I think this is an original idea… I am reading a book about quantum physics and time…

We have let time dictate what we do, and when. But a few hundred years ago few people had a clock or watch, and few people needed one.

I think we are heading back that way, and I think precision timekeeping will disappear, aside from being an odd artefact useful for only a few things.

Remember when people had 90210 or Sex and the City parties, and you had to be there before it started?

With hybrid office work, I have noticed people caring less about start and finish times. Where I work, we are in the office every other day, but people staying at home on those days, occasionally, matters not. And it is not unusual for sometime to do an hour of work at home, and then commute for a 9am start. Today a colleague turned up at 4 – he was going out in the city and the office was nearby, so he popped in. This is new and accepted. The cornerstone of time x society, the 9 to 5, is disappearing.

Some things rely on time, and I can’t see that changing. For example 3x 8 hour shifts at a factory. But they will become less common, very quickly.

• We now get to watch TV when it suits us.
• Public transport is, in general, becoming much more frequent. In some parts of Melbourne tram timetables say “every 8 minutes” instead of specifying times.
• With mobile phones, arriving at a destination at a precise time is no longer required, because we can send a text saying we are 20 mins away.
• Some high schools are introducing flexible schedules
• And we all know the start time of a party is, if given, not meaningful

What about, say, doctors appointments? Well, a utopian future has sufficient numbers of doctors to making booking unnecessary.

What about the President’s address to the citizens on an urgent matter? Pre-record it and make it available from X time, and whenever after that that suits viewers to watch it. I predict times are said to be from, and not at.

Rock concerts? Guarantee not to start before X time.

I think the loosening of time will be good for society – time currently stresses people.