3  Time 2.0

Javier Cáceres recognises some of the words displayed on the presentation screen behind the professor: zaman, vremya, zeit, chronos, hora. For Javier, this slide makes more sense than the previous ones.

“These,” says the lecturer theatrically, “are translations for the most common noun in the English language. They are, of course, words for time.” His mid-length grey hair reacts a split second behind the rest of him as if it’s always trying to keep up.

Tiempo might be a better expression of time in Spanish, but then again, both words have other meanings. Languages are forests, thinks Javier. Words branch and change, and sometimes they wither and die.

“Calendars are a fairly new invention. Accurate timekeeping arrived in the seventeenth century, yet the way we talk about time developed earlier.”

As a physics major, Javier knows that there will always be new discoveries, new details and theories that will shake the world of science. Language can be inaccurate. Apart from learning the lyrics to his favourite punk songs, words are not Javier’s strongpoint.

“Our language uses length as a metaphor for time,” says the professor, measuring space with his arms. “Others use size. Europeans talk about jumping forward in time, whereas the Aymara people of Bolivia refer to the unseen future as behind them.” The lecturer gathers pace as he speaks. He gives examples of how English doesn’t have an inflectional future tense, and why foreigners like him still get confused between ‘this Wednesday’ and ‘next Wednesday’. Javier sympathises.

Then, the professor’s blue eyes glass over. “As a PhD student in the 1990s, I went on a research trip to the Amazon. Linguistic experts studied the Amondawa, a recently contacted tribe who had no words to define time. Theirs is a language that has never left the rainforest. They have no word for ‘minute’, no watches or clocks. No age. They base time on happenings like when the river flooded or when the sun will set. Everything about the way they speak of time is relative to their environment. There, in the rainforest, I learned more than I could have ever taught them.’

Javier imagines what time would be like without terms to define it. He has given up taking notes.

Written Communication: Citizen 3409, J. Cáceres

I once carved my imagined birthdate into a tree with a chisel. The term was a concoction of words and symbols. The tree has since been ripped out and fed to the wood chipper. All time-stamped objects are eventually wiped clean.

Words are monitored and scoured for any mention of codes or expressions banned under the Abolition of Temporal Terminology Act. Living with relative concepts – next, since, until – is for the good of all.

I’ve never known those forbidden words that refer to fragments of astronomical revolutions. Our lives were once chained to these measures. Was Time 1.0 shut off or was it transformed piece by piece?

Before writing this, I camped wild in the forest. There were so many darks and lights I lost count, but my contract to fell dead wood goes on ad infinitum, the only variable being the health of the trees. Sometimes I carve things for others to find, words, thoughts, the beauty of dreams. Soon I must step away from pine-scented mornings and starry nights, so I carve these words in my place. The point of a dream is that you wake.

Department of Citizen Observations Report: J. Cáceres, 3409, Log 29-2

New development twenty-nine. Written communication bringing into permanency questions about history and Time 1.0. Subject (young male of higher than average intellect) appears to be unaware of the terminology y**r, d*y, and h**r.

Citizen has reached productivity quota and has not met with any known agitators. Surveillance heightened to level three.

Written Communication: Citizen 3409, J. Cáceres

Will the future consist of more redacted words? The powerful elite who seek immortality will have no need for the words ‘never’ and ‘forever’. For me, the point of a life is that it ends.

When I walked outside the walls of the metropolis, I looked for my tree, but it had been eliminated, cleaved precisely to the root, so it was impossible to distinguish wood from ground.

Surely, the learnings of time and history should remain to protect our planet. Someone must know of Time 1.0. Perhaps all it takes is thought. When I go back into the woods, I will work backwards from Time 2.0 through Time 1.9 and so forth, inventing new terminology. I will speak these ideas and carve them into the thousands of trees that breathe life into the metropolis. They cannot all be disappeared.

Department of Citizen Observations Report: transfer request for J. Cáceres, 3409

Citizen has not met with any known agitators but has not reached the required productivity quota. Desire to create illegal terminology recorded. In order to avoid potential contact with other time historians, transfer to a secure facility is advised.

Time elapsed: Redacted