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Re Claus's [OPE-L:2024]:
> I'm sorry to have failed to go on in the debate. It's not that I haven't
> received the posts.
Sorry about that. Listproc mislead me into thinking you weren't
receiving posts.
> >Indeed, there
> >are many examples of measures where the unit of measure is not composed of
> >the same substance as what is being measured.
> I'm curious about this. Could you provide some examples?
Thanks for asking that question. I've been thinking about it for a while
and now recognize that coming-up with examples for this is harder than I
thought it would be.
How do you measure the power of an engine? Horse-power, right? Yet, an
engine is by no means composed of the same substance as a horse.
Yeah, I know, that's probably not a good example.
The unit of measure for direction has been historically the magnetic
compass. Yet, a magnetic needle is composed of a a different "substance"
than what it is used as a proxy to measure (relative direction).
That's probably not a good example either.
I'm still thinking about light, speed, and sound.
Perhaps more to your point is time.
"What, without the clock, would be a period in which the value of
a commodity, and therefore the labour time necessary for its
production, are the decisive factors? (_CW_, Vol. 33, p. 403)
Does this mean that time can not be measured in some other way than a
clock? I don't think that is the case (there is the sun and the moon,
after all). Nor was the development of the clock a pre-requisite for
capitalism (although, on the other hand, ....)
In solidarity, Jerry
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