1 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:08,039 Speaker 1: Hey, you welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. This 2 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: is Robert Lamb and this is Joe McCormick, and it's Saturday. 3 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: That means the vault door creak it open, and we 4 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: bring you an older episode of the show. This one 5 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 1: originally published on March third, two and it is a 6 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: part one of our series on the seven day week. 7 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: What do we have seven day long weeks? And where 8 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: does that come from? What are the effects of it? 9 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:33,319 Speaker 1: So I recall the series being quite interesting, and uh, 10 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: here you go with the beginning of it. Welcome to 11 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:44,640 Speaker 1: s About to Blow your Mind production of My Heart Radio. 12 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My 13 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick and Rob Today, 14 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: I wanted to start off by hitting you with one 15 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: of my tenth greater thoughts. All right, let's have it. 16 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 1: What do you guys? This is an idea had in 17 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 1: high school. I can't remember if I've ever talked about 18 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:06,320 Speaker 1: this with you or not. Maybe maybe, maybe not, But anyway, 19 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: I remember when I was in sophomore year of high school, 20 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: I was sitting in a U S history class and 21 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: I was suddenly hit with a notion it was very 22 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:18,960 Speaker 1: much like a like a stoner thought, though of course 23 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:20,760 Speaker 1: I was. I was a very good boy, and I 24 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: was very sober in class. But um my thought was, 25 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: wait a second, why do we think about history in 26 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:35,479 Speaker 1: terms of multiples of ten years? So in terms of 27 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:40,399 Speaker 1: decades and centuries and I guess millennia, but primarily decades 28 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: and centuries. Why are those like the units of time 29 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: on which historical trends are judged to make sense or 30 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: or be valid. And if we used a different base 31 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: counting system, like if we didn't have ten fingers and 32 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: thus didn't count with base ten, would we think about 33 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: history in a totally different way with different sort of 34 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 1: groups of associations if it was like, you know, on 35 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: the basis of sixty three year periods or or eighteen 36 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 1: year periods or something like that. Yeah, like what what 37 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: would the nine seventies be without without decades? You know, 38 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:20,640 Speaker 1: how would we think about that time period? What would 39 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,799 Speaker 1: be the um you know, the barriers to it? And 40 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: how would we package that up? And I guess I'm 41 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:29,800 Speaker 1: still prone to this kind of thinking because the idea 42 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 1: that I started uh getting getting really interested in like 43 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: last week was another question basically along the same lines, 44 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: which is like, how are we affected by the the 45 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:46,360 Speaker 1: time units that we use to organize our lives And 46 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: if those time units were actually different lengths of time, 47 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 1: how different would our lives be? And this is going 48 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,679 Speaker 1: to lead into the subject that we're going to be 49 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: looking at for the next couple of episodes at least, 50 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:03,119 Speaker 1: who knows how many we'll go to. But but right 51 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: we're getting into the subject of the week. And I 52 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: think this this one has a really interesting peg because 53 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: if you think about the major units of time that 54 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: divide our lives from say like day length and above. 55 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: So the day is of course twenty four hours long, 56 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:21,800 Speaker 1: and it is roughly the time it takes the Earth 57 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 1: to make one full rotation on its axis. But then 58 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 1: you've also got the year. The year is of course, 59 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:30,760 Speaker 1: you know, it's three six five days, and this is 60 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: roughly the time it takes the Earth to make one 61 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: full orbit around the Sun. And then you've got the months, 62 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: and the month also has an astronomical basis this one 63 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: a little more roughly than the other two. There there's 64 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: a there's a larger difference, but you know, our months 65 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: are roughly thirty days long, and it takes roughly thirty 66 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,680 Speaker 1: days for the moon to complete one full orbit around 67 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: the Earth. I think it's like twenty nine point five 68 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 1: three days or something. And then of course we we 69 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: make up for that with little adjustments, you different numbers 70 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: of days and stuff like that. Yeah, and now at 71 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:07,520 Speaker 1: this point is probably worth remembering here for every for everybody, 72 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 1: that most ancient calendars were based on direct observation. So 73 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: uh so, yeah, it makes total sense that these uh, 74 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 1: you know, a lot of these ideas about how we 75 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:22,080 Speaker 1: should divide out our time are based on what we're observing, 76 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: saying the night sky, sure, and there are somewhere. It's 77 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: pretty much inevitable. I mean, like you, we kind of 78 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: can't help but organize ourselves around day lengths, right, because 79 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: like what time of day it is or time of 80 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 1: night makes a dramatic difference on the way we interact 81 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: with our environment because of things like temperature and light, 82 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:42,440 Speaker 1: so that that's almost just totally imposed on us. We 83 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:45,720 Speaker 1: really have no choice but to live by days and nights. Uh. 84 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:48,479 Speaker 1: You could make the case that maybe months are different, 85 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: but but you know, there's some natural rhythms that come 86 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: with the lunar cycle, and uh, and and certainly there 87 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: are things that come with the yearly cycle because of say, 88 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 1: like the rotations of harvests and the seasons and stuff. 89 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: But then we come to the week. We look at 90 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 1: look at the seven day week, and if you look 91 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:09,640 Speaker 1: for the seven day week and the stars and the 92 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:12,840 Speaker 1: planets or the movement of the earth, you come up 93 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:17,720 Speaker 1: with absolutely nothing. The closest I've seen is that some 94 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: people have said, well, uh, the seven day week is 95 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: a fairly rough quarterly division of the lunar month. So 96 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: if you take the length of a month and you 97 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:31,359 Speaker 1: divide it by four, that gets you close to seven days. 98 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:35,600 Speaker 1: That's like the closest whole number. Uh. But but then again, 99 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:37,800 Speaker 1: like why would you do that? Like why would you 100 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: not divide the month by five or divide the month 101 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:43,040 Speaker 1: by six or something else. So so I don't think 102 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 1: that the length of the week is really something that 103 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: you can say naturally flows from anything that is physically 104 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: true about the world. I think we'd have to say 105 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:57,040 Speaker 1: though there might be you know, historical, cultural, religious reasons 106 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,080 Speaker 1: that feed into it. It's it's a somewhat are a 107 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: treary length. It's based on culture, and it's a human 108 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:07,239 Speaker 1: invention it's not just a a an approximation of something 109 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: that's happening in the skies, right, and and I believe, 110 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: I believe all the evidence where we've looked at really 111 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: backs that up. Though It's always worth remembering that if 112 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:22,120 Speaker 1: you stray too far into the wilds of numerology