1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the production of 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb, and I'm Joe McCormick and 4 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:19,959 Speaker 1: Rob Today, I wanted to start off by hitting you 5 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:22,760 Speaker 1: with one of my tenth grader thoughts. All right, let's happen. 6 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:24,960 Speaker 1: This is an idea I had in high school. I 7 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: can't remember if I've ever talked about this with you 8 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: or not. Maybe maybe maybe not, But anyway, I remember 9 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:33,919 Speaker 1: when I was in sophomore year of high school, I 10 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: was sitting in a U S history class and I 11 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,199 Speaker 1: was suddenly hit with a notion. It was very much 12 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: like a like a stoner thought, though of course I was. 13 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:45,319 Speaker 1: I was a very good boy, and I was very 14 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: sober in class. But um my thought was, wait a second, 15 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: why do we think about history in terms of multiples 16 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: of ten years, so in terms of deck aids and 17 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: centuries and I guess millennia, but primarily decades and centuries. 18 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,960 Speaker 1: Why are those like the units of time on which 19 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:13,680 Speaker 1: historical trends are judged to make sense or or be valid. 20 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: And if we used a different base counting system, like 21 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,319 Speaker 1: if we didn't have ten fingers and thus didn't count 22 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:23,679 Speaker 1: with base ten? Would we think about history in a 23 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,600 Speaker 1: totally different way with different sort of groups of associations 24 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: if it was like, you know, on the basis of 25 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: sixty three year periods or or eighteen year periods or 26 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: something like that. Yeah, like what what would the ninet 27 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: seventies be without without decades? You know, how would we 28 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: think about that time period? What would be the um 29 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 1: you know, the barriers to it, and how would we 30 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: package that up? And I guess I'm still prone to 31 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: this kind of thinking because the idea that I started, 32 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: uh getting getting really interested in, like last week was 33 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: is another question basically along the same lines, which is like, 34 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: how are we affected by the the time units that 35 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 1: we use to organize our lives? And if those time 36 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: units were actually different lengths of time, how different would 37 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:18,119 Speaker 1: our lives be? And this is going to lead into 38 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: the subject that we're going to be looking at for 39 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: the next couple of episodes at least who knows how 40 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:27,959 Speaker 1: many will go to But uh, but right, we're getting 41 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: into the subject of the week, and I think this, 42 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:34,240 Speaker 1: how this one has really interesting peg because if you 43 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,360 Speaker 1: think about the major units of time that divide our 44 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:41,240 Speaker 1: lives from say like day length and above. So the 45 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:43,920 Speaker 1: day is, of course twenty four hours long, and it 46 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: is roughly the time it takes the Earth to make 47 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:50,360 Speaker 1: one full rotation on its axis. But then you've also 48 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 1: got the year. The year is of course, you know, 49 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: it's three sixty five days, and this is roughly the 50 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 1: time it takes the Earth to make one full orbit 51 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: around the Sun. And then you've got the months, And 52 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:05,120 Speaker 1: the month also has an astronomical basis, this one a 53 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: little more roughly than the other two. There there's a 54 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: there's a larger difference. But you know, our months are 55 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:13,960 Speaker 1: roughly thirty days long, and it takes roughly thirty days 56 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,079 Speaker 1: for the Moon to complete one full orbit around the Earth. 57 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 1: I think it's like twenty nine point five three days 58 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: or something. And then of course we we make up 59 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: for that with little adjustments, you know, different numbers of 60 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: days and stuff like that. Yeah, and now at this 61 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:31,639 Speaker 1: point is probably worth remembering here for ever for everybody, 62 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: that most ancient calendars were based on direct observation. So 63 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: uh so, yeah, it makes total sense that these uh 64 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: you know, a lot of these ideas about how we 65 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: should divide out our time are based on what we're observing, 66 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: saying the night sky. Sure, and there are somewhere. It's 67 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: pretty much inevitable. I mean, like you, we kind of 68 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: can't help but organize ourselves around day lengths, right, because 69 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: like what time of day it is or time of 70 00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: night makes a dramatic difference on the way we interact 71 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: with our environment because of things like temperature and light. 72 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,839 Speaker 1: So that's almost just totally imposed on us. We really 73 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: have no choice but to live by days and nights. Uh. 74 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: You could make the case that maybe months are different, 75 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,719 Speaker 1: but but you know, there's some natural rhythms that come 76 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: with the lunar cycle, and uh, and and certainly there 77 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: are things that come with the yearly cycle because of 78 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:25,040 Speaker 1: say like the rotations of harvests and the seasons and stuff. 79 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: But then we come to the week. We look at 80 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:31,360 Speaker 1: look at the seven day week, and if you look 81 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: for the seven day week and the stars and the 82 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: planets or the movement of the earth, you come up 83 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,840 Speaker 1: with absolutely nothing. The closest I've seen is that some 84 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: people have said, well, uh, the seven day week is 85 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 1: a fairly rough quarterly division of the lunar months. So 86 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: if you take the length of a month and you 87 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:55,479 Speaker 1: divide it by four, that gets you close to seven days. 88 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: That's like the closest whole number. Uh. But but then again, 89 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:01,919 Speaker 1: like why would you do that, Like why would you 90 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: not divide the month by five or divide the month 91 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:07,159 Speaker 1: by six or something else. So, so I don't think 92 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: that the length of the week is really something that 93 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: you can say naturally flows from anything that is physically 94 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: true about the world. I think we'd have to say 95 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:21,160 Speaker 1: though there might be you know, historical, cultural, religious reasons 96 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: that feed into it. It's it's a somewhat arbitrary length. 97 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:28,040 Speaker 1: It's based on culture, and it's a human invention. It's 98 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: not just a a an approximation of something that's happening 99 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: in the skies. Right and and I believe I believe 100 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:38,960 Speaker 1: all the evidence we we've looked at really back that up. 101 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:43,279 Speaker 1: Though it's always worth remembering that if you stray too 102 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:48,479 Speaker 1: far into the wilds of numerology, just about anything, it's possible, right. Sure. 103 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: I'm always reminded of the bid and Um I forget 104 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: which umberto echo work it was. It might have been 105 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:56,599 Speaker 1: fucos pendulum, it might have been one of his essays. 