tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13593902.post8939250992006869139..comments2024-02-11T09:55:50.468-08:00Comments on The Eastside View: Einstein, Poincaré, and the drift toward RelativityCharles Sherehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10480432901356490235noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13593902.post-45864420381659556542013-12-15T19:08:39.046-08:002013-12-15T19:08:39.046-08:00And yet: when I'm "out of time" — &q...<i>And yet: when I'm "out of time" — "away from the inertia of recorded time", as you compellingly put it — say, on a twenty-day walk in the mountains — I feel more intensely alive, and precisely </i>alive in the world,<i> than I do in my more normal life.<br /><br />If in fact it </i>is<i> "normal." Every morning one of the first things I do is change the daily calendar, and if it weren't for Friday and Saturday Martinis, I'd probably lose track of weekends…</i>Charles Sherehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10480432901356490235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13593902.post-13809180652476503042013-12-15T18:52:38.057-08:002013-12-15T18:52:38.057-08:00The philosophical problem of being "out of ti...The philosophical problem of being "out of time" derives, I think, from the industrial revolution, and our steady attention to the minutiae of the incremental progress of science and technology. <br /><br />When Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe, it was just beginning to be understood that the "progress" of history was a line of descent, and that the static contours of fixed ideas was no longer adequate to describe phenomena. <br /><br />When you've been "away " from civilization for a while, you may have forgotten what day it is, what the date is, and you've lost track of progress. No news. <br /><br />In Cast Away Tom Hanks is forced to "re-enter" the world from the isolation of living on a deserted island. He could have been on another planet, or in an extended coma. The world--history--went on without him, and he had to start over again. It's presented as a sad, heart-wrenching dilemma. <br /><br />To be away from the inertia of recorded time is to, in some sense, cease to be alive in the world.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.com