just 113 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: about anything, it's possible, right. Sure. I'm always reminded of 114 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: the bid and Um. I forget which number too echo 115 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: work it was. It might have been fucos pendulum. It 116 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:33,919 Speaker 1: might have been one of his essays. Perhaps you remember 117 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: this Joe where he's um he's talking about like all 118 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 1: the various numerology computations about the Great Pyramids and how 119 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:43,559 Speaker 1: those you know, numbers relate to other aspects of life. 120 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,679 Speaker 1: And the example was made that you can also torture 121 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 1: the numbers enough regarding I want to say, a phone 122 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:52,719 Speaker 1: booth or something h even something far more mundane compared 123 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: to the Pyramids. But yeah, if you start getting wild 124 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 1: with what numbers mean and so forth, then you can 125 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: go crazy with that as well. Yeah. I think the 126 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: way I'd put it is that if you look hard 127 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: enough for patterns, you can find patterns in anything, and 128 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:08,359 Speaker 1: that includes numbers. And like numerical relationships and say, like 129 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: the ratios of length and width of objects in the world, 130 00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: or the length of different periods of time within one 131 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: another and stuff. Yeah, I mean, you can always find 132 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 1: patterns if you look hard enough, and some people work 133 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:24,640 Speaker 1: really hard. But as far as meaningful patterns and meaningful connections, yeah, yeah, 134 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: I think I think almost all the evidence we're looking 135 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: at here today and the next episode, uh, you know, 136 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 1: comes back to the fact that, yes, seven seems to 137 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: be this thing that is not written in the in 138 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: the heavens, and and it isn't even like really written 139 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: inside us either, but it's something that emerges from other directions, 140 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 1: which we'll get into, right, So I don't know that 141 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: that start me is just like a really interesting fact 142 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:53,200 Speaker 1: that our lives are guided by this this seven day 143 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: length of time, that we organize our lives into these 144 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: blocks of seven days, and that so much what we 145 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:02,640 Speaker 1: do is based on the recurrence of those blocks and 146 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 1: the timing of the days within those blocks. And yet 147 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: it's not a necessary fact of nature. So what is 148 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: the seven day week? Where does it come from? How 149 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 1: culturally unique or culturally universal is it um? And what 150 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: is it doing? To us, like how does it work 151 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: on our brains? And how does it change the way 152 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 1: we live? And it is hard to imagine, you know, 153 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 1: certainly for us, it's it's hard to imagine living without 154 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 1: the seven day week, Uh, just because we're in it. 155 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: It's kind of like trying to imagine recent history without decades. 156 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: It's like it's just such a part of the fabric. 157 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:40,559 Speaker 1: It's the this grid that we've we've we've we've we've 158 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:45,480 Speaker 1: laid across reality, and it's just like, how how would 159 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: we function if we didn't have Monday's, Tuesday's, Wednesday, Thursdays, Friday, 160 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:54,440 Speaker 1: Saturdays and Sundays. You can't take my Wednesdays away from me? Yeah, 161 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:56,600 Speaker 1: if we don't have the hump day, right, the magical 162 00:08:56,679 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: hunt day that is the day where our victory over 163 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:02,440 Speaker 1: the week be a parent on Tuesday, I guess you 164 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:06,679 Speaker 1: know that it just seems impossible. Well, so, I want 165 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: to say, one of the first things I read on 166 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:11,680 Speaker 1: this subject when when I was first getting interested in 167 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:16,199 Speaker 1: it last week, actually was an article in Eon magazine 168 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:20,400 Speaker 1: by a UC Berkeley professor of history named David Hankin, 169 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:23,160 Speaker 1: who has written on this subject, who has written on 170 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:27,320 Speaker 1: the artificiality of the week and it's and it's cultural 171 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:31,199 Speaker 1: precedents and effects. And he starts off this Eon article 172 00:09:31,679 --> 00:09:34,920 Speaker 1: by mentioning something. So you may have noticed, I think, 173 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 1: especially like in but maybe more commonly over the last 174 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 1: two years, a lot of kind of hack jokes on 175 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: the internet, uh, made especially by the subset of people 176 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,199 Speaker 1: who had previously been working in an office but then 177 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: we're lucky enough to be able to convert to working 178 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 1: from home during the pandemic. And the joke was, nobody 179 00:09:57,120 --> 00:09:59,520 Speaker 1: knows what day it is, Like I, I can't keep 180 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:02,720 Speaker 1: track of days. Every day is the same, it's blurs. 181 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: Day is the yuck yuck expression. Uh. And and I 182 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,320 Speaker 1: noticed that this connects to things in some movies, like 183 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 1: you remember there's a scene in The Big Lebowski where um, 184 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:15,200 Speaker 1: where I think Jeff Bridge's landlord comes to him and 185 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:17,480 Speaker 1: is telling him what day something's gonna happen. Maybe is 186 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 1: when he's gonna come see his dance recital or something, 187 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:22,160 Speaker 1: and uh, and he says what day it is? And 188 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:25,760 Speaker 1: um uh, and it's clear that you know that the 189 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:28,000 Speaker 1: dude does not know what day of the week it is. 190 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: And this is like a standard uh deployment of this 191 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:35,439 Speaker 1: observation about a person, somebody who doesn't know what day 192 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:37,440 Speaker 1: of the week it is is usually taken to be 193 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:42,520 Speaker 1: sort of disoriented or disconnected from society or maybe unproductive. 194 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, um, and you know you can make that 195 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:51,120 Speaker 1: argument for the dude, but I don't know for my 196 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:56,000 Speaker 1: own part. I would say there are rare moments, perhaps 197 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 1: during say vacation or travel, where I might have to 198 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:03,160 Speaker 1: remind myself what day it is. More commonly, however, I'll 199 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:05,560 Speaker 1: find that if there's a disruption in the week, it 200 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:11,559 Speaker 1: may momentarially feel like today is a different day, you know, like, um, 201 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:13,840 Speaker 1: if it's a Monday on a three day weekend, then 202 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:17,160 Speaker 1: that Monday kind of feels like a Sunday. But these 203 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:19,960 Speaker 1: feelings generally don't hold up to even halfway you know, 204 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 1: close scrutiny. You know, it's it's one of those things 205 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:28,839 Speaker 1: that immediately fades away. Um. So yeah, I you certainly 206 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 1: encounter it in media and you hear people make jokes 207 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:34,880 Speaker 1: about it, but generally, I feel like the calendar mindset 208 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: is not far away. Well, I mean, the fact that 209 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:40,280 Speaker 1: people were like posting on Twitter about this often enough 210 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:43,959 Speaker 1: in that it was a thing people. It was a 211 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: trend people could observe seem to mean something. And I 212 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: think the standard assumption, the widely presumed explanation, was that 213 00:11:52,559 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 1: telecommuting was to blame. This is because, oh, well, now 214 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:58,240 Speaker 1: a larger percentage of people are telecommuting. But you know, 215 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:01,439 Speaker 1: more people were telecommuting than had been before, and people 216 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:06,440 Speaker 1: who were freshly telecommuting, uh, we're we're experiencing this. I 217 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:08,560 Speaker 1: don't know what day it is feeling as a result. 