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Time running out on leap second?
November 7, 2005
This week, the fate of the leap second is in the hands of the International Telecommunications Union. Last July, I came to its defense.
Writing in Saturday's New York Times (subscription required), Michael Benson, the author of Beyond: Visions of the Interplanetary Probes, also came to the leap second's defense. It may not seem significant, he writes, "But what's really at stake is whether we as a civilization, for the first time in history, decide to uncouple our time-keeping from the rotation of the Earth. That would be, to my mind, a serious mistake."
Abolition of the leap second would benefit proponents of International Atomic Time (TAI), which applies to the GPS system, and would obviate the periodic need to adjust synchronize TAI with Universal Coordinated Time (UTC). But, as Benson asks, do we--as "time consumers"--really want to decouple our time standard from the earth's rotation, and do we want the decision made by "time mandarins" in Geneva? We may not have a choice.
Posted by Rick Nelson on November 7, 2005 | Comments (0)