106 00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 1: Perhaps you remember this Joe where he's he's talking about 107 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:04,360 Speaker 1: like all the various numerology computations about the Great Pyramids 108 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 1: and how those numbers relate to other aspects of life. 109 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 1: And the example was made that you can also torture 110 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: the numbers enough regarding I want to say, a phone 111 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 1: booth or something, uh, something far more mundane compared to 112 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:19,520 Speaker 1: the Pyramids. But yeah, if you start getting wild with 113 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:22,359 Speaker 1: what numbers mean and so forth, then you can go 114 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:24,720 Speaker 1: crazy with that as well. Yeah. I think the way 115 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 1: I'd put it is that if you look hard enough 116 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 1: for patterns, you can find patterns in anything, and that 117 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:32,599 Speaker 1: includes numbers and like numerical relationships and say like the 118 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: ratios of length and width of objects in the world, 119 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,480 Speaker 1: or the length of different periods of time within one 120 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:41,080 Speaker 1: another and stuff. Yeah, I mean, you can always find 121 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:43,360 Speaker 1: patterns if you look hard enough, and some people work 122 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: really hard. But as far as meaningful patterns and meaningful connections, 123 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:50,599 Speaker 1: uh yeah, I think I think almost all the evidence 124 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:54,200 Speaker 1: we're looking at here today and the next episode, uh 125 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:56,040 Speaker 1: you know, comes back to the fact that Yes, seven 126 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:58,359 Speaker 1: seems to be this thing that is not written in 127 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: the in the heavens, and and it isn't even like 128 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: really written inside us either, but it's something that emerges, 129 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: uh from other directions which we'll get into, right, So 130 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:10,960 Speaker 1: I don't know that that start me as just like 131 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: a really interesting fact that our lives are guided by this, 132 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 1: this seven day length of time, that we organize our 133 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: lives into these blocks of seven days, and that so 134 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,040 Speaker 1: much what we do is based on the recurrence of 135 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: those blocks and the timing of the days within those blocks. 136 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:31,920 Speaker 1: And yet it's not a necessary fact of nature. So 137 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: what is the seven day week? Where does it come from? 138 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 1: How culturally unique or culturally universal is it um? And 139 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:42,800 Speaker 1: what is it doing to us? Like how does it 140 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:44,920 Speaker 1: work on our brains? And how does it change the 141 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 1: way we live? And it is hard to imagine, you know, 142 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: certainly for us, it's it's hard to imagine living without 143 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: the seven day week, uh, just because we're in it. 144 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:58,400 Speaker 1: It's kind of like trying to imagine recent history without decades. 145 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:01,239 Speaker 1: It's like it's just such a part of the fabric. 146 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 1: It's the this grid that we've we've we've we've we've 147 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:09,640 Speaker 1: laid across reality. And it's just like, how how would 148 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 1: we function if we didn't have Monday's, Tuesday's, Wednesday, Thursday's, Friday, 149 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: Saturdays and Sundays. You can't take my Wednesdays away from me. Yeah, 150 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 1: if we don't have the hump day, right, the magical 151 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 1: hunt day, that is the day where our victory over 152 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 1: the week becomes a parent on Tuesday. I guess you 153 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: know that it just seems impossible. Well, so I want 154 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:33,240 Speaker 1: to say. One of the first things I read on 155 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: this subject when when I was first getting interested in 156 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:40,239 Speaker 1: it last week, actually was an article in Eon magazine 157 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:44,560 Speaker 1: by a UC Berkeley professor of history named David Hankin, 158 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 1: who has written on this subject, who has written on 159 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:51,480 Speaker 1: the artificiality of the week and it's and it's cultural 160 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:55,319 Speaker 1: precedents and effects. And he starts off this Eon article 161 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: by mentioning something. So you may have noticed, I think, 162 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 1: especially in but maybe more commonly over the last two years, 163 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 1: a lot of kind of hack jokes on the internet, uh, 164 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:13,360 Speaker 1: made especially by the subset of people who had previously 165 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 1: been working in an office but then we're lucky enough 166 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:18,480 Speaker 1: to be able to convert to working from home during 167 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:21,760 Speaker 1: the pandemic, And the joke was nobody knows what day 168 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:24,640 Speaker 1: it is, Like I can't keep track of days. Every 169 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 1: day is the same, it's blurs. Day is the yuck 170 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: yuck expression. Uh And and I noticed that this connects 171 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 1: to things in some movies, like you remember there's a 172 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:37,319 Speaker 1: scene in The Big Lebowski where, um, where I think 173 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:40,120 Speaker 1: Jeff Bridge's landlord comes to him and is telling him 174 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:42,120 Speaker 1: what day something's gonna happen. Maybe is when he's gonna 175 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:44,840 Speaker 1: come see his dance recital or something, and uh and 176 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:48,040 Speaker 1: he says what day it is? And um uh And 177 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:50,560 Speaker 1: it's clear that you know that the dude does not 178 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: know what day of the week it is. And this 179 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 1: is like a standard uh deployment of this observation about 180 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,679 Speaker 1: a person. Somebody who doesn't know what day of the 181 00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:02,080 Speaker 1: week it is is usually taken to be sort of 182 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: disoriented or disconnected from society or maybe unproductive. Yeah yeah, um, 183 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:11,960 Speaker 1: And you know you can make that argument for the dude, 184 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 1: But I don't know. For my own part. I would 185 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:22,439 Speaker 1: say there are rare moments, perhaps during say vacation or travel, 186 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 1: where I might have to remind myself what day it is. 187 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: More commonly, however, I'll find that if there's a disruption 188 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:33,559 Speaker 1: in the week, it may momentarially feel like today is 189 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:36,079 Speaker 1: a different day. You know, like, um, if it's a 190 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: Monday on a three day weekend, then that Monday kind 191 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:42,360 Speaker 1: of feels like a Sunday. But these feelings generally don't 192 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:45,640 Speaker 1: hold up to even halfway you know, close scrutiny. You know, 193 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: it's it's one of those things that immediately fades away. 194 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:54,120 Speaker 1: Um so yeah, I you certainly encounter it in media 195 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:57,240 Speaker 1: and you hear people make jokes about it, but generally 196 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:00,360 Speaker 1: I feel like the calendar mindset is not far away. Well. 197 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 1: I mean, the fact that people were like posting on 198 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: Twitter about this often enough in that it was a 199 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:09,679 Speaker 1: thing people, it was a trend people could observe, seem 200 00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:14,200 Speaker 1: to mean something. And I think the standard assumption, the 201 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: widely presumed explanation, was that telecommuting was to blame. This 202 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 1: is because, oh, well, now a larger percentage of people 203 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 1: are telecommuting, but you know, more people were telecommuting than 204 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 1: had been before, and people who were freshly telecommuting, Uh, 205 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:31,400 Speaker 1: we're we're experiencing this. I don't know what day it 206 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:35,040 Speaker 1: is feeling as a result. But Hankin actually goes back 207 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:38,320 Speaker 1: against that and says that he doesn't see telecommuting as 208 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:41,600 Speaker 1: a as a very good explanation for people since of 209 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:43,679 Speaker 1: the days blurring together. And I have to say, as 210 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 1: as somebody who often worked from home even before COVID, 211 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:51,480 Speaker 1: that has never been my experience of telecommuting, and I 212 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:55,120 Speaker 1: I also would be skeptical of that explanation. Yeah, I 213 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 1: would agree. I mean, though part of that might be 214 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:01,320 Speaker 1: that we're typically I mean, I think we've always been 215 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:04,240 Speaker 1: part of a publication schedule, so uh, you know, there's 216 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:07,480 Speaker 1: always what day it is still matters even if you're 217 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:10,319 Speaker 1: not in office, at least in our line of work. Sure, 218 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:12,360 Speaker 1: but I would I would think that would generally hold 219 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: true with a lot of different professions. Yeah. And the 220 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:19,319 Speaker 1: point that Hankin makes at least is that telecommuting really 221 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:23,959 Speaker 1: disrupts normal divisions of time within the day more than 222 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,120 Speaker 1: it does across the span of a week. Right, So, 223 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:31,160 Speaker 1: like it doesn't change usually which days of the week 224 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:33,480 Speaker 1: people were working. I mean, it might in some cases, 225 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:36,000 Speaker 1: but that's not generally understood to be how it worked. 