218 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: But Hankin actually goes back against that and says that 219 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: he doesn't see telecommuting as a as a very good 220 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: explanation for people since of the days blurring together. And 221 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:20,839 Speaker 1: I have to say, as as somebody who often worked 222 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:25,320 Speaker 1: from home even before COVID, that has never been my 223 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:28,640 Speaker 1: experience of telecommuting, and I I also would be skeptical 224 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:32,720 Speaker 1: of that explanation. Yeah, I would agree. I mean, though 225 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:36,360 Speaker 1: part of that might be that we're typically I mean, 226 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:38,600 Speaker 1: I think we've always been part of a publication schedule, 227 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,040 Speaker 1: so uh, you know, there's always what day it is 228 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:44,160 Speaker 1: still matters even if you're not in the office, at 229 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:46,880 Speaker 1: least in our line of work. Sure, but I would 230 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:48,760 Speaker 1: I would think that would generally hold true with a 231 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:52,400 Speaker 1: lot of different professions. Yeah, And the point that Hankin 232 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: makes at least is that telecommuting really disrupts normal divisions 233 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:01,480 Speaker 1: of time within the day more than does across the 234 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,800 Speaker 1: span of a week. Right, So, like it doesn't change 235 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:08,319 Speaker 1: usually which days of the week people were working. I mean, 236 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:10,920 Speaker 1: it might in some cases, but that's not generally understood 237 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 1: to be how it worked. It would change like where 238 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:16,680 Speaker 1: you were working within the day. Um, And of course 239 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:19,880 Speaker 1: nobody was complaining about like not knowing what hour of 240 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:23,080 Speaker 1: the day it was. And it's also interesting that the 241 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:25,360 Speaker 1: line was not I don't know what day of the 242 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 1: month it was, it was I don't know what day 243 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 1: of the week it is. And ultimately the explanation that 244 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:35,080 Speaker 1: he gives is that quote, weekly counts are reinforced by 245 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:38,800 Speaker 1: the habits and rituals of other people. When those habits 246 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: and rituals were radically obscured or altered in the week, 247 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 1: itself seemed to unravel. And I think I agree here. 248 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: This seems likely to me that for people who felt 249 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:51,400 Speaker 1: this way, like I don't know what day of the 250 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:54,960 Speaker 1: week it is, I would suspect it probably had less 251 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: to do with telecommuting, and more to do with the 252 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:02,320 Speaker 1: disruption in schedules of other things that people would normally 253 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:06,360 Speaker 1: do at regular, recurring times throughout the week. So maybe 254 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: for example, recurring social get togethers or classes, or religious gatherings, 255 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:15,520 Speaker 1: or going out to dinner on Saturday night or things 256 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:20,120 Speaker 1: like that. You know, people have pretty strong weekly rituals. 257 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:23,440 Speaker 1: Not everybody obviously, but lots of people do. And when 258 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 1: when those things get interrupted, I think that probably has 259 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: a strong effect on reckoning with the cycle itself. Yeah, 260 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:32,720 Speaker 1: I think that makes sense because obviously there are two 261 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:36,680 Speaker 1: To a certain degree, many people were able to transition 262 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:40,560 Speaker 1: these things into the like the zoom age. They're able to, 263 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:44,320 Speaker 1: you know, do their game night online to to turn 264 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:49,240 Speaker 1: a particular in person social hour into a virtual social hour. 265 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 1: But in other cases things simply went away, um you know, 266 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:57,880 Speaker 1: after school practices and so forth. You know, in many 267 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: cases these just didn't happen for a year or more. 268 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:03,640 Speaker 1: You know, there's a totally different thing that I wonder 269 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 1: about that. It makes me wonder if if, um, confusing 270 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:10,360 Speaker 1: which day it is in the week has become maybe 271 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 1: a little more common in recent years, and this would 272 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:15,800 Speaker 1: have nothing to do with the pandemic, but it would 273 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:21,840 Speaker 1: be um shifts in patterns of media consumption among people 274 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:26,960 Speaker 1: getting a lower percentage on average of their media from 275 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:32,280 Speaker 1: scheduled live broadcasts that are that occur at regular dates 276 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: and days and times throughout a week, like you know, 277 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 1: you know that the TV show that you like comes 278 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:40,880 Speaker 1: on at this time on this day, and instead shifting 279 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 1: towards more on demand uh consumption of media or just 280 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:49,680 Speaker 1: algorithmically supplied media entertainment, which is, you know, always there 281 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 1: waiting for you and always on, rather than scheduled at 282 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:57,560 Speaker 1: particular days and times. Mm. So that sounds like a 283 00:15:57,600 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: point in favor of what are they calling? And now 284 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:04,320 Speaker 1: I'll meant television versus uh, like you know, just a 285 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,920 Speaker 1: binge streaming and so forth. Oh, finally it's Friday and 286 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:11,520 Speaker 1: I can watch this trash I've been waiting on. Well, 287 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:14,960 Speaker 1: you know, growing up very much in the TV age, 288 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,800 Speaker 1: I mean, I remember that feeling that you know, it's 289 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: it's it's Friday or Saturday night, you know exactly you 290 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:23,040 Speaker 1: know what, uh, you know what's going to be on 291 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: television Sunday morning, you know, you know what's gonna be 292 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: on then uh, you know there's a different character or 293 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:30,600 Speaker 1: whatever's on TV. And if you did not have a 294 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 1: clock and did not have access to clock time, you 295 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:35,880 Speaker 1: could tell if you know what you're doing, you know 296 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,200 Speaker 1: what time it was, just based on what's happening on 297 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:42,800 Speaker 1: NBC or what's happening on TVs. Uh, what what happens 298 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:45,160 Speaker 1: to be playing on MTV, that sort of thing. I'm 299 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:47,400 Speaker 1: not going to forget it Saturday because I know that 300 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 1: that at one am on the USA network, I'm gonna 301 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: get to watch Friday the thirteenth, Part eight. Yeah. Well, 302 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: this this is a leads to an interesting question that 303 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:00,080 Speaker 1: I don't think we did not We certainly did not 304 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: prepared to answer. Are there any franchises that that have 305 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:05,600 Speaker 1: seven entries, like an even seven? Oh? And then they've 306 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:09,640 Speaker 1: said definitely no more ever, any one for each day, 307 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:11,880 Speaker 1: and that's it. I don't know. Are we at transfer 308 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:14,199 Speaker 1: seven yet? I've just looked it up. Now we're at 309 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:18,040 Speaker 1: transfer six, So one more and then we're good, okay, 310 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:25,840 Speaker 1: than than than well. So another question comes up though 311 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:30,240 Speaker 1: from this, which is, um, okay, so seven days is 312 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:33,920 Speaker 1: not strictly speaking a a time period that we derive 313 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:37,439 Speaker 1: from astronomy or from anything physical that happens in the 314 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:42,000 Speaker 1: world around us. It seems to be a cultural invention. Um. 315 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:45,160 Speaker 1: But but could it possibly be based in some other 316 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:47,960 Speaker 1: natural fact about the world other than say, you know, 317 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:50,879 Speaker 1: the moon or the sun or the Earth. Could could 318 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:55,320 Speaker 1: a period of seven days somehow lie within biology? Yeah? 319 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:57,880 Speaker 1: I was wondering about this as well. You know, is 320 00:17:57,880 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 1: is there anything that might connect the idea of the 321 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:04,680 Speaker 1: seven day week to the biological world, particularly to human biology? 