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Which system do you think will take over?
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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by JFry on Sun Apr 11th at 4:45am 2004

When I was in school I was told the metric system would eventually take over and destroy us all. Well that hasn't happened and with the internet here I am beginning to wonder if the opposite won't happen. So what do you think? Lets say 20 years from now which system do you think will be dominant?



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by Yak_Fighter on Sun Apr 11th at 5:08am 2004

When America inevitably takes over the world she will impose the english system on all the heathen masses.





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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by Tracer Bullet on Sun Apr 11th at 5:21am 2004

Baring the complete destruction of science and rational thought, the United States and Britain will eventually come to their sense and adopt the metric system.

In all honesty, even american scientist aren't stupid enough to use the english system. those who are on the cutting edge of technology already use metric for everything. it's merely the ignorant masses who cling to the english system.

[addsig]



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by Vash on Sun Apr 11th at 5:25am 2004

? quote:

it's merely the ignorant masses who cling to the english system.

*scratches butt*

Hey paw, I reckon he talk`n bout us!

[addsig]



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by Wild Card on Sun Apr 11th at 5:29am 2004

I voted for metric, but I feel it will never kill out the english (I believe its proper name to be Imperial) system. Its like languages, there will never be a true universal language.

I use Metric for everything, except for weight. When I weight myself.

[addsig]



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by fraggard on Sun Apr 11th at 6:09am 2004

All scientific documents are already in the Metric system. In fact, I think many universities, including mine, made it mandatory for all papers to be published using only metric units, except where absolutely necessary. Besides, it would make the world much simpler if we used the same systems.



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by Gorbachev on Sun Apr 11th at 7:04am 2004

I was under the impression that America is the only country now using Imperial. At least as a standardized unit of measurement. There are aspects of Imperial everywhere you go (just like American culture). But it is kind of annoying having two allen-key sets just because of slightly different units of measurement. [addsig]



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by Yak_Fighter on Sun Apr 11th at 7:24am 2004

20 years ago they said the metric system would replace the english system in America, and we are closer than ever before! You guys keep your kilometers.





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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by Orpheus on Sun Apr 11th at 7:25am 2004

the question is "which do you think will take over?" guys NOT "which do you like best?"

i think, or rather feel strongly, the metric system will win out, it leaves fewer decimal places to the right when used to figure with.. unlike the way the english version which might have 15 or so oddball numbers

anywho's, even if thats a poor example, and only makes you giggle, it still accurate enuff

metrics blows major chunks IMO, but as i read quite recently....

? posted by Vash

? quote:

it's merely the ignorant masses who cling to the english system.

*scratches butt*

Hey paw, I reckon he talk`n bout us!

i couldn't have said it any better myself. although no one has called me ignorant to my face, in quite some time

[addsig]



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by Campaignjunkie on Sun Apr 11th at 7:30am 2004

? posted by Gorbachev
I was under the impression that America is the only country now using Imperial.

No, no, I distinctly remember that one other country uses Imperial. I think it was Libya or something; don't really recall.

[addsig]



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by Crono on Sun Apr 11th at 7:39am 2004

? quote:
Baring the complete destruction of science and rational thought, the United States and Britain will eventually come to their sense and adopt the metric system.

In all honesty, even american scientist aren't stupid enough to use the english system. those who are on the cutting edge of technology already use metric for everything. it's merely the ignorant masses who cling to the english system.


...I'm guessing that includes Nasa, since they use the English system for most all of their calculations (thus losing the Mars orbiter). Nasa worked with another company overseas, I don't remember which, but they both made assumptions. Nasa assumed everyone would use English measurments. The other company assumed everyone would use Metric measurments. Well I think you guys know what happened after that.

But yes, the english system literally only has a handful of measurments while metric has microscopic measurements. Ever wonder why rulers have inches and centimeters? an inch is the smallets length measurment for the English system, while metric can go down to yoctometers (for length), if you wonder how long that is:

1 yoctometer = 1x10^(-24) meters = 2.5381x10^(-26) inches

that's pretty small just to be clear. and obviously 1 is more precise then 2.53807106599x10^(-26).

