Best HFY Reddit Stories: We Would Like To Meet You (r/HFY)

[@SciStarborne]

"Sir, the scientists have finished their calculations. Humans are approximatly as tall as our worlds tallest skyscraper."

[@mreeeee8426]

E

[@asurasyn]

I rather imagine the alien ship getting to the rendezvous and the human ship showing up like a goddamn Borg cube.

[@jankubiak3218]

@@asurasyn Cursed XD

[@maylabrown4584]

@@asurasyn Hell to the Yes!

[@marxel4444]

WE ARE GODZILLA! POG!

[@TheCsel]

Humans shortly later: "the following message contains conversion equations for an alternate outdated measuring system that one of our member states insists on using..."

[@kisstune]

Two actually. The USA and Burma/Myanmar.

[@aussieendeavor3679]

@@kisstune and Liberia

[@kisstune]

@@aussieendeavor3679 I stand corrected.

[@Dilholio]

@@aussieendeavor3679 And both Burma and Liberia are in the process of changing to metric

[@MrJdmcd3]

Based on a technicality, the USA also uses metric, but it’s used mostly for military, and scientific work. As a biochemist, I don’t work with imperial at all.

[@bahajirutmspt436]

After watching alot of hfy storys, the title "we would like to meet you" automatically became a passive aggressive statment

[@anonymouspotato7538]

"We've been trying to reach you about your star's extended warranty"

[@theicyphoenixrecords5980]

@@anonymouspotato7538 "wakes up" oh thank god that was just a dream,my deathstar is still at the alpha centuri,i think i need a drink

[@BrunoMaricFromZagreb]

There is a lot of redundancy to them,usually something like "aliens attack humans and discover they are realyl good at war"

[@maylabrown4584]

@@BrunoMaricFromZagreb It's cause that's as obvious as "The Sun is Hot" but the different reactions held by uniquely created original Alien species is always interesting to see. Personally, I would love to see a realistic variant of Humans interactions with popular species of Alien, like for example the Predators/Yautjas, Xenomorphs, The Na'vi, The Engineers, E-T's Species, Gremlins, etc.

[@BrunoMaricFromZagreb]

@@maylabrown4584 I do remember seeing a story where 2 shop-fleet travelers met 2 Yautja analouges in a space bar...The 2 scary predator women came up to them & made a conversation where it seemed like they thought the Arnold movie was actually a documentary.Turns out the 2 women made a deal with the barkeep cause all of them were tired of the kinda-sorta-racism made by Humans thinking the Yautja lookalikes would act just like in the movies...The story ended with one of the 2 humans flirting with both of the preds. Also yes,not enough culture shock.Authors only do the surface stuff like family dynamics or government.

[@OutcastsRedeemer]

American: "Yeah. We use the meter for military science and economical use. But we also use a completely different method for civilian use called the imperial system. And generally speaking everyone in America will swap out one for the other for no reason than seemingly to fuck with the Europeans. Sorry about that. We'll try and refrain from using Imperial in space for you guys though. You know unless we're at war." Aliens: "Are all humans like this?" American: "Just the fun ones."

[@wilemelliott]

whats funny is the only reason I remember an inch is 25.4mm off the top of my head is because .50 caliber is 12.7mm....don't ask me why I remember that a mile is 5280 feet though... And Centigrade/Celsius to Farenheit still confuses the hell out of me.

[@demokeyan9601]

@@wilemelliott 32F/0C is the freezing point of water 72F/22.2222C is average room temp 98.6F/37C Is average body temp 212F/100C is boiling point of water Dose that help? In my opinion Celsius is more confusing then Fahrenheit because the difference between degrees in way bigger in Celsius then Fahrenheit

[@wilemelliott]

@@demokeyan9601 oh don't get me wrong, know all that...just for some reason the numbers don't stick. Probably the same reason I have to take notes or look up some things but I can nearly repeat the lines and scenes from various movies, verbatim including giving the context.

[@maxkreuzer]

@@demokeyan9601 Why is it confusing you have 0°C for þe 1. matter change of water (freezing) and 100°C for þe 2. matter change (boiling).

[@demokeyan9601]

@@maxkreuzer Ya freezing and boiling is simple but the different between degrees in Celsius is like 2.8 time more then in Fahrenheit making it harder to be precise unless it is freezing or boiling

[@chrisbecke2793]

for alien contact we'd probably go straight to planck units.

