hey guys uh we're gonna be checking out a video titled why the metric system matters um
should be a really interesting video like i said in other video um regarding the metric
system that i did i was like nah we don't have to like and you know convert everything in america
to the metric system it's not needed it's totally fine to go to put it beside each other that's what
i totally think because i don't really i'm not one of those aggressive person who just believes
in uh you know if you want to change everybody has to comply and everybody has to do this
no we can always do two things and uh everybody can be at peace with themselves
but um yeah i don't think it should be something that should totally control
the american measure measurement system i think having both the um current one that we have and
adding a new one is totally fine which is actually a thing that happens in america a lot of packages
do sometimes come into uh seeing you know match measurements on them so we're gonna be checking
out this video so uh yeah leave it like in the video and subscribe if you want to go check
out the other channel regarding me moving to europe probably by the time you see this video
i'm actually in europe yeah i think i can finally say that
now yeah by the time you see this video i'm probably gonna be in europe but yeah
um yeah go check out that channel and um yeah let's get right into this video guys
what does the french revolution have to do with the time nasa accidentally crashed a
200 million dollar orbiter into the surface of mars actually everything that crash happened
due to an error in converting between two measurement systems us customary units and their
si or metric equivalents so what's the connection to the french revolution let's explain for the
majority of recorded human history units like the weight of a grain or the length of a hand weren't
exact and varied from place to place and different regions didn't just use varying measurements
they had completely different number systems as well by the late middle ages the hindu arabic
decimal system mostly replaced roman numerals and fractions in europe but efforts by scholars like
john wilkins to promote standard decimal based measures were less successful with a quarter
million different units in france alone any widespread change would require massive disruption
and in 1789 that disruption came the leaders of the french revolution didn't just overthrow the
monarchy they sought to completely transform society according to the rational principles
of the enlightenment when the new government took power the academy of sciences convened to reform
the system of measurements old standards based on arbitrary authority or local traditions
were replaced with mathematical and natural relationships for example the meter from the
greek word for measure was defined as 1 10 millionth between the equator and north pole
and the new metric system was in the words of the marquis de condorcet for all people for all time
standardizing measurements had political advantages for the revolutionaries as well
nobles could no longer manipulate local units to extract more rent from commoners
while the government could collect taxes more efficiently and switching to a new republican
calendar with 10 day weeks reduced church power by eliminating sundays
adoption of this new system wasn't easy in fact it was a bit of a mess at first people used new units
alongside old ones and the republican calendar was eventually abandoned when napoleon bonaparte
took power he allowed small businesses to use traditional measurements redefined in metric terms
but the metric system remained standard for formal use and it spread across the continent along with
france's borders while napoleon's empire lasted eight years its legacy endured far longer some
european countries reverted to old measurements upon independence others realized the value of
standardization in an age of international trade after portugal and the netherlands
y'all see already this is telling you about the difficulties of you know conforming to what's new
but i don't know why some of them went back to the old old uh measurement that they had before
that's kind of i think those are just rebellio rebellious um type of actions i think i think
humanity has a very rebellious you know type of mentality everything they try to go against so
there's in my humble opinion of the years i've been on this earth i've had more people disagree
with me rather than to agree with me not because i'm saying something that is affecting them but
simply just because humans don't practically like to agree with anyone they like to just
go against each other and if you look at that like if i i am the um president of america
and um america was owned by great britain right i don't need to drop something because
they had it if it's good but a lot of us would drop it like this buddy says when we you know
become independent even though it's good just to show that we don't need to follow what you created
it's really a dumb thing but i guess that's the reason why humanity fails
so much time because we all try to be big shot and we not we're not like humanity was made to work
together and if we don't work together we don't fail it's just as simple as that and um according
to this i think i changed my perspective i think in america um it should be more um it should be
pushed so that it is more standard um that you know people actually understand that form of
measurement i still won't be the guy to force the measurement on people but i definitely do believe
that it should be mandatory to code so you know companies have to put two forms of measurements
on each label packet or whatever you want to call it i think it should be mandatory
but i don't think it should be mandatory that only one goes which would have been the metric
i don't think so that's forceful i don't like that nations followed with colonial empires spreading
the system around the world as france's main rival britain had resisted revolutionary ideas
and retained its traditional units but over the next two centuries the british empire slowly
transitioned first approving the metric system as an optional alternative before gradually making
it official however this switch came too late for 13 former colonies that had already gained
independence the united states of america stuck with the english units of its colonial past
and today remains one of only three countries which haven't fully embraced the metric system
despite constant initiatives for metrication many americans consider units like feet and pounds
more intuitive and ironically some regard the once revolutionary metric system as a symbol of
global conformity i really like it nevertheless the metric system is almost universally used
in science and medicine and it continues to evolve according to its original principles
for a long time standard units were actually defined by carefully maintained physical
prototypes but thanks to improving technology and precision these objects with limited access and
unreliable longevity are now being replaced with standards based on universal constants
like the speed of light measurements are such an integral part of our daily lives that it's
hard to appreciate what a major accomplishment for humanity they've been and just as it arose from a
political revolution the metric system remains crucial for the scientific revolutions to come
yeah because i said in the previous video i said it when i was learning how to build uh plans for
houses and all that type stuff i had to know both forms of measurements and um it's really
important to know them both and i think metric system is really um important i'm not going to
say it's my go-to measurement because it's not i definitely like my feet in uh inches i do love it
if somebody like i'm gonna ask somebody for their height i'm gonna go feet inches if you tell me
centimeters i'm gonna be like what is that so i do know my my i do know my centimeters and all that
type of stuff but it's not my go-to measurement it's it's just not i i i'm used to feeding inches
i'm used to the pounds and all of that you know going to the airport they like such and such
amount of pounds and i'm getting used to the only reason why i'm kind of you know oppressed with you
know the uh what you'd say now how much is such and such and such when it comes to weight in terms
of um mass it's because i'm traveling right now to europe and they literally have it on their thing
23 grams such as uh kilograms and i'm like okay i gotta do the conversion for that
you know but for america strictly it's gonna just be pounds you know 40 pounds 50 pounds
whatever pounds yeah but um i think it's something that should be um mandatory
uh for manufacturers to comply to but i don't think it's something that should be forced
upon the citizens of america period but um yeah that's it that's it guys i'm out of here peace