322 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:08,679 Speaker 1: And I found uh an interesting and at times perplexing 323 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 1: at least to me paper flexing to me anyway. Uh, 324 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,959 Speaker 1: paper that was published in twenty six in the journal 325 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:22,000 Speaker 1: Chronobiology International by Rheinberg at All titled seven day Human 326 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 1: Biological Rhythms An Expedition in search of their origin, synchronization, 327 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:33,040 Speaker 1: functional advantage, adaptive value and clinical relevance. This paper aims 328 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 1: to look at the quote seven day domain of the 329 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:40,879 Speaker 1: biological time structure with special reference to human beings. Okay, 330 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:44,119 Speaker 1: so it seems like they're investigating exactly the question we 331 00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:46,679 Speaker 1: just raised, like, could there be any kind of rhythm 332 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:49,399 Speaker 1: within the body of things that tend to happen in 333 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:53,360 Speaker 1: cycles of seven days or so? Right? And uh? And 334 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:55,200 Speaker 1: you know, first of all they do say this is 335 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:58,560 Speaker 1: from the conclusions they stay quote, neither cosmic nor earthborn 336 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:02,000 Speaker 1: signals seemed to be of sufficient strength to give rise 337 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:04,719 Speaker 1: to the seven day rhythms of life forms of various 338 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:08,119 Speaker 1: degrees of complexity. All right, fair enough that that matches 339 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:09,959 Speaker 1: up with what we've said so far, particularly as far 340 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:14,520 Speaker 1: as the heavens go. However, they also conclude that the 341 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:19,240 Speaker 1: evidence quote motivates us to hypothesize weekly rhythms are endogenous 342 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:22,760 Speaker 1: in origin. So, in other words, these researchers still think 343 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:25,600 Speaker 1: that there is something about the power of seven that 344 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 1: emerges from within us. So they admit that the seven 345 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:33,800 Speaker 1: day biological cycle is a little studied. But but they 346 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: make a point of saying what it does seem to 347 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,240 Speaker 1: factor into various organisms, And they cite a list of examples, 348 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:43,639 Speaker 1: including things like laboratory rats, domestic horses, and seemingly to 349 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 1: some degree, human beings. Though I should say that these examples, 350 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:49,520 Speaker 1: like for example, with the horse, the example is a 351 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:54,440 Speaker 1: study on seven day cycles in semen volume, sperm motility 352 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:59,359 Speaker 1: and supermatozoa concentration. Uh. And not not to say that 353 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:01,800 Speaker 1: all all them are sperm related, but you know it's 354 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: it's things related to various processes inside of biological system. Well, 355 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:09,840 Speaker 1: I guess if it's domestic horses and animals living within 356 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:14,440 Speaker 1: human environments, I would be a little curious whether any 357 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 1: appearance seven day cycles could somehow be based on something 358 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:21,160 Speaker 1: that's changing within their environment on the basis of human 359 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:24,159 Speaker 1: and behavior, because humans live by seven day cycles or 360 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:27,680 Speaker 1: not all humans do. But I'd imagine that the animals 361 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:30,360 Speaker 1: used in the study probably belong to humans that do right, 362 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:35,080 Speaker 1: and all scientists are humans. So um, yeah, this is 363 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:37,119 Speaker 1: definitely an area where I would I would love to 364 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,199 Speaker 1: read more on this topic and read some you know, 365 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 1: some some work from other researchers as well. Um, I 366 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:46,240 Speaker 1: don't really know quite what to make of this paper 367 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:49,280 Speaker 1: because on one hand, I am not it's intended audience, 368 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,760 Speaker 1: and I may be missing something important in their their 369 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:56,800 Speaker 1: arguments here, So that's always certainly a possibility. But I'm 370 00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:58,760 Speaker 1: not sure how much stock I put in the concept 371 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:01,639 Speaker 1: that there is something about seven day time period that 372 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:04,879 Speaker 1: emerges within us, because for starters, I'm not sure it 373 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:07,560 Speaker 1: really lines up with the history that we're going to 374 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:10,359 Speaker 1: be discussing in this episode. In the next uh, you know, 375 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 1: seven becomes the standard and it wins out over other models. 376 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:16,800 Speaker 1: But I'm not sure it's because it match something inside us. 377 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:20,320 Speaker 1: I think they're there are other stronger arguments to be 378 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:22,720 Speaker 1: made for other factors. Well, I don't know. Maybe we 379 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 1: can revisit this paper later if we if we get 380 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,520 Speaker 1: some additional clarity on it. But but also maybe we 381 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:30,760 Speaker 1: can trudge out of the swamp of confusion, but by 382 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:33,359 Speaker 1: focusing on something a little more understandable in the moment, 383 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 1: which is the question of Okay, just in in basic 384 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: functional terms, what does the week actually do? What do 385 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:44,040 Speaker 1: we use the seven day week for? Hinkin actually outlines 386 00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:47,639 Speaker 1: four different things that he thinks the seven day week does, 387 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:50,720 Speaker 1: and so I want to go through these with you, rob. Okay, 388 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,760 Speaker 1: So the first one would be categorizing days into different types. 389 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,360 Speaker 1: So the week organizes time into blocks of two fundamental 390 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:03,960 Speaker 1: kind of days, week days and weekends, with the main 391 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:08,159 Speaker 1: distinctions between the two being, um being the distinction between 392 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:13,639 Speaker 1: work and leisure and the distinction between mundane and sacred. Yeah, 393 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,199 Speaker 1: and you know you see this reflect like even if 394 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:19,920 Speaker 1: if you were, say, someone who does not work, maybe 395 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:23,359 Speaker 1: you're retired or you have a particular work schedule that 396 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 1: sets you apart from from many other people. Um, you 397 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,600 Speaker 1: still see it reflected, say in what sort of businesses 398 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:33,880 Speaker 1: are closed on the weekends, what sort of businesses are 399 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:36,560 Speaker 1: are going to be swamped on the weekend, and therefore 400 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 1: it's better to go on a weekday. So even if 401 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:43,359 Speaker 1: the cycles don't don't at first seem to impact you personally, 402 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:47,040 Speaker 1: that they still probably do to some degree anyway, exactly. 403 00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:49,480 Speaker 1: So that's one thing we do. We we sort days 404 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: into different kinds of days, and there's usually mainly just 405 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:55,840 Speaker 1: two kinds, but you could imagine other schemes of of 406 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:59,719 Speaker 1: sorting days into different sort of buckets like that. Beyond that, 407 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:02,719 Speaker 1: I would say you could get more granular and and 408 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:05,840 Speaker 1: go to the second category, which is day individual ation, 409 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:08,439 Speaker 1: because of course we have week days and weekends, but 410 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:11,960 Speaker 1: also each day of the week is its own fundamental thing. 411 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:15,000 Speaker 1: Uh So we all we know that Tuesdays are not 412 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:18,680 Speaker 1: exactly the same as Mondays, and Saturdays are not exactly 413 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,280 Speaker 1: the same as Sundays. So each day becomes a distinct 414 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: concept with its own connotations. And of course this can 415 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 1: be highly individualized. You know, Friday for some people maybe 416 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,760 Speaker 1: more of a celebration day the beginning of the weekend. 