226 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:40,200 Speaker 1: It would change like where you were working within the day. Um, 227 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: And of course nobody was complaining about like not knowing 228 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 1: what hour of the day it was. And it's also 229 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:48,760 Speaker 1: interesting that the line was not I don't know what 230 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:51,240 Speaker 1: day of the month it was, it was I don't 231 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,240 Speaker 1: know what day of the week it is. And ultimately 232 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 1: the explanation that he gives is that quote weekly counts 233 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:01,560 Speaker 1: are reinforced by the habits and rituals of other people. 234 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:05,360 Speaker 1: When those habits and rituals were radically obscured or altered 235 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:10,160 Speaker 1: in the week, itself seemed to unravel. And I think 236 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:12,800 Speaker 1: I agree here. This seems likely to me that for 237 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:15,080 Speaker 1: people who felt this way, like I don't know what 238 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:17,960 Speaker 1: day of the week it is, I would suspect it 239 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:21,600 Speaker 1: probably had less to do with telecommuting and more to 240 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:25,360 Speaker 1: do with the disruption in schedules of other things that 241 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:29,600 Speaker 1: people would normally do at regular, recurring times throughout the week. 242 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:34,440 Speaker 1: So maybe for example, recurring social get togethers or classes 243 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 1: or religious gatherings or going out to dinner on Saturday 244 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:42,560 Speaker 1: night or things like that. You know, people have pretty 245 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:46,360 Speaker 1: strong weekly rituals. Not everybody obviously, but lots of people do, 246 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:50,280 Speaker 1: and when when those things get interrupted, I think that 247 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:54,480 Speaker 1: probably has a strong effect on reckoning with the cycle itself. Yeah, 248 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:56,839 Speaker 1: I think that makes sense because obviously there are two. 249 00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:00,840 Speaker 1: To a certain degree, many people were able to transition 250 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 1: uh these things into the like the zoom age. They're 251 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:07,319 Speaker 1: able to uh, you know, do their game night online 252 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 1: to to turn a particular in person social hour into 253 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:14,960 Speaker 1: a virtual social hour. But in other cases things simply 254 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:20,440 Speaker 1: uh went away, um you know, after school practices and 255 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:23,760 Speaker 1: so forth. You know, in many cases these just didn't 256 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:26,320 Speaker 1: happen for a year or more. You know, there's a 257 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:29,400 Speaker 1: totally different thing that I wonder about that. It makes 258 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:32,800 Speaker 1: me wonder if if um, confusing which day it is 259 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,560 Speaker 1: in the week has become maybe a little more common 260 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: in recent years, and this would have nothing to do 261 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:41,680 Speaker 1: with the pandemic, but it would be um shifts in 262 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:48,359 Speaker 1: patterns of media consumption among people getting a lower percentage 263 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: on average of their media from scheduled live broadcasts that 264 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:57,480 Speaker 1: are that occur at regular dates and days and times 265 00:14:57,520 --> 00:14:59,480 Speaker 1: throughout a week, like you know, you know that the 266 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 1: TV oh that you like comes on at this time 267 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:06,880 Speaker 1: on this day, and instead shifting towards more on demand 268 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:12,120 Speaker 1: uh consumption of media or just algorithmically supplied media entertainment, 269 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 1: which is you know, always there waiting for you and 270 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:17,760 Speaker 1: always on rather than scheduled at particular days and times. 271 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 1: M hm. So that sounds like a point in favor 272 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:27,120 Speaker 1: of what are they calling a now appointment television versus uh, 273 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,760 Speaker 1: like you know, just a binge streaming and so forth. Oh, 274 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,480 Speaker 1: finally it's Friday and I can watch this trash I've 275 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:37,680 Speaker 1: been waiting on. Well, you know, growing up very much 276 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:40,640 Speaker 1: in the TV age. I mean I remember that feeling. 277 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:43,920 Speaker 1: Then you know it's it's it's Friday or Saturday night. 278 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:46,720 Speaker 1: You know exactly you know what, Uh, you know what's 279 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 1: going to be on television Sunday morning. You know, you 280 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:50,840 Speaker 1: know what's gonna be on then. Uh, you know there's 281 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:54,040 Speaker 1: a different character to whatever's on TV. And if you 282 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:56,120 Speaker 1: did not have a clock and did not have access 283 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:59,080 Speaker 1: to clock time, you could tell if you know what 284 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: you're doing, you know what time it was just based 285 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: on what's happening on NBC or what's happening on TBS, Uh, 286 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: what what happens to be playing on MTV, that sort 287 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: of thing. I'm not going to forget it Saturday because 288 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:14,360 Speaker 1: I know that that at one am on the USA network, 289 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:18,680 Speaker 1: I'm gonna get to watch Friday the thirteenth, Part eight. Yeah. Well, this, 290 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:21,680 Speaker 1: this is a leads to an interesting question that I 291 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:24,520 Speaker 1: don't think we did not We certainly did not prepare 292 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:27,360 Speaker 1: to answer. Are there any franchises that that have seven entries? 293 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 1: Like an even seven? Oh? And then they've said definitely 294 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:33,760 Speaker 1: no more? Ever, right, don't any one for each day? 295 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 1: And that's it. I don't know. Are we at transfer 296 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:38,320 Speaker 1: seven yet, I've just looked it up. No, we're at 297 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:48,280 Speaker 1: transfer six. So one more and then we're good. Okay. Well, 298 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:52,720 Speaker 1: so another question comes up though from this, which is, um, okay, 299 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:56,480 Speaker 1: so seven days is is not strictly speaking a a 300 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:00,080 Speaker 1: time period that we derive from astronomy or for a 301 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:02,320 Speaker 1: anything physical that happens in the world around us. It 302 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:07,000 Speaker 1: seems to be a cultural invention. Um. But but could 303 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,520 Speaker 1: it possibly be based in some other natural fact about 304 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:12,919 Speaker 1: the world other than say, you know, the moon or 305 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,840 Speaker 1: the sun or the Earth. Could could a period of 306 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:20,119 Speaker 1: seven days somehow lie within biology? Yeah? I was wondering 307 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:22,680 Speaker 1: about this as well. You know, is there anything that 308 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:24,919 Speaker 1: might connect the idea of a seven day week to 309 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 1: the biological world, particularly to human biology? And I found 310 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: uh an interesting and at times perplexing, at least to me. 311 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:37,480 Speaker 1: Paper flexing to me anyway. Uh. Paper that was published 312 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:44,040 Speaker 1: in ten in the journal Chronobiology International by Rheinberg at 313 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:49,040 Speaker 1: All titled seven Day Human Biological Rhythms An Expedition in 314 00:17:49,119 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 1: search of their origin, synchronization, functional advantage, adaptive value and 315 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:58,240 Speaker 1: clinical relevance. This paper aims to look at the quote 316 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: seven day demand ane