The dominant culture in society is formative to the identity of those living in this milieu. All social action occurs somewhere within this culture of dominance. Environmentalism, racism, sexism, militarism, etc. are fundamental to the culture of dominance. Empowerment of disenfranchised groups enables these groups to become more dominant while the remaining groups fall further into relative obscurity. The axiom of dominance and submission becomes the language of the dominant culture. This language is then propagated through the mass media. Mass media includes popular culture as well as timekeeping and other measurement systems. The history of all civilizations is merely the recorded history of the culture of dominance. Attempts to reform the culture of dominance allow this culture to co-opt and assimilate alternative cultures. Naturally, our present culture will fall as swiftly as it rose. We are within a cycle that cannot be stopped or started. Reformers can only struggle against the tides of time. Creation of an alternative culture is more hopeful than engaging energy in a pointless struggle for dominance.
The creation of A Save The Universe Club (ASTUC) was the first step toward this creative endeavor. It established a mind set of limitless possibilities, but alas there is little chance of success. Success is then redefined to personal enjoyment of the process. It is within this milieu that we realize that the very fabric of society must be altered if we are to successfully create a genuinely new identity and demonstrate a viable alternative model of social organization.
The way human beings relate to time and space is primarily formatted by cultural definition. Indigenous cultures have little need for complex measuring systems because they live in close harmony with their physical environment. The culture of dominance struggles to maintain its illusion of control over time and space because it lacks authenticity in terms of identity in place of origin. In my work I am attempting to create a synthetic culture, which might feel more genuine to me as I am not indigenous to this land, nor do I wish to be part of the dominant culture.
The circular time of indigenous cultures combines with the more linear time of the dominant culture to create a spiral of time and space. Startime reflects the nature of the solar system while providing a potentially appropriate tool for building a humane community. The Earth's daily cycle contains four distinct periods. Since the number four is naturally indicated, it is used to divide the morning, day, evening and night into four useful units of time. During the development of Startime, it became apparent to me that a new system of counting was also required. A Base, which uses the numerals one through eight, was invented to complement and reflect Startime.
Using Startime and A Base, the day is divided into 18 Stars. This is a similar operation to dividing the day into twenty-four hours. Technically it would be impossible to build an accurate clock that mimics the nuances of true solar time. Changes in the earth's angular velocity cause changes in aperent solar time apart from the seasonal differences. A Startime clock simply measures an average of apparent solar time. This is rationalized through the use of the analama. The analama calculates the discrepancies between average solar time and apparent solar time. This is useful information because the clock is synchronized with the solar meridian-it is set to the time when the sun is at the highest point in the sky.
At eight Stars, the short Star hand points straight up at the numeral eight. This indicates the average time that the sun reaches its highest point at our longitude. When the shorter Star hand indicates eighteen Stars, at the bottom of the clock face, the sun is at approximately the opposite meridian on the other side of the earth ie. it would be midnight here. The Star hand follows the sun in a mechanized way throughout the daily cycle.
The longer Egg hand divides each star into eighteen Eggs. They are presently called eggs because the sun warms the earth as a bird incubates an egg. (Perhaps life on earth will follow the transformation of egg to a chick.) The egg hand rotates once for each star.
The dominant calendar developed by western civilization has a profound function in society as a regulator of ritualized social interaction. In this way, the calendar exerts control on inherent human needs and desires through the linear time divisions of weeks, weekends, and holidays. We are intent upon developing an alternative calendar that will allow the human community to develop more naturally suitable rhythms of social interaction.
As the number four naturally divides the year into seasons, I have chosen to divide each of these seasons into four Quarts. The length of each quart varies by one day around the average so that each of the fourth, eighth, fourteenth, and eighteenth quarts begins on a solstice or equinox. The result is a calendar describing a relationship between the Earth and the Sun. This relationship is determined by the earth's elliptical revolution around the Sun. Each part of the ellipse has specific characteristics which determine the four seasons.
These seasons regularly begin midway between the Solstice and Equinox. The astronomic conditions are being described as opposed to the incidental changes in more local climates. For this reason the calendar is appropriate for members of all communities throughout the world. Numbers and symbols identify each quart, thereby permitting each community to develop proper nouns or names that serve it's particular language needs.
The days are named using the naturally selected number four. The days are then either sequentially numbered: Oneday, Twoday, Threeday, Fourday, or named: Sunday, Airday, Waterday and Grounday.
A thermometer scale is determined by concepts related to the earth and human conditions: the freezing or thawing of water, and the average temperature of our own blood. Almost any person in any place can draw this scale by calibrating a thermometer on these two standard temperatures. No scientific consultation is required. This is an important egalitarian concept. Sequentially dividing the distance between the two temperature extremes produces what I call "degrees A." Temperature may be defined arbitrarily or scientifically as in previous models. In this case the upper and lower limits that define the scale are relevant to our common experience.
It is unusual to include systems of measurement in a discussion of culture. For some, this may be because measurement systems, or even the need to measure, are considered to have no significance outside of facilitating trade. On the other hand, global economics is extremely problematic, causing serious degradation of our social and physical environment.
Startime does not use standard time zones. Only clocks on the same line of longitude would be keeping the same time. Trade would then be affected in a subtle way depending on the locations of the parties involved. The effect would be more convenient for local trading and become more complex as the distance increased. In a small way this could foster more self-reliant and responsible communities.
To actually attempt to live in Startime and A Base is profound, not
subtle at all. Submission becomes apparent in common social intercourse.
We have become conscious of the terms of our existence. Now our
submission to this culture of dominance is voluntary. We know we can do
anything we like.
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