417 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:33,680 Speaker 1: Others may see it as kind of a termination point 418 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: for fulfilling work, you know, maybe even an unwanted termination point, 419 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:39,680 Speaker 1: like oh, I have to I have to not work 420 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,639 Speaker 1: for two days um. Or others may see it as 421 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:44,880 Speaker 1: a crunch day, like this is the day where everything 422 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:47,520 Speaker 1: that was stressful in the week is even more stressful 423 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:49,399 Speaker 1: and there's just not enough time in the day to 424 00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:51,280 Speaker 1: get it done. You know, there are a million different 425 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:55,800 Speaker 1: variations on everything I just said again, uh, the exact 426 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:57,560 Speaker 1: flavor of the day is going to vary from person 427 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: to person, but they do end up having these separate flavors, 428 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:04,240 Speaker 1: these separate fields, even though the only thing different, you know, 429 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:06,560 Speaker 1: the only difference from the Monday and Tuesday is just 430 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:08,800 Speaker 1: how they relate to each other and to the rest 431 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 1: of the calendar system. Right. I was actually looking for 432 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:16,520 Speaker 1: scientific studies about how people feel about different days of 433 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:19,280 Speaker 1: the week, and I found one. Uh So, I found 434 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:23,879 Speaker 1: a study published in pl Os one in by David A. Ellis, 435 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:29,000 Speaker 1: Richard Wiseman, and Rob Jenkins called mental Representations of week Days. 436 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:31,720 Speaker 1: I was I was sure you were going to say 437 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,680 Speaker 1: this was a study by Garfield at all. I thought 438 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:36,479 Speaker 1: it was a joke. I thought you were setting me up. 439 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:39,359 Speaker 1: It's a real study, Okay, go for it. Well, this 440 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:42,120 Speaker 1: study would suggest to Garfield that he is not alone. 441 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:45,959 Speaker 1: His his his feelings are born out in the broader population. 442 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,120 Speaker 1: So it was conducted by three psychologists in the UK 443 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:52,160 Speaker 1: and they were trying to draw out trends in how 444 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:55,400 Speaker 1: people conceptualize each of the days of the week as 445 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: its own idea and how people react to those those ideas. 446 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:03,160 Speaker 1: This used sampling tools over the internet, because of course, 447 00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 1: the weekly accounting schedule is going to be somewhat culturally contingent. 448 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:09,719 Speaker 1: I was looking, okay, well, where are the people who 449 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:12,920 Speaker 1: were answering these studies. It seems the majority of respondents 450 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:16,879 Speaker 1: appear to be based in UH in North America and Europe. 451 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,400 Speaker 1: And so in the first study, they were looking at 452 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:24,000 Speaker 1: which days do people get confused about? You know, when 453 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,040 Speaker 1: somebody's like, oh I thought it was one day, but 454 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:30,080 Speaker 1: it's actually another. This might not be surprising, but they 455 00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:33,600 Speaker 1: found that people were actually much more likely to confuse 456 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:39,440 Speaker 1: midweek days meaning Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for different days 457 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,480 Speaker 1: than they were to confuse other days for the wrong day. 458 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:46,320 Speaker 1: So you're way more likely to to think it's the 459 00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,680 Speaker 1: wrong day when it's a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday than Wednesday, 460 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:52,919 Speaker 1: it's a Friday or a Monday. Second study looked at 461 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,639 Speaker 1: reaction times to see how quickly people could answer what 462 00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 1: day of the week it is? That's a good question, right, uh, 463 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,880 Speaker 1: And they found that people's reaction times were fastest on 464 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,000 Speaker 1: Monday and Friday. So that would tend to suggest that 465 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:09,919 Speaker 1: Mondays and Fridays are the days when what day of 466 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:13,200 Speaker 1: the week it is is most highly represented in your brain, 467 00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:16,520 Speaker 1: you're the most conscious of it and can answer immediately. Yeah. 468 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,600 Speaker 1: I mean basically comes down our things beginning, are things ending? 469 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:22,680 Speaker 1: Are are we somewhere in the middle? Which it's interesting 470 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:24,320 Speaker 1: to think about that because we have such a linear 471 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:28,159 Speaker 1: understanding of time, you know, we we have such a 472 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,640 Speaker 1: narrative approach to understanding our own lives, it makes sense 473 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:33,359 Speaker 1: that that would relate to the to the work week 474 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:36,000 Speaker 1: as well, or just the week in general, like each 475 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:38,960 Speaker 1: week is a little story with a beginning and an ending, 476 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 1: and also this middle bit which might be a bit muddled, 477 00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 1: right right, And speaking of muddling in in the third study, 478 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:51,440 Speaker 1: they also found that participants had the least semantic associations, 479 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,680 Speaker 1: meaning they were able to come up with the fewest 480 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:59,720 Speaker 1: number of connotations and thoughts about the midweek days once again, Tuesday, 481 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:03,399 Speaker 1: Whence and Thursday. Other days of the week like Monday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 482 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:07,160 Speaker 1: people could come up with more thoughts about. Another thing 483 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,840 Speaker 1: they looked at was affective norms, how people feel when 484 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:14,359 Speaker 1: asked to think about individual days of the week. Again, 485 00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:16,640 Speaker 1: this might not be surprising at all, but it does 486 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:21,240 Speaker 1: validate the Garfield experience because it turns out everyone hates Mondays, 487 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:25,720 Speaker 1: people feel strongly negative about Monday's, people feel strongly positive 488 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:29,680 Speaker 1: about Fridays, and then basically the other days in between 489 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:34,200 Speaker 1: appear to be graded on slopes towards those two extremes. 490 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:36,480 Speaker 1: So people are highest on a Friday, and then it 491 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:39,400 Speaker 1: goes down a little bit on Saturday, then more on Sunday. 492 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,240 Speaker 1: Monday is the lowest, and then starting on Tuesday it 493 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:44,640 Speaker 1: starts to climb up again to get until it gets 494 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:47,320 Speaker 1: to Friday. Well, yeah, I don't know if I have 495 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:52,040 Speaker 1: much personal to relate on that. I feel like you 496 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 1: can sort of find something nice to say about any 497 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,679 Speaker 1: given day. I feel lucky, you know, or if you 498 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:01,280 Speaker 1: look hard enough. But that's just my take. Well, I 499 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:03,399 Speaker 1: feel like that's one of those studies where that didn't 500 00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:06,200 Speaker 1: really have any surprises in store, right, Like that, it's 501 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:07,800 Speaker 1: sort of what you would think, but it does at 502 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,679 Speaker 1: least put some data behind those intuitions that. Yeah, like 503 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:14,919 Speaker 1: for us, like Fridays and Mondays are definitely more of 504 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:19,280 Speaker 1: a phenomenon than than Tuesdays or Wednesdays are, and we 505 00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:23,119 Speaker 1: also have the correspondingly the strongest feelings about those days. 506 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:25,520 Speaker 1: And I would you know, I think they're probably pretty 507 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:28,040 Speaker 1: obvious reasons for that. I would be very surprised if 508 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:30,040 Speaker 1: the answer were not that it has something to do 509 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:33,240 Speaker 1: with the work week. People like being done with work 510 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:35,159 Speaker 1: for the week, and people do not like having to 511 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:37,840 Speaker 1: go back to work for the week. Now, it's interesting 512 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,320 Speaker 1: to think back on the song Friday, I'm in Love 513 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,320 Speaker 1: by the Cure, because if I remember correctly, I don't 514 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:45,080 Speaker 1: think he has anything nice to say about any of 515 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:48,040 Speaker 1: the days of the week except for Friday, Yeah, the 516 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:50,200 Speaker 1: day that he is in love. Oh you know, I 517 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:52,160 Speaker 1: just looked up the lyrics, and the way you explain 518 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:55,360 Speaker 1: it makes a lot more sense than how these were 519 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:57,760 Speaker 1: represented in my head because I always thought it was 520 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:02,200 Speaker 1: that Tuesday's great and Wednesday it too, And that was 521 00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:04,400 Speaker 1: a strange thing to say, like like he's just trying 522 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,200 Speaker 1: to be nice, you know, He's like, I don't want 523 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:12,160 Speaker 1: to say bad things about Tuesday. Tuesday's Wednesday's fine. That 524 00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 1: would yeah, that would that would be I guess it 525 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:20,280 Speaker 1: did a different song. Yeah, Thursday, I don't care about you. Oh, 526 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:22,520 Speaker 1: that would be a different cycle entirely because it's like 527 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: Monday he's blue, but then yeah, Tuesday, he's over it. Wednesday, 528 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 1: everything's going fine. Thursday he's so detached from the situation. 