Re:Linus Torvalds' poll about “big versions” in kernel releases
by mlinksva on Sunday February 15, 2015 @08:09PM
(#9054843)
You're right, thanks. The claims in my comment require lots of qualification, are embarrassing without.
I enjoy your a[s]t[ron]omic epoch year zero idea. One could start from much further back (eg beginning of universe, earth, modern humans, writing) but those would all be specific to the culture estimating them and to what that culture valued.
Re:Linus Torvalds' poll about “big versions” in kernel releases
by weinzierl on Friday February 13, 2015 @02:55PM
(#9046799)
There is no year zero in Common Era/Anno Domini.
Re:Linus Torvalds' poll about “big versions” in kernel releases
by Perceval on Friday February 13, 2015 @03:45PM
(#9047081)
"Year Zero" was more a reference to the idea of trying to wipe out symbols of past culture (i.e. Anno Domini) for political reasons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Zero_%28political_notion%...
Any dating scheme is going to be culture-specific. The point you pick to be "year zero" is always going to be a point in time that's culturally valuable.
> The ascendance of the net is the beginning of the real CE.
That's an assertion that a marker you find culturally important (as a techie) is more meaningful to you than a marker that other people find culturally significant.
You could just as well choose the Before Present dating scheme, which defines "present" as 1 January 1950, roughly the point in time when the number of atomic explosions made radiocarbon dating obsolete (and the beginning of an astronomical epoch). But that is also culturally-specific, relative to the concerns of a certain epistemic community.