[@hmdragon1638]

In particle physics and physical cosmology, Planck units are a set of units of measurement defined exclusively in terms of four universal physical constants, ripped from Wikipedia.

[@Mgl1206]

That only applies if the laws we know is true.

[@Mgl1206]

@kuroryuu010 well not really because Planck units are the smallest units where the math we know makes sense. What if there was a new discovery that moved that smallest unit up or down in scale? The Planck isn’t determinate it’s based on our own reasoning, not the universe itself.

[@chrisbecke2793]

@@Mgl1206 They are. Thats the point. Planck units are re-derivable by examining the fundamental constants of nature.

[@Mgl1206]

@@chrisbecke2793 Planck units aren’t based off of nature. It’s based off of equations we developed based on observations we have made of a system that we cannot/do not understand. So no we can’t use a planck unit because a planck unit requires our understanding to be perfect. Which it is not.

[@thelaughinghyenas8465]

A nice, cheery story, based on rational thought, science, and logic. A nice change of pace over space violence.

[@MrSuperbeast92]

"The meter is for Everyone. Nobody owns it." *laughs in American* XD

[@Zakvadr1995]

Tbh, as an American I wish I was brought up on the meter.

[@faurana]

laughs in the fact that all american units are based on SI units

[@vlastimirvukovic]

NASA use metric system.

[@RomanQrr]

As stated: "The meter is for everyone." It's your right not to use it.

[@krel7160]

@@RomanQrr And by god it's a right we will swear by!

[@jimschuler8830]

Unfortunately they are in for a rude awakening when they discover that the price of antimatter fuel is in liters.

[@smeltofelderberriesnou9016]

A liter is just a cubic decimeter.

[@jimschuler8830]

@@smeltofelderberriesnou9016 Yeah, but then you realize that there are 3.7 liters to a bonzak and yet the price per in human space is the same.

[@kompatybilijny9348]

@@jimschuler8830 What the fuck is a bonzak and what it is used for? I know the cavemen use Gallons for milka and stuff and that oil barrel has several different definitions, but I have never even heard of bonzak before.

[@jimschuler8830]

@@kompatybilijny9348 It would take too many drktkspa to explain.

[@kompatybilijny9348]

@@jimschuler8830 ok

[@Liethen]

Should be able to identify the pulsars by the RATIO of their rotations

[@condorboss3339]

Good point. I believe every pulsar has a unique rotation period. However, they only gave the two periods to three significant figures, which might not be sufficiently accurate to distinguish the pulsars in question.

[@janisrubezis2572]

Another problem would be the amount of pulsars and the fact that we would need to compare every pulsar to every other pulsar to get the ratios between them. And the argument that we could get lucky and find the right ratio early would be dismised out of fear of finding a ratio duplicit, even if the likelyhood of that is miniscule (tho every pulsar has a unique frecvency. If the frecvencies are proportional then you could get ratio duplicits. Example 1 and 2, 2 and 4, both are the same ratio - first is half of the second and the second is 2 times bigger then the first)

[@collinbarker]

@@Maverrick2140 Author here, ratios could work, but there is also the issue of the being many to compare. See ishivvers.github.io/maps/pulsars.html for current pulsar map, which is still being added. A 3 way ratio check is a lot, and if you cannot even filter the really slow or really fast ones, you have to check all possibilities of the ratios

[@marxel4444]

Its like giving your licence plate if someone asks what car is your in the parking lot of a supermarket. Good luck checking every last one of them if you have to :,D

[@Wolfbroa]

We would like to meet space cats

[@alaskanspartan89]

Cat planet cuties!

[@marclytle644]

I want to meet Space Dogs. Preferably Space Golden Retrievers. The best of the good boys.

[@ianpgmusicfanfictionart]

@@marclytle644 False, Poodles are the best of good boys

[@Sharkakaka]

Imagine space cat people. "Kajjit has wares if you have the coin."

[@blubruh5785]

@@alaskanspartan89 you know that anime/manga as well?

[@tylernelson2218]

I spend most of my day listening to your playlist none stop

[@AugustoEL]

The stories are fun and his voice is really good to narrate. I totally see why you did it.