529 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:31,280 Speaker 1: But then he falls back in love again on Friday 530 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:34,960 Speaker 1: and begins the cycle once more. I still don't entirely 531 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:37,280 Speaker 1: understand the song, but it's a great song. Wait wait, 532 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:39,160 Speaker 1: but but I want to come back to Hankin's ideas 533 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:41,920 Speaker 1: about what the week does for us. So we already 534 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:45,400 Speaker 1: talked about the categorization of types of days. You've got 535 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,000 Speaker 1: weekdays and weekends, and then you've got the individuation of 536 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: each day. But then the next thing, I think this 537 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:52,280 Speaker 1: is a really important one. I would call it like 538 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:56,959 Speaker 1: time conceptualization. Uh, this is for mental time travel and 539 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:02,000 Speaker 1: for what Hankin calls stock taking. So one thing weeks 540 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:05,880 Speaker 1: do is that they give us blocks of time, blocks 541 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:10,680 Speaker 1: of seven days along which to organize our memories and 542 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:14,680 Speaker 1: our anticipation of the near future. And this absolutely makes 543 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:16,640 Speaker 1: sense to me because I know I do this. I 544 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,840 Speaker 1: would say that for me, You know that the general 545 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:25,560 Speaker 1: present time, I think I represent mentally as about two 546 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:28,920 Speaker 1: weeks past and two weeks ahead, and I think of 547 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 1: them as weeks. Yeah, I can relate to this as well. 548 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:35,280 Speaker 1: Like if if someone says, what are you doing ten 549 00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:38,280 Speaker 1: days from now? I might not initially have an answer, 550 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:40,479 Speaker 1: but if if it's if the question is what are 551 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:43,000 Speaker 1: you doing Friday after next, well then I have a 552 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:44,720 Speaker 1: little more to go on. Like that's a little more 553 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,080 Speaker 1: concrete and formed in my mind. In fact, it's almost 554 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:51,280 Speaker 1: kind of a mnemonic device, because if somebody says, hey, 555 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:53,480 Speaker 1: what have you been up to recently? I might often 556 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:55,400 Speaker 1: be kind of like, I don't know, you know, I 557 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:57,400 Speaker 1: can't think of what to say. But if someone says, 558 00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,080 Speaker 1: what have you done this week? Somehow that kind of 559 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,280 Speaker 1: spurs and answer more easily. Yeah, It's like, well, I 560 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:06,800 Speaker 1: was just generally generally kind of depressed, and then um, 561 00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:09,040 Speaker 1: and then I totally forgot about the person I was 562 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:10,240 Speaker 1: in love with, and then I fell in love with 563 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:14,880 Speaker 1: him again. Oh yeah, okay, But so by by Hankin's scheme, 564 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:18,000 Speaker 1: that's three things the week does, and then finally it 565 00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:21,160 Speaker 1: functions as a scheduling device. This might be the most 566 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:24,640 Speaker 1: practical of all three, which is that recurring events that 567 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:27,640 Speaker 1: need to happen roughly on the order of once every 568 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:31,360 Speaker 1: seven days become of course, weekly events. So think about 569 00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:33,239 Speaker 1: all the different kinds of things. You know, there are 570 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:35,360 Speaker 1: tons of things like this in life that feel right 571 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: to do roughly once every week, and so you might 572 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:40,800 Speaker 1: schedule them with a day in the week. You know 573 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:44,640 Speaker 1: that tuesdays the day every week when you do X. Yeah. Yeah, 574 00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:49,000 Speaker 1: Like with us, it's the grocery shopping, it's the it's 575 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:50,920 Speaker 1: the cleaning of the house. These are things that are 576 00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:53,760 Speaker 1: done on a weekly basis, and it would feel weird 577 00:31:53,800 --> 00:32:03,040 Speaker 1: if we didn't do them now in some in this episode, 578 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 1: but then I think also probably in in at least 579 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:07,480 Speaker 1: the next episode, we're going to be talking about the 580 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:10,960 Speaker 1: origins of the week as we know it and saying 581 00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:14,040 Speaker 1: where the week came from is a little bit complicated 582 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 1: because it depends on UH. For one thing, what counts 583 00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:22,480 Speaker 1: as a week? Are you saying, like our current continuous, 584 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:26,840 Speaker 1: unbroken cycle of seven day weeks, where did that come from? 585 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:31,480 Speaker 1: Or like, where does the concept of UH grouping blocks 586 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:34,239 Speaker 1: of days into you know, roughly seven but you know 587 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,000 Speaker 1: what would would an eight day block also count as 588 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,000 Speaker 1: a week? And and so forth? Um? And there are 589 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:42,880 Speaker 1: plenty of examples of things like that going way back 590 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: in time. But Hankin argues that the history of our 591 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:50,800 Speaker 1: current system of seven day weeks goes back roughly two 592 00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:55,440 Speaker 1: thousand years. There are obviously earlier traditions that feed into it, 593 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:58,560 Speaker 1: but he writes that there were seven day cycles used 594 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:01,800 Speaker 1: for various religious and clatural purposes beforehand. But in the 595 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:05,920 Speaker 1: first century CE in Rome, this is the earliest evidence 596 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:09,160 Speaker 1: we have of quote any society using such cycles to 597 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:13,240 Speaker 1: track time in the form of a common calendar. So 598 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,440 Speaker 1: in the first century Roman Empire, the seven day week 599 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 1: that we currently use grew out of a combination of 600 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:24,760 Speaker 1: the Roman astrological organization of days. So you have seven 601 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,360 Speaker 1: days for seven planets or gods. And if you think 602 00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,240 Speaker 1: about that, there were seven things that could be called planets. 603 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:33,360 Speaker 1: They're not all actually planets, but uh, but seven you know, 604 00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:36,240 Speaker 1: moving bodies in the sky that are not just stars 605 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:38,760 Speaker 1: that were known by Romans because you could see them 606 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:40,760 Speaker 1: with the naked eye. So that was if you count 607 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:45,520 Speaker 1: them up, the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, 608 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,959 Speaker 1: and Saturn, and that makes seven. Yeah, that's that's the 609 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:53,160 Speaker 1: best case I think one can make for an observation 610 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:59,320 Speaker 1: based astronomical reason for a seven day system. But the system, Yeah, 611 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:01,440 Speaker 1: in that case, it wouldn't actually be seven days, it's 612 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,600 Speaker 1: just the number seven being something from astronomy. Yeah. But 613 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:06,400 Speaker 1: then also so you got that, but then it would 614 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:10,520 Speaker 1: be combining with Jewish observance of the Sabbath, the traditional 615 00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:13,400 Speaker 1: practice of having a day of rest every seven days, 616 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:17,880 Speaker 1: in accordance with the creation narrative in Genesis h during 617 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 1: which during which it said in Genesis that God created 618 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:22,880 Speaker 1: the heavens and the earth over the course of six days, 619 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:26,160 Speaker 1: and then he rested on the seventh. Though, you know, 620 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:29,359 Speaker 1: when I was thinking about this, it actually raised an 621 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:33,319 Speaker 1: interesting history of religions question, which is, I don't know 622 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:36,440 Speaker 1: if there's any any evidence which which actually came first 623 00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:40,279 Speaker 1: the sixth day creation narrative or the practice of having 624 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:42,719 Speaker 1: a day of rest. That's a great question. I was 625 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:46,680 Speaker 1: reading about it in the background of some distinctive values 626 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:50,360 Speaker 1: in the Hebrew Bible by Cyrus H. Gordon Uh. He 627 00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:52,799 Speaker 1: wrote that there were there were two different explanations of 628 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:56,440 Speaker 1: the Sabbath. In Exodus, it was the seventh day of 629 00:34:56,560 --> 00:35:00,520 Speaker 1: rest after the six days of creation, as we've already mentioned. 