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Let the days go by

2020-03-27T00:18:29.481Z


In a world where we can calculate nanoseconds and dream of traveling at the speed of light, possibly the hourglass symbolizes the feelings of many


Stephen Hawking related in his History of time that the theory of relativity led to abandon the idea that there was a unique absolute time: "Time became a more personal concept, relative to the observer who measured it."

Nothing more true in these days of coronavirus. Time, and how to deal with it, are presented as a critical factor in tackling the pandemic.

Some want the clock to speed up; that all this happens as soon as possible. Let it become at once just that unsuspected parenthesis in our lives. Time as a slab. That lost time, that of not having been able to hug the loved one who has left. The dead time, without horizon, of the elderly in their residences, in their houses, isolated, without being able to receive the consolation of a familiar face. The one with the sick in their beds. That of health workers, for whom the working day has become an endless cycle. The infinite time of children without school. They are all looking forward to the passing of the days as quickly as possible.

Others, however, would like to stop him. It is the fight of researchers, of scientists around the world in a frantic race against the clock to find the elusive vaccine; for better understanding the behavior of the virus, for locating some effective medicine to alleviate its effects. Also that of health officials, and politicians, eager to stop that unstoppable upward curve and to have more room to make decisions on issues for which they were not prepared. That of the businessmen, for whom each passing day is a drain and a major question mark for their future. Quasi-global confinement as a paradox for a society that had boarded a fast-paced train. Speed ​​and change pushed by technology as distinctive signs of humanity in the 21st century. Much has been said about the cultural differences between the West and the East on the front against the virus; between the predominance of immediacy for the former and the ability to look long-term for the latter.

In a curious essay published in the 1950s, The Book of the Hourglass , the German philosopher Ernst Jünger reviewed how the history of clocks shows the evolution of human conception over the passage of time. In a world where we can calculate nanoseconds and dream of traveling at the speed of light, the hourglass possibly symbolizes the feelings of many: it falls inexorably, but not fast enough. Take good care of yourself and stay home.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2020-03-27

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