[@peterwall8191]

*Tyler Nelson* I've been binge listening to this playlist for 3 days now. I hope i can finish it tonight

[@justinthompson6364]

This species is supposed to have gone through multiple first contacts and they only now realized the importance of having a reference for their metrics?

[@collinbarker]

If you can have some one point out which star you use for your clock, it is very easy to set your clock to the same one. First contact through communication, others were actual meetings

[@diablominero]

They have a reference. They have a pulsar they can look at. We did just fine with the International Prototype Kilogram for a while, and that's a lot more inconvenient than a pulsar everyone can see.

[@justinthompson6364]

@@diablominero But apparently they had no way to point at which pulsar they were talking about to someone who didn't already know it. How did it even work the first few contacts?

[@diablominero]

@@justinthompson6364 point at it in the sky? Show a picture of a starmap?

[@justinthompson6364]

@@diablominero Those might be sufficient for communication _within_ a civilization, but not for first contact. Pointing up at the sky is not terribly precise to put it lightly, and a starmap requires at least some amount of information up front to be useful. Comparing their measurement system to the physicalized reference points we used to use isn't accurate either. You can create platinum blocks long before you have the technology to accurately measure a pulsar's rotational period. It's not even much more accessible, since even if anyone can see it they'd still need specialized equipment to actually apply it. It just doesn't make any sense. You'd need technology for the pulsar standard, but it's worse than backing your measurements with physical constants the way we do today.

[@GeorgeCowsert]

I would've just said "figure out how many helium atoms it would take to get to 1 zolton, and we'll do the same for one of our measurements. We'll use that to convert between units."

[@justinthompson6364]

How would you convert helium atoms to a unit of time? I'm trying to figure it out but I'm at a loss. Anyway, I'd just use Planck units. I'd assume any spacefaring species would be familiar with them.

[@OzixiThrill]

@@justinthompson6364 That's a bold assumption. There is no guarantee that a species finds it useful to define what the smallest theoretical unit of measurement is, so when you say "smallest unit possible", they might start thinking in seconds, milimeters, metric tonnes and mililiters.

[@justinthompson6364]

@@OzixiThrill It hasn't been "useful" for us to define the smallest theoretical measurements, but we did it because we have a scientific society. How long could an advanced and curious species go _without_ discovering things?

[@OzixiThrill]

@@justinthompson6364 The better question is how long such a society can go on without discovering one very specific thing that requires one very specific angle of interest. Which is far less likely than discovering generic "things". Also, we absolutely found it useful to reduce the number of unstable elements within science. The less variables you have, the more accurate you can be.

[@justinthompson6364]

@@OzixiThrill It's not like all of human society, or even all of the scientific community up and decided one day to figure out what the universe's various quanta were. Individual people picked their own fields until Planck proposed his system of units based on universal physical constants. Physics as a field would obviously have to exist in an interstellar (and presumably FTL) society, and unless a society somehow forbade certain areas of research (which would severely hamper their development) I don't see how they could possibly NOT discover the universal constants which form the basis of Planck measurements. At that point you might as well give up, since they could just as easily not know about the constants the second is now based on either. "Also, we absolutely found it useful to reduce the number of unstable elements within science. The less variables you have, the more accurate you can be." Well duh, controlling for extra variables is essential for successful experimentation I doubt anyone could become industrial, much less spacefaring without being able to act on the principles of _the scientific method_ properly.

[@darth_dan8886]

Truly an ode to the SI system. I have one problem with this story though. Is there really so many pulsars in space with frequency ratio 1:1.46508? I feel like giving _two_ pulsars (or better 3) should be sufficient to determine exactly which ones these are.

[@collinbarker]

Author here. This question has popped up before. There are many pulsars, and to do a check across all of them for the ratio, when you don't know whether the time unit is faster than you can count in your head, or longer than geology, it is a very arduous task. Here is a current map of them so far. ishivvers.github.io/maps/pulsars.html

[@darth_dan8886]

@@collinbarker Thanks for the reply. Even though it does seem to me at least that a simple script could find all pairs of pulsars with a known frequency relation, which could then be referenced visually to see which ones are closer than half a galaxy apart. Yes, we currently don't know all of them, but I believe the premise of the story is that Humanity has mapped the galaxy out far better by that point. Still, I'll give you that - in the case that several distinct pairs follow the rule, the question asked is absolutely warranted.