of the biological time structure with 317 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:05,919 Speaker 1: special reference to human beings. Okay, so it seems like 318 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:09,560 Speaker 1: they're investigating exactly the question we just raised, like could 319 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:11,919 Speaker 1: there be any kind of rhythm within the body of 320 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 1: things that tend to happen in cycles of seven days 321 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:18,119 Speaker 1: or so? Right? And uh? And you know, first of 322 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: all they do say this is from the conclusions They 323 00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:23,840 Speaker 1: stay quote neither cosmic nor earthborn signals seem to be 324 00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:26,920 Speaker 1: of sufficient strength to give rise to the seven day 325 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:30,879 Speaker 1: rhythms of life forms of various degrees of complexity. All right, 326 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 1: fair enough that that matches up with what we've said 327 00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:36,120 Speaker 1: so far, particularly as far as the heavens go. However, 328 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:40,600 Speaker 1: they also conclude that the evidence quote motivates us to 329 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:44,879 Speaker 1: hypothesize weekly rhythms are endogenous in origin. So, in other words, 330 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:48,439 Speaker 1: these researchers still think that there is something about the 331 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:52,359 Speaker 1: power of seven that emerges from within us. So they 332 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:55,400 Speaker 1: admit that the seven day biological cycle is a little studied. 333 00:18:56,040 --> 00:19:00,000 Speaker 1: But but they make a point of saying what does 334 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:02,520 Speaker 1: seemed to factor into various organisms, And they cite a 335 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:06,480 Speaker 1: list of examples, including things like laboratory rats, domestic horses, 336 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:09,960 Speaker 1: and seemingly to some degree, human beings. Though I should 337 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:12,639 Speaker 1: say that these examples, like for example, with the horse, 338 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:15,560 Speaker 1: the example is a study on seven day cycles in 339 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:22,920 Speaker 1: semen volume, sperm motility, and spermatozoa concentration. Uh, and not 340 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:25,080 Speaker 1: not to say that all all of them are sperm related, 341 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,639 Speaker 1: but you know, it's it's things related to various processes 342 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:32,080 Speaker 1: inside of biological system. Well, I guess if it's domestic 343 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:36,320 Speaker 1: horses and animals living within human environments, that would be 344 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:40,240 Speaker 1: a little curious whether any appearance seven day cycles could 345 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:43,840 Speaker 1: somehow be based on something that's changing within their environment 346 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:47,000 Speaker 1: on the basis of human and behavior, because humans live 347 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:49,439 Speaker 1: by seven day cycles, or not all humans do. But 348 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:52,919 Speaker 1: I'd imagine that the animals used in the study probably 349 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:56,480 Speaker 1: belong to humans that do right, and all scientists are humans. 350 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:00,439 Speaker 1: So um, yeah, this is definitely an area where I 351 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:02,919 Speaker 1: would I would love to read more on this topic 352 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:06,040 Speaker 1: and read some you know, some some work from other 353 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:09,520 Speaker 1: researchers as well. UM, I don't really know quite what 354 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:11,960 Speaker 1: to make of this paper because on one hand, I 355 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:14,639 Speaker 1: am not its intended audience, and I may be missing 356 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:18,920 Speaker 1: something important in their their arguments here, so that's always 357 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: certainly a possibility. But I'm not sure how much stock 358 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:24,040 Speaker 1: I put in the concept that there is something about 359 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:27,879 Speaker 1: a seven day time period that emerges within us, because 360 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:29,919 Speaker 1: for starters, I'm not sure it really lines up with 361 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:32,399 Speaker 1: the history that we're we're going to be discussing in 362 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: this episode. In the next uh, you know, seven becomes 363 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:38,040 Speaker 1: the standard and it wins out over other models, but 364 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:40,919 Speaker 1: I'm not sure it's because it matches something inside us. 365 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:44,760 Speaker 1: I think they're they're other stronger arguments to be made 366 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,000 Speaker 1: for other factors. Well, I don't know. Maybe we can 367 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:49,199 Speaker 1: revisit this paper later if we if we get some 368 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: additional clarity on it. But but also maybe we can 369 00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:55,360 Speaker 1: trudge out of the swamp of confusion, but by focusing 370 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:57,760 Speaker 1: on something a little more understandable in the moment, which 371 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 1: is the question of Okay, just in basic functional terms, 372 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:04,639 Speaker 1: what does the week actually do? What do we use 373 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:08,959 Speaker 1: the seven day week for? Hinkin actually outlines four different 374 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 1: things that he thinks the seven day week does, and 375 00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:14,800 Speaker 1: so I want to go through these with you, rob Okay. 376 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:18,880 Speaker 1: So the first one would be categorizing days into different types. 377 00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:23,480 Speaker 1: So the week organizes time into blocks of two fundamental 378 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:28,080 Speaker 1: kinds of days, week days and weekends, with the main 379 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:32,280 Speaker 1: distinctions between the two being, um, being the distinction between 380 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:37,760 Speaker 1: work and leisure and the distinction between mundane and sacred. Yeah, 381 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:40,360 Speaker 1: and you know, you see this reflect Like even if 382 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:44,080 Speaker 1: if you were, say, someone who does not work, maybe 383 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:47,480 Speaker 1: you're retired, or you have a particular work schedule that 384 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:50,679 Speaker 1: sets you apart from from many other people, Um, you 385 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:53,760 Speaker 1: still see it reflected, say in what sort of businesses 386 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:58,119 Speaker 1: are closed on the weekends, what sort of businesses are 387 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:00,680 Speaker 1: are going to be swamped on the weekend, and therefore 388 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:03,159 Speaker 1: it's better to go on a weekday. So even if 389 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 1: the cycles don't don't at first seem to impact you personally, 390 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: that they still probably do to some degree anyway, exactly. 391 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:13,600 Speaker 1: So that's one thing we do. We we sort days 392 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:17,239 Speaker 1: into different kinds of days, and there's usually mainly just 393 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:19,960 Speaker 1: two kinds, but you could imagine other schemes of of 394 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,840 Speaker 1: sorting days into different sort of buckets like that. Beyond that, 395 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,840 Speaker 1: I would say you could get more granular and and 396 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:29,960 Speaker 1: go to the second category, which is day individual ation, 397 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:32,879 Speaker 1: because of course we have weekdays and weekends, but also 398 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:36,720 Speaker 1: each day of the week is its own fundamental thing. Uh. 399 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:39,840 Speaker 1: So we all we know that Tuesdays are not exactly 400 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:42,919 Speaker 1: the same as Mondays, and Saturdays are not exactly the 401 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:47,119 Speaker 1: same as Sundays. So each day becomes a distinct concept 402 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:49,760 Speaker 1: with its own connotations. And of course this can be 403 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:52,800 Speaker 1: highly individualized. You know, Friday for some people maybe more 404 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,600 Speaker 1: of a celebration day the beginning of the weekend. Others 405 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:57,959 Speaker 1: may see it as kind of a termination point for 406 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:01,880 Speaker 1: fulfilling work, you know, be even an unwanted termination point 407 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: like oh I have to I have to not work 408 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 1: for two days, um. Or others may see it as 409 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:09,000 Speaker 1: a crunch day, like this is the day where everything 410 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:11,639 Speaker 1: that was stressful in the week is even more stressful 411 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:13,520 Speaker 1: and there's just not enough time in the day to 412 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:15,399 Speaker 1: get it done. You know, there are a million different 413 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:19,879 Speaker 1: variations on everything I just said again, Uh, the exact 414 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:21,680 Speaker 1: flavor of the day is going to vary from person 415 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,680 Speaker 1: to person, but they do end up having these separate flavors, 416 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:28,359 Speaker 1: these separate fields, even though the only thing different, you know, 417 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:31,240 Speaker 1: the only difference between Monday and Tuesday is just how 418 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:33,000 Speaker 1: they relate to each other and to the rest of 419 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 1: the calendar system. Right. I was actually looking for scientific 420 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:41,040 Speaker 1: studies about how people feel about different days of the week, 421 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:43,840 Speaker 1: and I found one. Uh So, I found a study 422 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:48,000 Speaker 1: published in pl Os one in by David A. Ellis, 423 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:53,119 Speaker 1: Richard Wiseman, and Rob Jenkins called mental Representations of week Days. 424 00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:55,840 Speaker 1: I was I was sure you were going to say 425 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:58,800 Speaker 1: this is a study by Garfield at all. I thought 426 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:00,600 Speaker 1: it was a joke. I thought your sending me up. 427 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:03,480 Speaker 1: It's a real study, Okay, go for it. Well, this 428 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:06,240 Speaker 1: study would suggest to Garfield that he is not alone 429 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:10,080 Speaker 1: his his his feelings are born out in the broader population. 