630 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:03,840 Speaker 1: But in the Book of Deuteronomy quote the Sabbath is 631 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:07,120 Speaker 1: said to commemorate the exodus from Egypt. Israel must never 632 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:10,359 Speaker 1: forget that God saved them from slavery, and therefore these 633 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:12,920 Speaker 1: reel lites must always provide a day of rest for 634 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:16,680 Speaker 1: the entire community, slaves included. Oh, that's interesting. So those 635 00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:20,160 Speaker 1: are but those are both passages about the institution of 636 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:24,120 Speaker 1: the Sabbath day because those are in the Laws of Moses, right, 637 00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:27,320 Speaker 1: So like the one in Exodus would be during the Decalogue, 638 00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:29,480 Speaker 1: during the Ten Commandments that says you should honor the 639 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:32,640 Speaker 1: Sabbath day and keep it holy um. And And that's 640 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,600 Speaker 1: an interesting reminder that the narrative in Genesis about the 641 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:40,319 Speaker 1: creation of the world actually doesn't lay out a a practice, 642 00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:43,360 Speaker 1: you know, it's just the story on which it is 643 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,120 Speaker 1: later invoked to say that you should keep the Sabbath 644 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:51,040 Speaker 1: day right. He also mentions that the background of the 645 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:55,600 Speaker 1: Biblical Sabbath is the samaro Acadian system of lucky and 646 00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:59,080 Speaker 1: unlucky days. So there are days when it is advised 647 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:01,520 Speaker 1: to work and others where it is not. And this 648 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 1: is something we'll see in the future when we look 649 00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:07,160 Speaker 1: at other calendar systems as well, the idea that there's 650 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:10,440 Speaker 1: a certain amount of divination in a calendar system. It's 651 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:14,120 Speaker 1: about it. Sometimes, it's in fact, it's sometimes specifically about 652 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:21,120 Speaker 1: knowing what days are appropriate for beginning various ventures and 653 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:24,240 Speaker 1: so forth. Okay, but so whether you are going with 654 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:28,080 Speaker 1: h with the the Jewish example or with the the 655 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:33,080 Speaker 1: possibly related ancient Mesopotamian example, uh, this would have something 656 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:36,399 Speaker 1: like a week that has that has days within it 657 00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:41,440 Speaker 1: that are set aside for some kind of religious reason. Yeah. Gordon, however, 658 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:45,480 Speaker 1: drives home the quote rituals are primary and the historical 659 00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:50,000 Speaker 1: or mythological explanations come later. Furthermore, he says that the 660 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:53,520 Speaker 1: significance of the Sabbath tradition doesn't depend on what informed it, 661 00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:56,719 Speaker 1: but rather on how it is reflected upon, and then 662 00:36:56,800 --> 00:37:01,359 Speaker 1: mythological than than you know, crafted into mythology um, which 663 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:03,120 Speaker 1: I think is an important thing to keep in mind 664 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:05,720 Speaker 1: that like, not everything is just this perfect linear system. 665 00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:08,520 Speaker 1: It's like, well, we established this, and this is the 666 00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:12,640 Speaker 1: connection it has to our religion or our mythology. Sometimes, 667 00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:15,720 Speaker 1: you know, and very often we're taking things that are 668 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:18,359 Speaker 1: that have been absorbed in and are practiced and then 669 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:22,600 Speaker 1: we're creating the reasons for it. And yeah, totally, and 670 00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:25,120 Speaker 1: a lot of this is a common opinion. I've encountered 671 00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:27,279 Speaker 1: a loon among a lot of scholars of religion and 672 00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:30,439 Speaker 1: cultural anthropologists. The idea that when there is a myth 673 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:33,560 Speaker 1: or story that corresponds to a ritual and says this 674 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:36,840 Speaker 1: is why we do the ritual, it's often believed that actually, 675 00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:41,640 Speaker 1: probably the ritual was done before the myth was there. Yeah, 676 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:43,360 Speaker 1: of course, we you know, we can't know that in 677 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:45,080 Speaker 1: every case because a lot of times there's just no 678 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:47,359 Speaker 1: way to decide for sure one way or another. But yeah, 679 00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:49,600 Speaker 1: it does seem like that happens a lot. But on 680 00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:52,960 Speaker 1: the other hand, I mean, if you're imagining what kinds 681 00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,600 Speaker 1: of origin something like a week could have, and again 682 00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:57,600 Speaker 1: here we would be talking about a week in the 683 00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:02,560 Speaker 1: broader sense, not necessarily like ours stem of of seven days, um, 684 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:05,160 Speaker 1: but like a blocks of days of you know, some 685 00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:10,080 Speaker 1: manageable length that subdivide the month. Um. You could imagine 686 00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:14,720 Speaker 1: totally different even totally practical or economic considerations that could 687 00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:18,480 Speaker 1: lead to the creation of things like that. Yeah, And 688 00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:21,040 Speaker 1: in and in this we come to the idea of 689 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:24,839 Speaker 1: the market week, um, which which I realized is also 690 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:28,160 Speaker 1: I think the name of various um like media shows 691 00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:32,160 Speaker 1: about like the economies and so forth, which is which 692 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:33,840 Speaker 1: is kind of funny when you when you when you 693 00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:38,280 Speaker 1: look at this basic idea of the market week. So um. 694 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:41,520 Speaker 1: I'm gonna cite several different authors here, but one of 695 00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:43,960 Speaker 1: the first places I turned to is I I turned 696 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:47,480 Speaker 1: to Brian and Fagan, who has written a lot about 697 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:51,840 Speaker 1: about ancient history and about ancient technologies. And I was 698 00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:54,680 Speaker 1: reading a chapter that he wrote in the seventy grade 699 00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:57,200 Speaker 1: Inventions of the Ancient World, a book there for back 700 00:38:57,239 --> 00:38:59,880 Speaker 1: to a lot, and this is a chapter that he 701 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:05,880 Speaker 1: wrote with the author Anthony f Any, author of Empires 702 00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:10,239 Speaker 1: of Time, Clocks, Calendars and Culture. And in that they 703 00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:12,759 Speaker 1: state that the period of the week be at a 704 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:15,239 Speaker 1: seven day week or an eight day week or even 705 00:39:15,239 --> 00:39:18,120 Speaker 1: a ten day week is quote a good measure of 706 00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:21,200 Speaker 1: the time it takes to harvest a manageable load of 707 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:24,799 Speaker 1: fruits and vegetables, take them to market, dispense them before 708 00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:28,440 Speaker 1: they overripen, and then return to the field for another round. 