[@Flarflenugen]

Given I would have no idea how to describe the length of a foot this is fair

[@Twisted_Logic]

The foot is actually legally defined in terms of meters. At least in the US.

[@Flarflenugen]

@@Twisted_Logic I have now learned 1(one) thing today, thank you. I will now refuse to learn anything else

[@oscarlundberg7462]

@@Flarflenugen Fact no. 2: Feet are most often smelly.

[@Flarflenugen]

@@oscarlundberg7462 I SAID I WILL NOT LEARN ANYTHING ELSE

[@oscarlundberg7462]

@@Flarflenugen Too late!

[@catbat5105]

I didnt even notice this was just released until glancing at comments

[@AWACS_Snowblind]

As someone unfortunate enough to grow up in American public schooling, I had no idea about the origin of the metric system. Maybe I'm biased now, but that was a great fucking story.

[@rhulyon5728]

Well that was the idea behind for the metric system but was not always like that because physics constants were not yet discovered when it was implemented, (im not exactly sure but) the metter was defined as a fraction of the lenght of the earth before the light speed was discovered, and a kilogram was the standar measure in some time and for doing that a weight of a kilogram was distributted to every country in the world around XVIII century, maybe, but the one that was supposed to arrive at the USA was stolen by pirates. And until very recently kilogram was based on that definition because we had trouble measuring the weight of subatomic particles correctly, or getting with some universal equivalent. I thought it was aroun 2010 when scientist discovered a method to count the molecules of silicon in a sphere that wheighted a kylogram and since then they setted the unit to that equivalent to be more precise (also the measurement of the kilogram was changed due to some mass of the weight dissappearing over time).

[@Swindle1984]

Metric is useful, but imperial still has its benefits. The foot, for example, being 12 inches, means you can divide it by 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12 to make even parts without fractions. The meter, on the other hand, is only divisible by 2, 5, and 10. Think of it like a pizza: sliced into 10 slices, you can only share an equal number of slices with 2, 5, or 10 people, but sliced into 12 slices, you can share an equal number of slices with 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12 people. Cups, quarts, gallons, etc. also tend to be more practical measurements than liters, milliliters, etc. when working in the kitchen. The metric system makes more sense as a universal scientific standard, and the imperial system makes more sense for day to day use.

[@benlyon5118]

The only reason it got implemented in France(the guys who came up with the meter) is because everyone who disagreed kept quiet or were killed off during "Age of Reason" following the French Revolution. The only reason it wasn't implemented in the US is because the scientist sent to Jefferson sailed off course and was captured by pirates. It's a cool story for such a boring topic.

[@alexandrub8786]

So good of an idea that the imperial system is defined by the metric system.

[@calebcarr3986]

@@Swindle1984 i disagree as to me since you can easily create smaller measurements in metric (meter, decimeter, centimeter, millimeter, micrometer etc.)it means that in the kitchen working in deciliters works well. whereas you are kinda stuck to the foot, the inch and then its fractional so more annoying and harder to practically use to me. i dont really have much experience with imperial liquid measures but i do cook a lot and any british/european cook will tell you that american recipes are a nighmare. how do you measure cups of tomato or pasta or cheese, its entirely dependant on the shape and the human error. using mass works much better imo and makes life easier to me.

[@justinokraski3796]

describe it in terms of an isotope's half-life

[@TheMonk72]

Given 3 precise pulsar frequency ratios we could identify the pulsars in question.

[@gw2macken757]

Astounding is not spoken "Outstanding".

[@madi4642]

this is quite the relevant point to raise in event of a first contact with an alien civilisation... mesurement

[@OGAndizzo]

*laughs in imperal system*

[@bramvanderleest125]

Jokes on you imperial is based on metric

[@aerfwefd7334]

@@bramvanderleest125 Ah, yes. The Romans and their use of the metric system is the stuff of legends. Idiot.

[@vadfarkas14]

@@aerfwefd7334 He's talking about the imperial system that is in use today. Not the Roman one. Today's imperial system is defined using the metric system as base.