430 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 1: So it was conducted by three psychologists in the UK, 431 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 1: and they were trying to draw out trends in how 432 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:19,520 Speaker 1: people conceptualize each of the days of the week as 433 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:23,720 Speaker 1: its own idea and how people react to those those ideas. 434 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:27,320 Speaker 1: This used sampling tools over the internet, because, of course, 435 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,800 Speaker 1: the the weekly accounting schedule is going to be somewhat 436 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:33,440 Speaker 1: culturally contingent. I was looking, okay, well, where are the 437 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,200 Speaker 1: people who were answering these studies. It seems the majority 438 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:40,040 Speaker 1: of respondents appear to be based in UH in North 439 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 1: America and Europe. So in the first study, they were 440 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:47,520 Speaker 1: looking at which days do people get confused about? You know, 441 00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:50,040 Speaker 1: when somebody's like, oh, I thought it was one day, 442 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 1: but it's actually another. This might not be surprising, but 443 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:56,639 Speaker 1: they found that people were actually much more likely to 444 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:02,440 Speaker 1: confuse midweek days, meaning to Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for 445 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,919 Speaker 1: different days than they were to confuse other days for 446 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,240 Speaker 1: the wrong day. So you're way more likely to to 447 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:12,520 Speaker 1: think it's the wrong day when it's a Tuesday, Wednesday, 448 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: or Thursday than Wednesday, it's a Friday or a Monday. 449 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,440 Speaker 1: Second study looked at reaction times to see how quickly 450 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:21,840 Speaker 1: people could answer what day of the week it is. 451 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:24,800 Speaker 1: That's a good question, right, uh, And they found that 452 00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:28,240 Speaker 1: people's reaction times were fastest on Monday and Friday. So 453 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:31,479 Speaker 1: that would tend to suggest that Mondays and Fridays are 454 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:34,920 Speaker 1: the days when what day of the week it is 455 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:37,960 Speaker 1: is most highly represented in your brain, you're the most 456 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:41,119 Speaker 1: conscious of it and can answer immediately yeah. I mean 457 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:43,920 Speaker 1: basically comes down our things beginning, are things ending? Are 458 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:46,879 Speaker 1: are we somewhere in the middle. Which it's interesting to 459 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:49,880 Speaker 1: think about it. Because we have such a linear understanding 460 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:52,800 Speaker 1: of time, you know, we we have such a narrative 461 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:55,879 Speaker 1: approach to understanding our own lives. It makes sense that 462 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:57,960 Speaker 1: would relate to the to the work week as well, 463 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 1: or just the week in general, like each week is 464 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:03,240 Speaker 1: a little story with a beginning and an ending, and 465 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:07,160 Speaker 1: also this middle bit which might be a bit muddled, right, right, 466 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,160 Speaker 1: and speaking of muddling in in the third study, they 467 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:15,879 Speaker 1: also found that participants had the least semantic associations, meaning 468 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:19,560 Speaker 1: they were able to come up with the fewest number 469 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:24,199 Speaker 1: of connotations and thoughts about the midweek days once again, Tuesday, Wednesday, 470 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:27,560 Speaker 1: and Thursday. Other days of the week like Monday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 471 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:31,280 Speaker 1: people could come up with more thoughts about. Another thing 472 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,960 Speaker 1: they looked at was affective norms, how people feel when 473 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,479 Speaker 1: asked to think about individual days of the week. Again, 474 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 1: this might not be surprising at all, but it does 475 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:45,360 Speaker 1: validate the Garfield experience because it turns out everyone hates Mondays, 476 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:49,840 Speaker 1: people feel strongly negative about Monday's, people feel strongly positive 477 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 1: about Fridays, and then basically the other days in between 478 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:58,320 Speaker 1: appear to be graded on slopes towards those two extremes. 479 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: So people are highest on a Frida day, and then 480 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:02,920 Speaker 1: it goes down a little bit on Saturday, then more 481 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,840 Speaker 1: on Sunday. Monday is the lowest, and then starting on 482 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:08,440 Speaker 1: Tuesday it starts to climb up again to get until 483 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,239 Speaker 1: it gets to Friday. Well, yeah, I don't know if 484 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:15,120 Speaker 1: I have much personal to relate on that. I feel 485 00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:17,880 Speaker 1: like you can sort of find something nice to say 486 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:21,320 Speaker 1: about any given day if you're lucky, you know, or 487 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,320 Speaker 1: if you look hard enough. But that's just my take. Well, 488 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:27,119 Speaker 1: I feel like that's one of those studies where that 489 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:29,840 Speaker 1: didn't really have any surprises in store, right, Like that, 490 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:31,800 Speaker 1: it's sort of what you would think, but it does 491 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:34,640 Speaker 1: at least put some data behind those intuitions that, Yeah, 492 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:38,840 Speaker 1: like for us, like Fridays and Mondays are definitely more 493 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:43,120 Speaker 1: of a phenomenon than than Tuesdays or Wednesdays are, and 494 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:47,280 Speaker 1: we also have the correspondingly the strongest feelings about those days. 495 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:49,639 Speaker 1: And I would, you know, I think they're probably pretty 496 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:52,119 Speaker 1: obvious reasons for that. I would be very surprised if 497 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:54,159 Speaker 1: the answer were not that it has something to do 498 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,359 Speaker 1: with the work week. People like being done with work 499 00:27:57,440 --> 00:27:59,280 Speaker 1: for the week, and people do not like having to 500 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,000 Speaker 1: go back to work for the week. Now, it's interesting 501 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:04,440 Speaker 1: to think back on the song Friday, I'm in Love 502 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:07,440 Speaker 1: by the Cure, because if I remember correctly, I don't 503 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:09,199 Speaker 1: think he has anything nice to say about any of 504 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:12,159 Speaker 1: the days of the week except for Friday. Yeah, the 505 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:14,320 Speaker 1: day that he is in love. Oh. You know, I 506 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 1: just looked up the lyrics, and the way you explain 507 00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:19,480 Speaker 1: it makes a lot more sense than how these were 508 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:21,879 Speaker 1: represented in my head, because I always thought it was 509 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:26,439 Speaker 1: that Tuesday's great and Wednesday too, and that was a 510 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:28,600 Speaker 1: strange thing to say, like like, he's just trying to 511 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:30,399 Speaker 1: be nice, you know, He's like, I don't want to 512 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:36,960 Speaker 1: say bad things about Tuesday. Tuesday's Wednesday's fine. That would yeah, 513 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 1: that would that would be I guess it did a 514 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:44,640 Speaker 1: different song. Yeah, Thursday, I don't care about you. Oh, 515 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:46,640 Speaker 1: that would be a different cycle entirely because it's like 516 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:49,560 Speaker 1: Monday he's blue, but then yeah, Tuesday, he's over it. Wednesday, 517 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:52,640 Speaker 1: everything's going fine. Thursday, he's so detached from the situation. 