Comments by "gwho" (@gwho) on "The Bizarre Way We'll Keep Track of Time on Mars" video.

12 doesn't come from the fact that there is 12 hours in a day. 12 was chosen and then they divided a day into 12 equal parts. You have the causality backwards. Same for 60. You should be starting off with the definitions and invariants. Namely, what a year is, what a day is, what a month is. Then see how they divide and if it makes sense to divide it similarly to earth. Some planets have years that are shorter than days. Does it make sense to use these? Or does it make more sense to use the smallest defined unit, a second, and then cast different kind of larger units? Mars happens to be similar to earth, so a direct port kind of works, but it won't for other planets. You should think ahead to a more universal system, not jsut ones that will work only for earth-like ones. Is it even desirable to have slightly off analogues at all?
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