[Just thinking (OP)]

Measuring time how important is it. Well, we would still be in the dark ages without seconds on the clock. Ever since the first clock was invented to display seconds we have made leaps and bounds in many areas of life. The second hand was a need and used on timepieces from the late 15 hundreds we could now time and record a race have a time to beat or have a time to lose to. It enabled us to record and predict celestial events with greater accuracy. It improved navigation on the sea and the land it has made possible the calculation of speed. Nowadays we live by the clock more than ever the seconds have made it possible to land a craft on Mars. Do you think we could move on in this life without the fast second hand?

[evan_au]

The GPS in your phone wouldn't work unless it was able to measure time accurate to microseconds.

5G mobile also requires timing accurate to well within a microsecond.

On the other hand, an ancient Greek scholar had this to say about the sun dial:

“The Gods confound the man who first found out
How to distinguish the hours---confound him, too Who in this place set up a sundial
To cut and hack my days so wretchedly into small pieces!
. . . I can't (even sit down to eat) unless the sun gives leave.
The town's so full of these confounded dials . . .”

There is something to be said for having some more leisurely time in your life - read a book, or sail a boat.

[Just thinking (OP)]

There is something to be said for having some more leisurely time in your life - read a book, or sail a boat.

It would be a better world without clocks and a very different one.

[alancalverd]

The most important clocks were henges and tunnel tombs. If you want to trade over a significant distance, when the only means of transport is walking or sailing, you need to synchronise your arrival with your customers and suppliers. So there are structures dotted around the country that synchronise calendars to the summer solstice. Knowing it will take me n days to walk from A to B I now know when to set off to do business with my customer from C.

The fact that such structures are found along the western edge of Europe, across north Africa and into India , shows that our "savage" ancestors had an extensive trade network long before Greece and Rome became civilised. 

[Just thinking (OP)]

The fact that such structures are found along the western edge of Europe, across north Africa and into India , shows that our "savage" ancestors had an extensive trade network long before Greece and Rome became civilised.

As long as they don't mind if you are just a few seconds late. If your running let's say half an hour late you could make up an excuse like I ran into a blizzard or I got attacked along the way.

[alancalverd]

The mobile phone was specifically designed for making excuses.

[Just thinking (OP)]

The mobile phone was specifically designed for making excuses.

I must say it does come in handy for that SMS is better they can't hear you laughing at the other end.

[evan_au]

At the other end of the scale, here is a clock that is designed to keep time for 10,000 years.
- As you might imagine, finding a suitable power source was one of the difficulties...
- Unlike a sundial, they wanted it to count the years (and chime!)

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_of_the_Long_Now

[Just thinking (OP)]

At the other end of the scale, here is a clock that is designed to keep time for 10,000 years.
- As you might imagine, finding a suitable power source was one of the difficulties...
- Unlike a sundial, they wanted it to count the years (and chime!)

That one is for the serious timepiece collector. I have a clock that hasn't worked for years but it still tells the correct time twice a day.

[TommyJ]

With different precision of timing measurements are used for:
Distributed applications and softwares that deal with transactions
Messaging-related client and servers
GPS, Telecommunication (starting from 4G in some applications)
Advanced filesystems, as AFS, DFS, GFS, GPFS
System information messages logging
Remote employees logging
Challenging fundamental constants
Fashionable look with a watch (showing precise time twice a day might also count).
If one doesn’t need all of this, not primitive, but a farmer, for instance, even a calendar is not needed. Sun, nature signs are enough (it is not so far, a century ago).

[alancalverd]

but a farmer, for instance, even a calendar is not needed.

Far from the truth. A calendar is essential for trade and whilst you might not want to plant crops in frozen soil, plants and animals have a very good sense of seasons so you have to be able to anticipate their functions and plan your year to the nearest day when you have rain, unfrozen soil, or whatever.. Hence vital structures like Stonehenge mark fixed points in the solar cycle and Egyptian astronomers predicted the Nile floods

[TommyJ]

but a farmer, for instance, even a calendar is not needed.

Far from the truth. A calendar is essential for trade and whilst you might not want to plant crops in frozen soil, plants and animals have a very good sense of seasons so you have to be able to anticipate their functions and plan your year to the nearest day when you have rain, unfrozen soil, or whatever.. Hence vital structures like Stonehenge mark fixed points in the solar cycle and Egyptian astronomers predicted the Nile floods

Agree.
Stonehenge mark was vital (it also served more than that).
I looked just 100 years to the past. Birds, trees, plants, soil itself tell the time. Phenology science.
Calendar spring is not the mark, real time for soil readiness varies, according to winds, snow, etc.
Of course, you are right, it is hard to imagine planning trades without a calendar.

[Bored chemist]

but a farmer, for instance, even a calendar is not needed.

Far from the truth. A calendar is essential for trade and whilst you might not want to plant crops in frozen soil, plants and animals have a very good sense of seasons so you have to be able to anticipate their functions and plan your year to the nearest day when you have rain, unfrozen soil, or whatever.. Hence vital structures like Stonehenge mark fixed points in the solar cycle and Egyptian astronomers predicted the Nile floods

A fine idea, but the weather doesn't have a calendar, nor do the crops.

[alancalverd]

A wise man plans to the calendar. A fool works to it.

It probably makes sense to service your harvesting equipment in June, so you book a specific date with a contractor, but only an idiot would cut the crop on 30 July if it was soaking wet.

The current disgrace in Afghanistan  derives from Trump being a devout sun worshipper.

[Just thinking (OP)]

A wise man plans to the calendar. A fool works to it.

My life depends on the calendar if I miss my wife's birthday or wedding anniversary it's all over.

[Bored chemist]

The current disgrace in Afghanistan  derives from Trump being a devout sun worshipper.

I thought it was because he has realised he would lose and wanted to leave a massive turd on the Whitehouse carpet for Biden to deal with.

[Just thinking (OP)]

The current disgrace in Afghanistan  derives from Trump being a devout sun worshipper.

He does have a bit of a sunburn and that bleached surfer look.

[alancalverd]

The current disgrace in Afghanistan  derives from Trump being a devout sun worshipper.

I thought it was because he has realised he would lose and wanted to leave a massive turd on the Whitehouse carpet for Biden to deal with.

Or possibly he wants to be remembered, at the next election, as the president who brought the troops home, like Nixon. The clever bit was taking the credit for "negotiating" peace with the other scum, and leaving Biden to clear up the resulting mess by setting a memorable but wholly irrelevant deadline.

[Bored chemist]

bleached surfer look.

Don't mention bleach...
:-)

[Just thinking (OP)]

Don't mention bleach...

Not a bleach experiment gone wrong, was it?