518 00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:55,440 Speaker 1: But then he falls back in love again on Friday 519 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:59,120 Speaker 1: and begins the cycle once more. I still don't entirely 520 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:01,400 Speaker 1: understand the song, but it's a great song. Wait wait, 521 00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:03,280 Speaker 1: but but I want to come back to Hankin's ideas 522 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 1: about what the week does for us. So we already 523 00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:09,479 Speaker 1: talked about the categorization of types of days. You've got 524 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,040 Speaker 1: week days and weekends, and then you've got the individuation 525 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:14,360 Speaker 1: of each day. But then the next thing. I think 526 00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:16,280 Speaker 1: this is a really important one. I would call it 527 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:20,880 Speaker 1: like time conceptualization. Uh, this is for mental time travel 528 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:25,560 Speaker 1: and for what Hankin calls stock taking. So one thing 529 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:29,440 Speaker 1: weeks do is that they give us blocks of time, 530 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:34,520 Speaker 1: blocks of seven days along which to organize our memories 531 00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:38,560 Speaker 1: and our anticipation of the near future. And this absolutely 532 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:40,640 Speaker 1: makes sense to me because I know I do this. 533 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:43,200 Speaker 1: I would say that for me, you know that the 534 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:48,560 Speaker 1: the general present time I think I represent mentally as 535 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:52,640 Speaker 1: about two weeks past and two weeks ahead, and I 536 00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:56,280 Speaker 1: think of them as weeks. Yeah, I I can relate 537 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:58,640 Speaker 1: to this as well. Like if if someone says, what 538 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: are you doing ten days from now, I might not 539 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:03,800 Speaker 1: have initially have an answer, but if if it's if 540 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,120 Speaker 1: the question is what are you doing Friday after next, 541 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:07,880 Speaker 1: well then I have a little more to go on. 542 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:10,920 Speaker 1: Like that's a little more concrete and formed in my mind. 543 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:14,320 Speaker 1: In fact, it's almost kind of a mnemonic device, because 544 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:16,880 Speaker 1: if somebody says, hey, what have you been up to recently? 545 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:19,120 Speaker 1: I might often be kind of like, I don't know, 546 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:20,760 Speaker 1: you know, I can't think of what to say. But 547 00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 1: if someone says, what have you done this week? Somehow 548 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 1: that kind of spurs an answer more easily. Yeah, it's like, well, 549 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,840 Speaker 1: I was just generally generally kind of depressed and then um, 550 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,160 Speaker 1: and then I totally forgot about the person I was 551 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:34,360 Speaker 1: in love with, and then I fell in love with 552 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:39,000 Speaker 1: him again. Oh yeah, okay, But so by by Hankin's scheme, 553 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:42,120 Speaker 1: that's three things the week does, and then finally it 554 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:45,280 Speaker 1: functions as a scheduling device. This might be the most 555 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,800 Speaker 1: practical of all three, which is the recurring events that 556 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:51,800 Speaker 1: need to happen roughly on the order of once every 557 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:55,200 Speaker 1: seven days become of course weekly events. So think about 558 00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:57,360 Speaker 1: all the different kinds of things. You know, there are 559 00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,520 Speaker 1: tons of things like this in life that feel right 560 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:02,520 Speaker 1: to do roughly once every week, and so you might 561 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:04,920 Speaker 1: schedule them with a day in the week. You know 562 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,760 Speaker 1: that tuesdays the day every week when you do X. Yeah. Yeah, 563 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:13,120 Speaker 1: Like with us, it's the grocery shopping, it's the it's 564 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:15,040 Speaker 1: the cleaning of the house. These are things that are 565 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:17,880 Speaker 1: done on a weekly basis, and it would feel weird 566 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:26,480 Speaker 1: if we didn't do them than now. In some in 567 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 1: this episode, but then I think also probably in in 568 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 1: at least the next episode, we're going to be talking 569 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:34,240 Speaker 1: about the origins of the week as we know it 570 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,240 Speaker 1: and saying where the week came from is a little 571 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:41,160 Speaker 1: bit complicated because it depends on UH. For one thing, 572 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:44,680 Speaker 1: what counts as a week? Are you saying, like our 573 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:49,920 Speaker 1: current continuous, unbroken cycle of seven day weeks, where did 574 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:53,080 Speaker 1: that come from? Or like where does the concept of 575 00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:57,840 Speaker 1: UH grouping blocks of days into you know, roughly seven, 576 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:00,280 Speaker 1: but you know what would would an eight day block 577 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:03,239 Speaker 1: also count as a week? And and so forth? Um? 578 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:06,120 Speaker 1: And there are plenty of examples of things like that 579 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:09,640 Speaker 1: going way back in time. But Hankin argues that the 580 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:13,800 Speaker 1: history of our current system of seven day weeks goes 581 00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:18,560 Speaker 1: back roughly two thousand years. There are obviously earlier traditions 582 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:21,240 Speaker 1: that feed into it, but he writes that there were 583 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:25,600 Speaker 1: seven day cycles used for various religious and cultural purposes beforehand, 584 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:29,000 Speaker 1: but in the first century CE in Rome. This is 585 00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:32,360 Speaker 1: the earliest evidence we have of quote any society using 586 00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:35,320 Speaker 1: such cycles to track time in the form of a 587 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 1: common calendar. So in the first century Roman Empire, the 588 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:42,680 Speaker 1: seven day week that we currently use grew out of 589 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:48,360 Speaker 1: a combination of the Roman astrological organization of days. So 590 00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:51,120 Speaker 1: you have seven days for seven planets or gods. And 591 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:53,200 Speaker 1: if you think about that, there were seven things that 592 00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:56,239 Speaker 1: could be called planets. They're not all actually planets, but uh, 593 00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:59,160 Speaker 1: but seven you know, moving bodies in the sky that 594 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,280 Speaker 1: are not just cars, that were known by Romans because 595 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:03,880 Speaker 1: you could see them with the naked eye. So that 596 00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:09,640 Speaker 1: was if you count them up, the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, 597 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:13,080 Speaker 1: and Saturn, and that makes seven. Yeah, that's that's the 598 00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:16,480 Speaker 1: best case I think one can make for on an 599 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:21,840 Speaker 1: observation based astronomical reason for a seven day system. But 600 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:24,880 Speaker 1: a system, yeah, in that case, it wouldn't actually be 601 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:28,600 Speaker 1: seven days it's just the number seven being something from astronomy. Yeah. 602 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:30,280 Speaker 1: But then also so you got that, But then it 603 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:34,040 Speaker 1: would be combining with Jewish observance of the Sabbath, the 604 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:37,520 Speaker 1: traditional practice of having a day of rest every seven days, 605 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:42,000 Speaker 1: in accordance with the creation narrative in Genesis h during 606 00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:44,800 Speaker 1: which during which it said in Genesis that God created 607 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:47,040 Speaker 1: the heavens and the earth over the course of six days, 608 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 1: and then he rested on the seventh. Though, you know, 609 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:53,480 Speaker 1: when I was thinking about this, it actually raised an 610 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:57,440 Speaker 1: interesting history of religions question, which is, I don't know 611 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:00,560 Speaker 1: if there's any any evidence which which actually came first, 612 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:04,360 Speaker 1: the sixth day creation narrative or the practice of having 613 00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:06,840 Speaker 1: a day of rest. That's a great question. I was 614 00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:10,800 Speaker 1: reading about it in the background of some distinctive values 615 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:14,480 Speaker 1: in the Hebrew Bible by Cyrus H. Gordon Uh. He 616 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:16,920 Speaker 1: wrote that there were there were two different explanations of 617 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:20,560 Speaker 1: the Sabbath. In Exodus, it was the seventh day of 618 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:24,640 Speaker 1: rest after the six days of creation, as we've already mentioned. 