Time flows on like a river. Imagine what life was like three thousand years ago, before the Trojan War and before Longines mens watches. People prayed to rocks that they believed to have powers. They had to use the sun to keep track of time so that if you wanted to meet your cousin at the well, you’d have to say something like, meet when the shadows are three camel paws long, or meet me when the sun is halfway between the horizon and the peak of the sky. You’d have to expect your cousin for a window of about half an hour, which means that while you could have been watering the crops, you had to wait for Jeremiah instead.

I’m glad I live in the time I do. Raymond Weil watches obviate such problems of accuracy; cell phones are for emergencies; I don’t have to pray to any gods I don’t want to — it’s a pretty good life. And yes I’m sure in a few hundred years or even in another three thousand years hence, thought experiments will consist of what it was like to live in 21st century cities, back before space colonies, when you didn’t get to choose when you wanted to die, and when everyone looked and talked the same. But I’m satisfied; with my Raymond Weil watches I feel pretty civilized.