I vote metric, since it's been used longer and because most technology we have is based on it, and not the english system. (Astronamy for example, planet alignment, so on so forth).

[EDIT]
Lybia doesn't use Imperial, they use metric. Where did you hear otherwise?
[/EDIT] [addsig]



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by Sim on Sun Apr 11th at 7:52am 2004

Imperial measurements were the cause of the seven times table.



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by $loth on Sun Apr 11th at 7:53am 2004

? posted by Sim
Imperial measurements were the cause of the seven times table.

how?

[addsig]



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by Campaignjunkie on Sun Apr 11th at 8:11am 2004

My bad. Actually Googled the information up and apparently:

"In 1990 there remained only three nations that had not converted to the metric system, they were Burma, Liberia, and the United States."

Libya, Liberia, same thing.

[addsig]



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by Crono on Sun Apr 11th at 8:12am 2004

Besides hundreds of kilometers and governments. Oh and a desert [addsig]



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by fishy on Sun Apr 11th at 8:30am 2004

? posted by Crono

I vote metric, since it's been used longer ...

just to be disagreeable, i'll point out that the metric system was devised sometime in the late 1800's, by some french dude. he didn't get it quite right, and it was subject to a bit of tampering a few years later.

the english/imperial system, however, is much much older.





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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by scary_jeff on Sun Apr 11th at 10:09am 2004

? quote:
even american scientist aren't stupid enough to use the english system. those who are on the cutting edge of technology already use metric for everything.


That is definately true. The mars probe thing went wrong because one team was working in metric, and the other in imperial, and they didn't take the units into account when exchanging data, or something like that, not because nasa only works in imperial. At the current levels of complexity in some fields, trying to use imperial measurements is just a joke. For example magnetic field measurements - american scientists gave up using imperial units, because they just made everything too hard.

It seems pretty inevitable that at least in the realms of science and technology, everyone will adopt metric, because as technology advances, imperial gets more and more unwieldy. Having said that, I can't see us in britain changing every single road sign to kilometers, just to be metric, as using miles doesn't cause any problems, and it would cost a lot to change them all.



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by mazemaster on Sun Apr 11th at 10:49am 2004

I imagine that nothing will change within any reasonable timescale, and heres why: in most people's mind, the very nature of any "measurement" is tied to how it relates to fundamental units of that measurement that they learned when they were young.

Without even thinking about it I have a natural understanding of how heavy a pound is, or how long a mile is.

However, despite the fact that I have used the metric system in all my math and science classes since forever, I still don't naturally understand how much a kilogram weighs, or long a kilometer is. Sure, with a little thought I could reason, "there are about 2.6 km in a mile, so x km is about y miles", but then I don't really understand the length of a kilometer naturally - I only can understand it in terms of the length of a mile (my natural unit of measurement for mile-like distances).

And thats the problem. We all learned these ideas when we were very young - before school probably, and so the units are ingrained deep in our minds.

-------

Also, on a different note, a lot of (non-christian) people have argued that weeks have 7 days because on average 7 is the largest number that people have a natural understanding of.

eg: you probably know the "threeness" of the number three, but not the "549ness" of the number 549. One would expect that somewhere inbetween there is the largest number that the human mind can comprehend not as a function of other numbers. Studies have shown that for most people this number is 7.





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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by Orpheus on Sun Apr 11th at 12:39pm 2004

? posted by mazemaster

Also, on a different note, a lot of (non-christian) people have argued that weeks have 7 days because on average 7 is the largest number that people have a natural understanding of.

didn't this also have to do with the 7 holes in ones head theory?

also, i have to concur with you on the learned way back when theory, i can use metrics, to a point, but my noggin always thinks in S.A.E., always.

it doesn't help that our american cars go in MPH, our highways are measured in miles, we buy fuel in gallons, we buy beer in 30 packs *cough*

anywhos, america is dedicated to its separatism, and we all value S.A.E., it will not go away, any time soon, prolly not within our life times.

[addsig]



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 Re: Which system do you think will take over?
Posted by Edge Damodred on Sun Apr 11th at 3:29pm 2004

I definitely think that metric will completely take over and I rather hope it does it soon! I much prefer the metric system over English/Imperial system. [addsig]




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