619 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:28,000 Speaker 1: But in the Book of Deuteronomy quote the Sabbath is 620 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:31,239 Speaker 1: said to commemorate the exodus from Egypt. Israel must never 621 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:34,480 Speaker 1: forget that God saved them from slavery, and therefore these 622 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:37,040 Speaker 1: reel lites must always provide a day of rest for 623 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:40,839 Speaker 1: the entire community, slaves included. Oh, that's interesting, So those 624 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:44,279 Speaker 1: are but those are both passages about the institution of 625 00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:48,239 Speaker 1: the Sabbath day, because those are in the Laws of Moses, right, 626 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:51,440 Speaker 1: So like the one in Exodus would be during the Decalogue, 627 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:53,600 Speaker 1: during the Ten Commandments that says you should honor the 628 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:56,759 Speaker 1: Sabbath day and keep it holy um and And that's 629 00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:59,680 Speaker 1: an interesting reminder that the narrative in Genesis about the 630 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:03,320 Speaker 1: creation and of the world actually doesn't lay out a 631 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:06,640 Speaker 1: a practice, you know, it's just the story on which 632 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,560 Speaker 1: the it is later invoked to say that you should 633 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:14,200 Speaker 1: keep the Sabbath day. Right. He also mentions that the 634 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:18,920 Speaker 1: background of the Biblical Sabbath is the samaro Acadian system 635 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:22,200 Speaker 1: of lucky and unlucky days. So there are days when 636 00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:25,200 Speaker 1: it is advised to work and others where it is not. 637 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:28,480 Speaker 1: And this is something we'll see in the future when 638 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:30,840 Speaker 1: we look at other calendar systems as well, the idea 639 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:34,360 Speaker 1: that there's a certain amount of divination in a calendar system. 640 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:37,839 Speaker 1: It's about it. Sometimes it's in fact, it's sometimes specifically 641 00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:45,080 Speaker 1: about knowing what days are appropriate for beginning various ventures 642 00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:47,959 Speaker 1: and so forth. Okay, but so whether you are going 643 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:52,160 Speaker 1: with uh, with the the Jewish example or with the 644 00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:56,799 Speaker 1: the possibly related ancient Mesopotamian example, Uh, this would have 645 00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:00,319 Speaker 1: something like a week that has that has days within 646 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:05,680 Speaker 1: it that are set aside for some kind of religious reason. Yeah. Gordon, however, 647 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:09,560 Speaker 1: drives home the quote rituals are primary and the historical 648 00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:14,120 Speaker 1: or mythological explanations come later. Furthermore, he says that the 649 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:17,680 Speaker 1: significance of the Sabbath tradition doesn't depend on what informed it, 650 00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:20,839 Speaker 1: but rather on how it is reflected upon and then 651 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:25,480 Speaker 1: mythological than than you know, crafted into mythology. Um, which 652 00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:27,239 Speaker 1: I think is an important thing to keep in mind, 653 00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:29,840 Speaker 1: that like, not everything is just this perfect linear system. 654 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:32,640 Speaker 1: It's like, well, we established this, and this is the 655 00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:36,759 Speaker 1: connection it has to our religion or our mythology. Sometimes, 656 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:39,719 Speaker 1: you know, and very often we're taking things that are 657 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:42,520 Speaker 1: that have been absorbed in and are practiced and then 658 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:46,719 Speaker 1: we're creating the reasons for it. And yeah, totally, and 659 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:49,200 Speaker 1: a lot of this is a common opinion. I've encountered 660 00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:51,440 Speaker 1: a Loon among a lot of scholars of religion and 661 00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:54,560 Speaker 1: cultural anthropologists, the idea that when there is a myth 662 00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:57,680 Speaker 1: or story that corresponds to a ritual and says this 663 00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:00,399 Speaker 1: is why we do the ritual, it's off and believe 664 00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:04,560 Speaker 1: that actually, probably the ritual was done before the myth 665 00:37:04,719 --> 00:37:07,200 Speaker 1: was there. Yeah, of course, you know, we can't know 666 00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:08,960 Speaker 1: that in every case, because a lot of times there's 667 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:11,160 Speaker 1: just no way to decide for sure one way or another. 668 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:12,960 Speaker 1: But yeah, it does seem like that happens a lot. 669 00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:16,399 Speaker 1: But on the other hand, I mean, if you're imagining 670 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:19,160 Speaker 1: what kinds of origins something like a week could have. 671 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,560 Speaker 1: And again here we would be talking about a week 672 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:24,960 Speaker 1: in the broader since not necessarily like our system of 673 00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:28,560 Speaker 1: of seven days, um, but like a blocks of days 674 00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:32,759 Speaker 1: of you know, some manageable length that subdivide the month. Um. 675 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:37,440 Speaker 1: You could imagine totally different even totally practical or economic 676 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:42,280 Speaker 1: considerations that could lead to the creation of things like that. Yeah, 677 00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:44,720 Speaker 1: and in and in this we come to the idea 678 00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:48,719 Speaker 1: of the market week UM, which which I realize is 679 00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:51,240 Speaker 1: also I think the name of various um like media 680 00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:56,080 Speaker 1: shows about like the economies and so forth, which is 681 00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:57,919 Speaker 1: which is kind of funny when you when you when 682 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:01,160 Speaker 1: you look at this basic idea, uh of the market week. 683 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:04,759 Speaker 1: So um, I'm gonna cite several different authors here, but 684 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:07,440 Speaker 1: one of the first places I turned to is I 685 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:11,239 Speaker 1: turned to Brian and Fagan, who has written a lot 686 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:15,839 Speaker 1: about about ancient history and about ancient technologies. And I 687 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:18,560 Speaker 1: was reading a chapter that he wrote in the seventy 688 00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:21,040 Speaker 1: grade Inventions of the Ancient World, a book there for 689 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:23,920 Speaker 1: back to a lot, and this is a chapter that 690 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:29,160 Speaker 1: he wrote with the author Anthony F. Of any author 691 00:38:29,239 --> 00:38:33,520 Speaker 1: of Empires of Time, Clocks, calendars, and culture, and in 692 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,560 Speaker 1: that they state that the period of the week, be 693 00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:39,040 Speaker 1: at a seven day week, or an eight day week, 694 00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:41,720 Speaker 1: or even a ten day week, is quote a good 695 00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:44,759 Speaker 1: measure of the time it takes to harvest a manageable 696 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:48,480 Speaker 1: load of fruits and vegetables, take them to market, dispense 697 00:38:48,560 --> 00:38:51,480 Speaker 1: them before they overripen, and then returned to the field 698 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,880 Speaker 1: for another round. This is so interesting because I was 699 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:58,680 Speaker 1: wondering about I was like, could it possibly be that 700 00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:02,200 Speaker 1: the at any origins of a week or week like 701 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:06,640 Speaker 1: institution could be related to the freshness of food? I mean, 702 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:09,200 Speaker 1: and that that would still be reflected in like how 703 00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:14,040 Speaker 1: often people typically go grocery shopping. Yeah, and and there 704 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:16,279 Speaker 1: seems to be a very strong case to be made 705 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:19,560 Speaker 1: for this. I've I've come across the several sources that 706 00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:24,560 Speaker 1: explore this at length. Um. Now, Fagan and ave Any 707 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:28,920 Speaker 1: right that this market week was likely shifted down to 708 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:32,759 Speaker 1: seven days, probably from like eight days uh or more 709 00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:37,200 Speaker 1: during the first millennium BC E in the Sumerian world, 710 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:42,000 Speaker 1: in order to quote accommodate heavily connections. Um. So we 711 00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:45,200 Speaker 1: can imagine what that would be again, just very