn't predicated on knowing it.
I will also say, all knowledge is acquired. You by default, don't know anything, and have to learn it through experience and education. I make a point of being excited when people don't know something, especially if it's something I'm passionate about. This is actually a concept expressed well in this comic.
Well said.
How does the clock relate to the reality of our world?
i don't know how to help you. we live in two different worlds. would you like for me to explain how to use a tooth pick as well?
I guess we live in a world where things got invented by humans at some point in time, while you live in a world where some higher power just baked 12h clocks into the fabric of reality for humans to just discover. Yeah, I am not sure how we can easily find common ground.
We are asking questions about the world and its rules to learn, study and question them, you demand acceptance and unthinking submission to it.
go ahead and waste your time reinventing the wheel then. that's obviously super important in our current state of affairs.