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S2 E107 - A Brief History of Time: From Ancient Calendars to Relativity (Onion Soup w/ Dexter)
Dexter hosts a solo episode of Onion Soup exploring the widely accepted history of time and how humans’ concept of time evolved, from pre-5000 BCE cyclical views (day/night and seasons) to ancient Mesopotamian lunar/solar calendars and Egyptian sundials and water clocks. He discusses Greek philosophers who framed time as fluid and helped introduce linear time, and Roman standardization through the seven-day week and 12-month calendar for law and administration. In the Middle Ages, he explains how Christianity and Islam emphasize linear time oriented toward salvation and judgment, then covers the Mayans’ sophisticated, nature-connected calendar and clarifies misconceptions about 2012. He moves into the Renaissance scientific revolution, Newton’s absolute time, the rise of time zones (including Greenwich), and Einstein’s relativity. He also explains base-60 timekeeping roots and shares his personal view of time as static, like points on a sphere.