[@OGAndizzo]

@@vadfarkas14 pretty sure the "inch" is based on the length of some king's thumb, but what do I know? P.s. from the knuckle to the tip of his thumb

[@calebcarr3986]

@@OGAndizzo but to explain how long that thumb is you use metric as it it constant and easy to derive from a natural phenomena

[@Blackwater_House]

Nothing wrong with Chains and Furlongs, just a different explanation.

[@yifftoy]

Would love more from this author

[@WiredTurkey316]

Imperial units for the empire

[@evenmoor]

Well, either humans got really tall in the future, or the guy on the other end of the communicator is lying or exaggerating, because 2 meters equal approximately 6'6". For some perspective, the average height of an American male is approximately 175.4 centimeters (1.754 meters) or 5'9".

[@Werrf1]

It's rounded to the nearest meter, because the aliens only know the meter at this point. Once they know what a meter is, they can be introduced to more precise measurements.

[@bleddynwolf8463]

well, the story takes place in the unspecified future, and people on average are getting taller so, in the future, avarge might be 6'6''

[@AWACS_Snowblind]

We have been growing very slowly over time. If the average height was between 5 and 6 feet 500 years ago, it's not hard to imagine we'd be between 6 and 7 feet tall whenever we reach the spacefaring age.

[@bizarreworld2510]

He said roughly 2 meters, which mean he's more than 1.75 meters but shorter than 2 meters.

[@dusanradin5868]

Humans are NOW 2 metters tall,and taller,at least in Slavic and Nordic countries.

[@rogergreenwood3409]

good story and lesson

[@pugsabi]

I hope one of the first contact people measures everything strictly by bananas as is proper.😂

[@androgenius_alisa]

Why wouldn't humans just communicate in plank lengths first, giving it's relation to speed of light? Considering that the aliens call things "ftl", they would be much more probable to understand that rather than chemical elements that they didn't mention

[@sixtenpettersson3814]

Incredible video

[@CB-sv2bm]

As an American, I would very much like to use more metric system. Just saying.

[@Belthazar1113]

I don't know what you are talking about... I went to go get five grams with a nine millimeter in my pocket. We use the metric system all the time.

[@Chu8rock]

We use both.

[@Flarflenugen]

As an American also I want the metric system since the imperial system is so dumb.

[@awesomepawn2]

Trators all of you

[@draxomega]

the big issue is that our physical infrastructure is built via imperial, and changing it all would cost billions if not trillions. that is literally the only (sensible) thing stopping us from full metric conversion.

[@richarderguiza7080]

i think this says more about the guy on the receiver than their method of measurement. i bet once their physicists get a look at the measurements they will tell the two that using natural phenomena is obvious and is already on the first contact protocols that they ignored last month.

[@norneaernourn8240]

Reading this reminded me of an idiot I knew a long time ago. He tried to give instructions to another friend on where his place is. By looking out the window. From the 4th floor. Landmarks included pizza van, hotdog/burger stand and a lamppost. Two out of those 3 are mobile and the lamppost is the same on the entire side of town. No, dude wasn't trolling, he just... isn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

[@hollyferay8131]

So good. I loathe circular definitions.

[@szymonbollin5074]

Americans use metric system to make guns and bullets

[@anonymouspotato7538]

Only so that we can sell them to foreign armies without them complaining :P

[@Belthazar1113]

And measure drugs.

[@anonymouspotato7538]

@@Belthazar1113 Well that's less because we make the drugs, and more because other countries make the drugs and converting from metric is too hard, so we just use their measures and pretend we know what we're doing.

[@christinepearson5788]

Laughs in 30 caliber

[@jasonwarren9279]

Jokes on us. The speed of light is not actually a constant. It's defined as such, but not proven experimentally.

[@hffidngxjxn7101]

Me: Not giving a fuck about what system is better

[@mrkakbuhn5781]

pov: an us citizen discovering the metric system ca. 2476 (vocalized)

[@pedrothevenard]

You know they could just transmit a bip with a metronome and just say the time between the bips is a minute or a second or however long the bip time is to define time, and it would be infinitely easier and safer, since there's no reason to think that the other race don't know an extra chemical element between the 1st and the 55th that we don't.

[@jacobstewart1950]

It's a left at Albuquerque.