709 00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:32,640 Speaker 1: This is so interesting because I was wondering about I 710 00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:36,799 Speaker 1: was like, could it possibly be that that any origins 711 00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:40,360 Speaker 1: of a week or week like institution could be related 712 00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:43,120 Speaker 1: to the freshness of food? I mean, and that that 713 00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:46,760 Speaker 1: would still be reflected in like how often people typically 714 00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:50,480 Speaker 1: go grocery shopping. Yeah, and and there seems to be 715 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:53,239 Speaker 1: a very strong case to be made for this. I've 716 00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:58,439 Speaker 1: I've come across the several sources that explore this at length. Um. Now, 717 00:39:58,719 --> 00:40:02,840 Speaker 1: Fagan and A any right that this market week was 718 00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:06,439 Speaker 1: likely shifted down to seven days, probably from like eight 719 00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:11,319 Speaker 1: days uh or more during the first millennium BC E 720 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:17,440 Speaker 1: in the Sumerian world, in order to quote accommodate heavily connections. Um. 721 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:19,360 Speaker 1: So we can imagine what that would be again just 722 00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:23,520 Speaker 1: very loosely speaking, uh, you know, thinking of astronomical significance 723 00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:25,960 Speaker 1: of the number seven, and if you already have a 724 00:40:26,080 --> 00:40:29,719 Speaker 1: market week that is eight days then you know, maybe 725 00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:33,160 Speaker 1: you just ratcheted down to seven. And also they write 726 00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:37,920 Speaker 1: that seven uh, seven does have have a few different connections. Uh. 727 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:40,200 Speaker 1: You know, there's the number of visible planets, plus the 728 00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:43,719 Speaker 1: sun and moon as we discussed, also roughly the interval 729 00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:48,080 Speaker 1: between quarter phases of the moon. But Venie writes in 730 00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:52,000 Speaker 1: Empires of Time that the eight day work week was 731 00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:56,920 Speaker 1: ultimately uh quote of unknown origin. Uh, though still sites 732 00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,120 Speaker 1: the market week idea though I've I've also seen the 733 00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:02,920 Speaker 1: eight day work week cited as an etruscan um invention 734 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:06,520 Speaker 1: of perhaps the seventh and eighth centuries b c. According 735 00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:10,640 Speaker 1: to Aviatar Zaruberville in the seven Day Circle, Uh, the 736 00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:14,239 Speaker 1: evolution of the week generally coincides with the rise of 737 00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:18,920 Speaker 1: market economies, so weekly market cycles ended up emerging in 738 00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:21,759 Speaker 1: human activity. Um. Again, this is you know, the time 739 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:25,600 Speaker 1: it takes to to have fruits and vegetables come in 740 00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:27,040 Speaker 1: from the field, make it to market, and then you 741 00:41:27,040 --> 00:41:30,279 Speaker 1: get back to the fields again. But they didn't have 742 00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:34,040 Speaker 1: to be seven days long, obviously, um. Zaruberville points to 743 00:41:34,239 --> 00:41:38,000 Speaker 1: three day market weeks in ancient Meso America in Indo China, 744 00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:41,160 Speaker 1: a ten day market week in ancient Peru, and of 745 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:44,400 Speaker 1: course there's also this twelve day market week in ancient 746 00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,480 Speaker 1: southern China. And he says that this, UM, this Chinese 747 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:51,080 Speaker 1: twelve day week is a quote classic example of a 748 00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:55,879 Speaker 1: weekly cycle that served to regulate economic transactions. And uh, 749 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:59,040 Speaker 1: I was reading about this in the seven day circle, 750 00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:02,360 Speaker 1: and if I'm gonna understand doing it correctly, this encompassed 751 00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:06,640 Speaker 1: multiple three day market cycles and six day market cycles 752 00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:09,520 Speaker 1: as well. UM. And that's something you see with several 753 00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:13,000 Speaker 1: of these examples of different week systems before, certainly before 754 00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:16,480 Speaker 1: the seven day week that we think of now was 755 00:42:16,520 --> 00:42:20,120 Speaker 1: fully adopted, you would often have different week cycles or 756 00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:23,480 Speaker 1: what you might categorize as a week uh, coexisting with 757 00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:26,440 Speaker 1: each other. Um And and you still see that to 758 00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:28,560 Speaker 1: a certain extent in parts of the world, as we'll 759 00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:32,280 Speaker 1: discuss now. Zeruberville writes that during the eighth or seventh 760 00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:36,480 Speaker 1: centuries b c e. The eight day market evolved in 761 00:42:36,600 --> 00:42:39,600 Speaker 1: what is now Italy and and a Truscan quote time 762 00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:43,360 Speaker 1: reckoning system based on the number eight, and it revolved 763 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:47,120 Speaker 1: around a periodic market day that was held regularly every 764 00:42:47,200 --> 00:42:50,279 Speaker 1: eight days. And of course this Etruscan system is going 765 00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:54,680 Speaker 1: to be key because it coincides with and feeds into 766 00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:58,600 Speaker 1: the Roman system, which we've already alluded to. So in 767 00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:02,120 Speaker 1: our next episode of the podcast, we'll jump back in 768 00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:05,759 Speaker 1: with the Etruscan system and the Roman use of the 769 00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:09,440 Speaker 1: of the Etruscan system, and and continue to build up 770 00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:11,560 Speaker 1: from there. There's a lot of interesting stuff to talk about. 771 00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:14,480 Speaker 1: I mean, even just the uh, like the market week 772 00:43:14,560 --> 00:43:18,759 Speaker 1: stuff I found particularly um uh fascinating. Yeah, and I've 773 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:20,720 Speaker 1: got a great paper that we can get into about 774 00:43:20,719 --> 00:43:23,200 Speaker 1: the Roman origins of the of the seven day week 775 00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:25,720 Speaker 1: that we used today. But we can also talk about 776 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:29,720 Speaker 1: some really cool cultural variations of different kinds of weeks 777 00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:33,919 Speaker 1: and about some of the psychological effects of weeks. Yeah. Absolutely, 778 00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:39,799 Speaker 1: Uh So this is your brain on Friday's. So this 779 00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:42,120 Speaker 1: episode is a Thursday episode, and we're going to be 780 00:43:42,160 --> 00:43:46,000 Speaker 1: back with a Tuesday episode. Um yeah, I remember there 781 00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:49,040 Speaker 1: was a time, speaking of days, where we used to 782 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:51,920 Speaker 1: think it was it was just completely inappropriate to have 783 00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:55,160 Speaker 1: a part one on a Thursday and a part two 784 00:43:55,160 --> 00:43:58,200 Speaker 1: on the following Tuesday. And I don't know, maybe maybe 785 00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:03,280 Speaker 1: some listeners think it's inappropriate still, uh, but generally listeners 786 00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:07,319 Speaker 1: have informed us that they don't care. So but going 787 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:09,840 Speaker 1: back to that sort of linear system and linear thinking 788 00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:12,080 Speaker 1: regarding the week. It was kind of like, no, things 789 00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:15,480 Speaker 1: must begin and end within the same week. Otherwise, like 790 00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:17,560 Speaker 1: what it's like, you're just cutting it in half. We 791 00:44:17,600 --> 00:44:21,480 Speaker 1: have like one uh, disembodied slab of episode on one 792 00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:23,480 Speaker 1: side of the week, and it is just like the 793 00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:28,480 Speaker 1: and the Magician's Blade falls on Sunday evening. But obviously 794 00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:33,160 Speaker 1: that's not the case. So so yeah, well we'll be 795 00:44:33,200 --> 00:44:34,719 Speaker 1: back in the next episode. But we would love to 796 00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:36,960 Speaker 1: hear from everyone out there, because I know everyone. Everyone 797 00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:40,319 Speaker 1: has thoughts on the days of the week. Uh, you know, 798 00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:43,000 Speaker 1: days that are good, days that are bad, and days 799 00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:45,480 Speaker 1: that that have their own particular energy about them, the 800 00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:49,520 Speaker 1: things that define these days for us, and uh and yeah, 801 00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:52,640 Speaker 1: also the occasional experience of maybe forgetting what day it is, 802 00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:55,000 Speaker 1: or feeling like the day you were in is surely 803 00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:57,600 Speaker 1: not a Friday. Surely this is a Thursday because it 804 00:44:57,800 --> 00:45:01,040 Speaker 1: feels like a Thursday. So join us next time. In 805 00:45:01,080 --> 00:45:03,960 Speaker 1: the meantime, well, here's how how we divide up the week. 806 00:45:04,080 --> 00:45:08,480 Speaker 1: Usually on Monday's we do listener mail. On Tuesday's core 807 00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:11,400 Speaker 1: episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind Wednesday art of Factor, 808 00:45:11,440 --> 00:45:14,480 Speaker 1: Monster Fact Thursday, another core episode of Stuff to Blow 809 00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:17,560 Speaker 1: Your Mind. Friday Weird House Cinema. That's that's the day 810 00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:21,320 Speaker 1: that we're in love with a strange film. And then Saturday, 811 00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:23,319 Speaker 1: well that is a day where we bust out a 812 00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:26,480 Speaker 1: Vault episode which is a rerun. And then on Sunday, well, 813 00:45:26,520 --> 00:45:28,879 Speaker 1: then that is the day we rest huge. Thanks as 814 00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:32,640 Speaker 1: always to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. If 815 00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:34,239 Speaker 1: you would like to get in touch with us with 816 00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:36,880 Speaker 1: feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest a 817 00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:38,840 Speaker 1: topic for the future, or just to say hello, you 818 00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:41,560 Speaker 1: can email us at contact at stuff to blow your 819 00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:51,920 Speaker 1: Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production 820 00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:54,720 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, 821 00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:57,680 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 822 00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:11,560 Speaker 1: listening to your favorite shows. They starts four starts fourt