loosely speaking, uh, 712 00:39:45,239 --> 00:39:48,520 Speaker 1: you know, thinking of astronomical significance of the number seven, 713 00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:51,360 Speaker 1: and if you already have a market week that is 714 00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:54,919 Speaker 1: eight days, then you know, maybe you just ratcheted down 715 00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:59,320 Speaker 1: to seven. And also they write that seven uh seven 716 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:02,279 Speaker 1: does have have a few different connections. Uh you know, 717 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:04,680 Speaker 1: there's the number of visible planets, plus the sun and 718 00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:08,600 Speaker 1: moon as we discussed, also roughly the interval between quarter 719 00:40:08,640 --> 00:40:13,279 Speaker 1: phases of the moon. But Vinie writes in Empires of 720 00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:17,400 Speaker 1: Time that the eight day work week was ultimately uh 721 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:21,520 Speaker 1: quote of unknown origin uh, though still cites the market 722 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:23,600 Speaker 1: week idea. Though I've i've also seen the eight day 723 00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:27,680 Speaker 1: work week cited as an etruscan um invention of perhaps 724 00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:31,560 Speaker 1: the seventh and eighth centuries b c. According to Aviatar 725 00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:35,440 Speaker 1: Zaruberville in the Seven Day Circle, uh, the evolution of 726 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:39,600 Speaker 1: the week generally coincides with the rise of market economies, 727 00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:44,880 Speaker 1: so weekly market cycles ended up emerging in human activity. Again. 728 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:47,040 Speaker 1: This is, you know, the time it takes to to 729 00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:50,400 Speaker 1: have fruits and vegetables come in from the field, make 730 00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:52,000 Speaker 1: it to market, and then you get back to the 731 00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:56,399 Speaker 1: fields again. But they didn't have to be seven days long, obviously. Um. 732 00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:01,319 Speaker 1: Zaruberville points to three day market weeks in ancient Meso America, 733 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:05,000 Speaker 1: in Indo China, a ten day market week in ancient Peru, 734 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:07,719 Speaker 1: and of course there's also this twelve day market week 735 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:10,879 Speaker 1: in ancient southern China. And he says that this, um, 736 00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:14,920 Speaker 1: this Chinese twelve day week is a quote classic example 737 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:19,040 Speaker 1: of a weekly cycle that served to regulate economic transactions. 738 00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:22,640 Speaker 1: And uh, I was reading about this in the Seven 739 00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:26,480 Speaker 1: Day Circle, and if I'm understanding it correctly, this encompassed 740 00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:30,760 Speaker 1: multiple three day market cycles and six day market cycles 741 00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:33,600 Speaker 1: as well. Um. And that's something you see with several 742 00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:37,160 Speaker 1: of these examples of different week systems before, certainly before 743 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:39,719 Speaker 1: the seven day UM week that we think of now 744 00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:44,040 Speaker 1: was fully adopted, you would often have different week cycles 745 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:47,480 Speaker 1: or what you might categorize as a week uh coexisting 746 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:50,440 Speaker 1: with each other um and and you still see that 747 00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:52,520 Speaker 1: to a certain extent in parts of the world, as 748 00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:56,040 Speaker 1: we'll discuss Now's Ruberville writes that during the eighth or 749 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:59,880 Speaker 1: seventh centuries b c e. The eight day market evolve 750 00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:03,200 Speaker 1: UH in what is now Italy and an Etruscan quote 751 00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:06,920 Speaker 1: time reckoning system based on the number eight, and it 752 00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:10,880 Speaker 1: revolved around a periodic market day that was held regularly 753 00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:14,319 Speaker 1: every eight days. And of course this Etruscan system is 754 00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:18,240 Speaker 1: going to be key because it coincides with and feeds 755 00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:22,600 Speaker 1: into the Roman system, which we've already alluded to. So 756 00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:26,040 Speaker 1: in our next episode of the podcast, we'll jump back 757 00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:29,719 Speaker 1: in with the Etruscan system and the Roman use of 758 00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:33,440 Speaker 1: the of the Etruscan system, and and continue to build 759 00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:35,239 Speaker 1: up from there. There's a lot of interesting stuff to 760 00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:38,040 Speaker 1: talk about. I mean, even just the uh like the 761 00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:42,640 Speaker 1: market week stuff I found particularly um uh fascinating. Yeah, 762 00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:44,200 Speaker 1: and I've got a great paper that we can get 763 00:42:44,239 --> 00:42:46,919 Speaker 1: into about the Roman origins of the of the seven 764 00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:49,319 Speaker 1: day week that we use today, but we can also 765 00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:53,320 Speaker 1: talk about some really cool cultural variations of different kinds 766 00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:58,040 Speaker 1: of weeks and about some of the psychological effects of weeks. Yeah. Absolutely, 767 00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:04,400 Speaker 1: Uh so this is you on Fridays. So this episode 768 00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:06,440 Speaker 1: is a Thursday episode, and we're going to be back 769 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:10,239 Speaker 1: with a Tuesday episode. Um. Yeah, I remember there was 770 00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:13,359 Speaker 1: a time, speaking of days, where we used to think 771 00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:16,239 Speaker 1: it was it was just completely inappropriate to have a 772 00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:19,400 Speaker 1: part one on a Thursday and a part two on 773 00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:22,480 Speaker 1: the following Tuesday. And I don't know, maybe maybe some 774 00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:27,960 Speaker 1: listeners think it's inappropriate still, but generally listeners have informed 775 00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:31,799 Speaker 1: us that they don't care. So, but going back to 776 00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:34,640 Speaker 1: that sort of linear system and linear thinking regarding the week, 777 00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:36,960 Speaker 1: it was kind of like, no, things must begin and 778 00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:40,440 Speaker 1: end within the same week. Otherwise, like what it's like, 779 00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:43,160 Speaker 1: you're just cutting it in half. We have like one uh, 780 00:43:43,239 --> 00:43:46,279 Speaker 1: disembodied slab of episode on one side of the week, 781 00:43:46,480 --> 00:43:49,360 Speaker 1: and it is just like the and the Magician's Blade 782 00:43:49,480 --> 00:43:53,319 Speaker 1: falls on Sunday evening. But obviously that's not the case. 783 00:43:55,560 --> 00:43:58,280 Speaker 1: So so yeah, well, we'll be back in the next episode. 784 00:43:58,280 --> 00:43:59,680 Speaker 1: But we would love to hear from everyone out there 785 00:43:59,680 --> 00:44:02,640 Speaker 1: because I know everyone. Everyone has thoughts on the days 786 00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:05,479 Speaker 1: of the week. Uh, you know, days that are good, 787 00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:07,759 Speaker 1: days that are bad, and days that that have their 788 00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:11,279 Speaker 1: own particular energy about them, the things that define these 789 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:14,800 Speaker 1: days for us and uh and yeah, also the occasional 790 00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:17,320 Speaker 1: experience of maybe forgetting what day it is, are feeling 791 00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:19,840 Speaker 1: like the day you were in is surely not a Friday. 792 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:23,440 Speaker 1: Surely this is a Thursday because it feels like a Thursday. 793 00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:26,520 Speaker 1: So join us next time. In the meantime, well, here's 794 00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:30,000 Speaker 1: how how we divide up the week. Usually on Monday's 795 00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:33,320 Speaker 1: we do listener mail on Tuesday's core episode of Stuff 796 00:44:33,320 --> 00:44:36,759 Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind. Wednesday Artifact or Monster Fact, Thursday 797 00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:39,440 Speaker 1: another core episode of Stuff to Blow your Mind. Friday 798 00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:42,040 Speaker 1: Weird House Cinema. That's that's the day that we're in 799 00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:45,759 Speaker 1: love with a strange film. And then Saturday, well that 800 00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:48,200 Speaker 1: is a day where we bust out a vault episode 801 00:44:48,200 --> 00:44:50,839 Speaker 1: which is a rerun. And then on Sunday, well, then 802 00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:53,400 Speaker 1: that is the day we rest huge thanks as always 803 00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:56,840 Speaker 1: to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. If you 804 00:44:56,840 --> 00:44:59,000 Speaker 1: would like to get in touch with us with feedback 805 00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:01,320 Speaker 1: on this episode or in together, to suggest a topic 806 00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:03,120 Speaker 1: for the future, or just to say hello. You can 807 00:45:03,200 --> 00:45:05,959 Speaker 1: email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind 808 00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:16,200 Speaker 1: dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of 809 00:45:16,239 --> 00:45:18,880 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, 810 00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:21,760 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 811 00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:31,840 Speaker 1: you listening to your favorite shows.