[@onerxowns2202]

See? Even in future Metric System is superior to any other

[@dave_is_in_hell3559]

>:(

[@lordInquisitor]

Fact

[@anonymouspotato7538]

Still not gonna use it, here in America we measure everything by guns per freedom

[@Infernus171]

@@anonymouspotato7538 or bald eagles :D then again brits use stone as a unit so... not sure which is weirder

[@kompatybilijny9348]

@@anonymouspotato7538 I honestly thought that you measure area by how much surface the burgers made out of a single eagle cover. And time by the amount of heart attacks a person will have while eating their equivalent of body mass in a day.

[@JRRodriguez-nu7po]

Initially the meter was defined by the size of the earth but that became unwieldy.

[@eleethtahgra7182]

No...I dont think atomic clock is set at absolute zero...

[@willparry530]

Ah, the dependable old metric system.

[@alexandrub8786]

Is not that old.

[@willparry530]

@@alexandrub8786 we don't know that since the humans don't give a date in their calendar to the aliens. :P

[@zarlsalamandersspacemarine302]

I thank you for the video

[@BrimstoneZV]

Meanwhile in space america WTF WOULD WE USE THE METER TEACH THEM ABOUT INCHES

[@alexandrub8786]

Pretty sure NASA uses the metric,so that might be the cause.

[@BrimstoneZV]

@@alexandrub8786 we burried one of our probes because someone thought it would be funny to program the parachute in inches

[@vedymin1]

Or they could just send them a audio message and then tell them how long it was in seconds, instead of relying on them knowing the way we understand our chemistry and table of the elements, units etc.

[@WallNutBreaker524]

Nice.

[@ApocryphalDude]

Light speed and hydrogen.

[@MikkosFree]

Bet they will still have a faction that promotes the imperial.

[@jamescooper2825]

Appears our xenobiologists can't talk to Americans

[@DEMONOFLOVEANDDEATH]

For the Narrator

[@paulhuston9991]

Don't matter what your unit of measure is. Hell it can be a doughnut as long as its an accurate doughnut. I mean 120 doughnuts to my driveway is better than saying 10.5 meters of about 35feet or or 11.3 yards. But thats just doing rhe calculations in my head so give or take.

[@WildArmACF]

i always wonder what happens next. the biggest issue with many of these... TELL ME MORE!? XD

[@jamesha175]

LOL i went to school with a guy named Zolton

[@DirtyDwarfFTW]

Americans, furiously eating crayons in the corner: ACKCHUYALLY!!...

[@nullpoint3346]

That's the marines.

[@johngrant9452]

What is temperature absolute zero?

[@Hobbinski]

Wouldn’t be easier to just say that the following audiotone is 100 seconds long.

[@ritafryer8134]

Very Spock like logic.

[@ZionistWorldOrder]

they have this advanced language translation but didnt start with numbers and measurements? they have ftl comms but lack precise timing instruments? me no like

[@rwberger6]

The problem I have with these stories is they always write the Aliens to be so stupid. Like seriously, how would they be at FTL level tech but not understand that different cultures would have different measurement units.

[@liamcarnahan1346]

This is why you give half lifes

[@ZeroChance21156]

humanity is scuffed

[@carlfranz6805]

How come it never occurs to anyone that the measurement of the speed of light itself is circular?

[@hmdragon1638]

well the speed of light in a vacuum is constant, so if you measure how far it travels in a set amount of time and then divide that by the provided number of meters you can find the measurement of one meter.

[@kompatybilijny9348]

@@hmdragon1638 And on top of that, the speed of light is not relative to the observer, so you do not need to "have 0 velocity in space (whatever that means and however it can be achieved) to measure it accurately.

[@collinbarker]

Time is based off of cesium 133 ground state oscillations, distance is based off of distance light travels in a second. The speed of light defines the meter, but it itself is not circular, as in closed off system with no meaning and unable to be derived from outside. Compare to the old kilogram, where the kilogram is the chunk of metal in a vault. A kilogram is a copy of that chunk of metal, and that chunk of metal is a kilogram. Destroying or rusting that kilogram destroys the unit entirely, and was the reason why the kilogram was redefined recently to no longer use the rusting platinum chunk. Fun fact: because the kilogram rusted, we know that its mass changed, but because it is the kilogram, we do not know if it gained or lost mass.

[@kompatybilijny9348]

@@collinbarker I mean we know it has lost mass, because the weight measuring devices had values of kilogram fixed earlier.

