2019
The Clock Can Go
The end of the culture of obedience
by Karlheinz A. Geißler
For more than 500 years, the clock has dictated the rhythm of life in the Western World. Clocks were impossible to miss: they were on church towers, at railway stations and factories, they struck the hours and urged people to hurry. But these days, clocks and the punctuality they insisted upon are on the retreat. Nowadays, we are rarely asked “What is the time?” and it is no longer customary to present golden watches or clocks to commemorate important life events. Now we rely on mobile devices and displays to tell us the time, the steady stroke of the rigid clock has been replaced by a more flexible network: we stream TV programmes when we feel like it, we listen to podcasts at any time; chatting, flirting and dating no longer requires prior agreement on time and place. However, what will follow after we have freed ourselves from the chains of the clock god? Emeritus Professor of Economics and time expert Karlheinz A. Geißler shows us that when the influence of the clock disappears, liberating perspectives emerge for experiencing time in social relationships – beyond time pressure and dictates of punctuality.
