Wednesday Wisdom

WHO

Benjamin Franklin was a polymath (Renaissance man/woman or someone who has a wide range of knowledge or learning), statesman, inventor, scientist, author, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, Massachusetts, and died on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Franklin was a central figure in colonial and later revolutionary politics setting the stage for American independence. He was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress and played a crucial role in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Franklin was sent as a diplomat to France during the American Revolution to secure French support for the American cause. His charm and diplomatic skills played a significant role in securing France's backing. Franklin was a signatory of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which officially ended the American Revolutionary War and recognized the independence of the United States from Great Britain. Franklin had a hand in some of the most important documents for the United States including the Declaration of Independence, Treaty of Paris and the Constitution.

In his later years, Franklin focused on writing and scientific pursuits. His autobiography, published posthumously, remains a classic of American literature and encapsulated the values of a young America. He was a proponent of reason and practicality, and his emphasis on self-improvement, civic duty, and the pursuit of knowledge through empirical observation resonated with Enlightenment philosophy. Benjamin Franklin's contributions to science, politics, and literature are immeasurable. This includes experiments to prove lighting was indeed electricity, writing about ocean currents and identifying the Gulf Stream and promoting the benefits of the smallpox vaccine to name a few.

He is often remembered for his philosophical aphorisms and maxims, as well as his emphasis on self-improvement and frugality. Franklin may have been the first person that was famous for being famous.

What he produced

In 1784 essay titled "An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light", Ben Franklin proposed Day Light Savings as a way economically getting more out each day. However, Franklin's proposal was not widely adopted in his time. In his essay Franklin proposed the idea of extending daylight hours through a simple adjustment of the clocks to reduce the need for artificial lighting and, in turn, save money on candles and oil lamps.

Franklin begins by addressing the problem of wasting daylight during the early morning hours when people are still asleep. He notes that people typically use artificial lighting in the evening, which consumes resources and money, even though there is plenty of natural daylight in the morning. Franklin's proposal is straightforward as he works through the logic of solving a problem. He suggests that the government should pass a law requiring people to wake up earlier by adjusting their daily schedules and activities. By doing so, they can make better use of the early morning sunlight and reduce the need for artificial lighting in the evening. He argues that this adjustment would result in significant economic benefits by reducing the consumption of candles and oil, which were the primary sources of artificial lighting in his time. As a result, people would save money, and the nation's economy as a whole would benefit. Franklin suggests various ways to encourage the public to adopt this practice, such as church bells and cannons to wake people up earlier, as well as tax incentives for those who conform to the new schedule.

Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of setting the clocks forward by one hour during the warmer months of the year to extend evening daylight and conserve energy. Essentially you borrow 1 hour of time in the morning for 1 hour in the evening. The idea behind DST is to make better use of natural daylight and reduce the need for artificial lighting, which can lead to energy savings. The clocks are set forward in the spring and set back in the fall.

The opposite of Daylight-Saving Time (DST) is known as Standard Time or Standard Time Zone. Standard Time represents the normal time of a given time zone without any adjustments for daylight saving. During Standard Time, the clocks remain the same throughout the year, and there are no transitions like the "spring forward" and "fall back" changes associated with DST. Currently only Arizona and Hawaii follow the process of Standard Time permanently. In regions that do not observe Daylight Saving Time or have decided to stay on Standard Time year-round, the clocks remain constant, and there is no shift in time during the warmer months.

While Ben Franklin was an early proponent of DST, the concept didn’t take hold until WW1. William Willett, a British builder, is often credited with independently proposing the concept of DST in 1907. He advocated for setting the clocks forward in the spring and back in the fall to make better use of daylight and reduce the need for artificial lighting. Germany was the first country to implement DST during World War I as a way to conserve resources and the practice was subsequently adopted by other countries participating in the war, including the United States and the United Kingdom.

In the United States, DST was standardized with the passage of the Uniform Time Act in 1966. This law established a system of DST with specific start and end dates for the entire country with the hope for consistency, energy conservation, increased productivity and economic benefits, and public safety.

The question remains, does DST actually provide the intended benefits? And is it logical to continue the practice.

2023 why do we care?

One of the benefits that was touted by the Uniform Time Act of 1966 was to bring a standard and consistent process of time across the country. This in itself doesn’t make sense because of time zones across longitudes and sunshine/darkness changes according to latitude. For example, on the equator you have equal light/darkness of 12 hours 365 days a year while the 40th latitude in a city like Philadelphia which has approximately 16/8 hours of light/darkness on the longest day of the year June 21st and the opposite on the shortest day December 21st.

In 2018 Floridian Representatives and Senators introduced a bill named the Sunshine Protection Act that aims to keep DST permanent year-round. It has been reintroduced every year since but dies in either legislative body or in a committee. The reason for the failure to reach a consensus on this issue stems from a fundamental disagreement: some advocate for permanent Daylight-Saving Time (DST), while others argue in favor of remaining on Standard Time (falling back). Each side presents its case by highlighting the advantages of their preferred choice and while emphasizing the drawbacks of the opposing position.

What does receive consensus by over 80 percent of Americans, is to have single set time and not switch every spring and fall.

So yeah, for now- it’s getting dark an hour earlier…..

And now you know...

Philosophy is the art of thinking, the building block of progress that shapes critical thinking across economics, ethics, religion, and science. 

METAPHYSICS: Literally, the term metaphysics means ‘beyond the physical.’ Typically, this is the branch that most people think of when they picture philosophy. In metaphysics, the goal is to answer the what and how questions in life. Who are we, and what are time and space?

LOGIC: The study of reasoning. Much like metaphysics, understanding logic helps to understand and appreciate how we perceive the rest of our world. More than that, it provides a foundation for which to build and interpret arguments and analyses. 

ETHICS: The study of morality, right and wrong, good and evil. Ethics tackles difficult conversations by adding weight to actions and decisions. Politics takes ethics to a larger scale, applying it to a group (or groups) of people. Political philosophers study political governments, laws, justice, authority, rights, liberty, ethics, and much more.

AESTHETICS: What is beautiful? Philosophers try to understand, qualify, and quantify what makes art what it is. Aesthetics also takes a deeper look at the artwork itself, trying to understand the meaning behind it, both art as a whole and art on an individual level. A question an aesthetics philosopher would seek to address is whether or not beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

EPISTEMOLOGY: This is the study and understanding of knowledge. The main question is how do we know? We can question the limitations of logic, how comprehension works, and the ability (or perception) to be certain.