[@thomasschulz2167]

@@collinbarker Just a heads up because of the problem of the masses changing, effort is being put into defining the Kilo based on the Planck constant. If I recall correctly that should have gone live back in 2018. So it's no longer based on a physical object.

[@bennnymiddleton40]

Isn’t a meter the distance as the crow flies from the North Pole to the South Pole divides by a million and a yard is simply a human pace averaged out

[@Destroyer_V0]

feet and yards, yes. Metres... no.

[@collinbarker]

At one point yes, but no longer. Iterative process of defining it and locking it to more and more precise and abstract concepts. Light is light, and nothing can go faster than it, no matter what your frame of reference is.

[@bennnymiddleton40]

@@collinbarker it was that distance all along then we found something that does that and is a universal constant orther wise it would be a nice round number

[@evilmurlock]

Continuation? Or is it all? It didnt sound like an ending.

[@lucascaccia7200]

it des not seem to link to a continuation on the reddit post

[@sketchman1o16]

That wasn’t very American of you.

[@pulverize3]

F.T.A.

[@YMSI1]

Interesting idea, but I feel like part with defining second with cesium is written poorly. What is core weight? In what units it's measured? What is an energy state? units must have been described thru Hydrogen, and I don't even know how to tackle what is weight and energy state. Ah, and deciding units based on time of return signal is kinda very inaccurate. What if reaction time of alien is insanely delayed? I can see how it would give general direction, but any signal could been used for that.

[@calebcarr3986]

to define the second you only need to know that cesium is 133 times bigger than the smallest atom so no need for units. energy levels/states are fixed natural constants that the electrons in atoms can sit in when the atom has different amounts of energy exerted upon it. my explanation of energy levels was really shit and probably wrong but the point is that its another universal constant that is simply a ratio/fixed value

[@josephconstance8223]

WE NEED MORE HUMANS DONT MAKE GOOD PETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@johnneisser9963]

I remember that when I was in 5th grade. There was these angel and demon pictures that were hanging around the classroom. On the walls and on strings from the ceiling. The angel had metric mesurements under it. The devil had imperial mesurements. The fact that even 4 decades later imperial is still being used even world wide (babies born are mesured in pounds,ounces) points out there is something correct in the system.

[@latemanparodius5133]

Sounds like they were trying to brainwash you to like metric over imperial. Problem is... about 5th grade is when edgy stuff starts getting 'cool', isn't it?

[@PhycoKrusk]

Metric: the universal system for accomplishing anything. Except for sending a man to the surface of the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

[@karstenschuhmann8334]

Nasa was using metric, they still are.

[@redoctane13]

Good, but too breif sadly T_T

[@Kidozy]

A

[@cadengrace5466]

But the metric system is based on a whim. It is based on the swing of a pendulum. Much depends on the size of the pendulum, the air temperature, the humidity, a whole range of conditions. Likewise, a gram was based on water at room temperature at 1 CM cubed. What kind of water, salt water is very different from fresh. What was room temperature. As much as Metric fools praise it's science, it is no more accurate than the imperial with the only difference being that it is a unified system on base 10. Outside of that, it is exactly the same as the imperial.

[@StonedDragons]

That WAS true at some point but it hasn't been for a while now. Now as used in the story the metric system is being converted to using universal constants to define the base measurements. The process isn't complete yet, but it is actively underway.

[@cadengrace5466]

@@StonedDragons Your last line says it all. It is still true and will remain true until a constant is universally agreed.

[@aerfwefd7334]

That's the funny thing about categorization and measurement systems: They all use arbitrary points of reference. The problem, as you point out, is that some people hinge their identity upon something as irrational as a preferred system of measurement.

[@kompatybilijny9348]

@@cadengrace5466 Except that constants are agreed upon and measured. The entire metric system is based on universal constants right now. Even mass was defined as a constant a few years ago.

[@cadengrace5466]

@@kompatybilijny9348 There is a difference between an example and an acceptance. I doubt we ever get to a universal acceptance. Metric only has one quality that is locked in and agreed too, base 10

[@medical-cyanide1526]

i would say this is the folks across the pond or americas hat bragging about their measurement system, but I honestly agree and wished America would just pony up and start to switch over, cause it annoying.