Temporal mapping

In My Own Time: Messages from a misplaced time traveller

Temporal mapping

My Friends,

I am shocked, as I am sure many of you will be, that the level of time awareness in this timeline is low. This is a fearful surprise in a time dimension where events occur on a strict position on its timeline. We would assume that a precise knowledge of the when-for of events is a given, but it is apparent that this is not the case here. Indeed, there seems to be a preponderance of pride in that the ability of temporal mapping is lacking, and it is not uncommon to hear expressions such as “I have no idea what time it is”, “I never know whether I’m coming or going” or “was it last Tuesday or Wednesday?”

Such admissions of ignorance are usually met not with sympathy, but with an understanding empathy, and least of all with an instructive – or even corrective – comment. This attitude brings to mind the Eloi, a fictional race of creatures who feature in H. G. Wells’ account of the future as described in his book “The Time Machine”. These Eloi live in an apathetic existence where no effort is made to improve themselves or circumstances, despite the dangers lying before them. The same apathy is clearly abundant with the people of this time.

That said, and rather ironically, it tends to be those hit by old age who seem to be the most eager to place the when-for of events, though at the same time appear to be among the least able owing to a dimming of the senses. Perhaps their interest in the past makes sense given the limited amount of time lying before them on their own timeline, making the awareness of the passage of time a higher priority and that they should pay good attention as to what remains. Then again, it is a puzzling consideration that not more effort is spent on the remaining time than on a someimes fanatical dwelling over the past.

Even more strange is that their present location on the timeline is seen through an elongated expansion of a singular point, that is to say, they undertake many activities slowly – either physical, (such as walking), mental (such as conversation) or biological (body repair). This seems to be a highly counterproductive situation, that more time is spent in doing things when limited time remains for them. A positive feedback mechanism, with negative consequences.

I can bear witness to this in my own ageing. Then again, I have a unique viewpoint when held in comparison against my fellow time-liners.

At the opposite end of the Eloi on the Wellsian scale are the Morlocks. Morlocks are savage and brutal creatures of the future who both exploit and feed from the Eloi, and in this nature we find dwellers in this time who are responsible for work allocation to others. (Yes, it is a shocking existence where society here is one still created around work – I shall write more of this in another message). Such people are often self appointed experts in the management of people and time and as such they slide their share of their work to others in the belief that efficiency is enhanced.

Here is the irony. The Morlocks exploited the Eloi, who accepted that fate dealt to them, whereas the managers here exploit the workers, who make their discontent well known to those who so-call manage them. Yet the workers here still continue to spend their time in matters of employment, and allow themselves to be thus exploited. The similarity then, between that of the Eloi and that of the worker is then clear. And what of the Morlock and the manager?

The manager, so it would seem (and I fear, please the manager to know) is guilty of two crimes. The first is the disrespect to his co-workers, and the second is his disrespect to time.

From the hostory of our own tome, we are well aware of the consequences of disrespect to our fellow dwellers, so there is no need to talk of it here; the final outcome is a mathematical certainty. I will tell you then, my friends, of the cause of the sadness I feel, where time is treated as a commodity to be used and abused and the phrase “time is money” is heralded in the corridors of the worker as an anthem of worth.

The manager has no real concept of time. He will arrive late at meetings. (Lateness is possible, but also simple in one dimensional time). He will be childishly over optimistic when promising project completion dates to clients, demand unrealistic time targets from his colleagues and he will say in 45 minutes what could have been said in that many seconds. It is ironic, but employed as one who manages time as well as people, the manager too often fails in what we would consider to be the most basic of his duties.

Of course, there are a range of people in this time line with a range of skill in temporal awareness. There are elderly who are certainly more clued up than their younger counter-parts regarding the time and there are managers who have an excellent grasp on the duration of activity.

In fairness to the peoples here, I should make note of the historians. These are those who devote their lives to the study of the people, places and events which occurred in an earlier position on their own time line. Whilst most would question the importance of studying the past (“the past is dead!”), the reply is that “history repeats itself”, or, more deeply, “you don’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been”. We would recognise the truth in our own tome of the last quote, and the whorls of time loops certainly give credence to the former.

In contrast, there is a small group of those who profess to foretell, to some degree, the future. That is to say, mention in the present what will occur at a future point on their time line. Whereas for us this has no real significance on in a 3 dimensional time volume (as can the same be said for a study of the history), this area of expertise is widely craved now in the one dimension of time for this can lead to the accruement of monetary wealth and thereby power (again, these notions of value will be further documented in another message). However, although desired, the skill is neither fully mastered, nor widely accepted. Indeed, by some it is described as nothing more than a form of black magic, or by others, a statistical analysis of past events which may repeat – to some degree of statistical significance – again.

There is a final group of people who, although whose activity is somewhat superfluous, possess the ability of temporal mapping through the sensation of taste, and these are the wine tasters. Of the human body and its senses I will talk in more detail in another message, but one of its primary senses is that of taste which has been developed to assist in the intake of biochemical energy. The wine taster, however, is able to both inhale and taste without ingestion a slug of wine, and from that infer the events and their positions on the time line of its creation. The year (and spatial location) of growth of the grapes, the length (and ambient temperature) of their fermentation, and even that of bottling, lay within the grasp of the wine connoisseur.

To me, from my different perspective, the point seems elusive. However, I will finish here with this thought:

“Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow is another day.”

With my greetings from 07.2012,

Plasanton.