AI points of view – Gemini

Gemini Point of View:

Could a 13-Month, 28-Day Calendar with “Zero Days” Work?

That’s a fascinating idea for a calendar reform!
The type of calendar you’re describing, with 13 months of 28 days and “neutral days” (or intercalary days) to align with the solar year, has actually been proposed and studied several times. The most famous example is the International Fixed Calendar, also known as the Cotsworth Calendar or the Eastman Plan, as it was adopted internally by the Eastman Kodak Company from 1928 to 1989.

How it would work:

• 13 Months of 28 Days: This gives us 13×28=364 days.
• The “Zero Day” (or Year Day): This 365th day would be added at the end of the year (for instance, after the 28th day of the 13th month, or after December 28th if we keep Gregorian month names and add a “Sol” month). Crucially, this day wouldn’t be part of any week, allowing the days of the week to repeat exactly from one year to the next.
• The “Second Neutral Day” (Leap Day): Every four years (following the same rules as the Gregorian calendar for century years, meaning a leap year if divisible by 4, unless divisible by 100 but not by 400), an additional day would be inserted. This day, too, would not affect the weekly cycle. In the International Fixed Calendar, this leap day was often placed in the middle of the year, for example, after June 28th (or Sol 28th).

Advantages of this system:

1. Uniformity and Regularity:
   • Every month would have exactly 28 days.
   • Every month would start on the same day of the week (e.g., a Sunday) and end on the same day of the week (a Saturday).
   • Every specific date would fall on the same day of the week every year. For example, the 15th of any month would always be a Tuesday.
   • Every quarter would be identical (3 months of 28 days = 84 days).
2. Simplicity for Planning: Business, academic, governmental, and personal planning would be greatly simplified. Schedules, birthdays, and holidays would always fall on the same day of the week, eliminating the need to check a calendar each year.
3. Ease of Calculation: Financial, statistical, and performance calculations would be easier because all months would have an equal duration.
4. Alignment with the Solar Cycle: By adding the neutral days, the calendar would remain perfectly aligned with the solar year and seasons.

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Drawbacks and Challenges:

1. The 13th Month: The primary cultural challenge is introducing a 13th month. Our social and cultural systems are deeply rooted in the idea of 12 months. This would require a significant shift in habits, the division of holidays, academic terms, and so on. A name for this new month would also need to be chosen and adopted globally.
2. “Floating” Days: While neutral days aid regularity, their status as “days without a weekday” could initially cause confusion. Would they be universal holidays? How would they be legally managed?
3. Cultural and Religious Heritage: Many religious and cultural holidays are tied to specific dates or weekdays in the Gregorian or other traditional calendars. Such a change would disrupt these markers and could face strong resistance.
4. Complex Transition: Moving from one calendar to another would be a monumental undertaking, requiring global coordination to avoid chaos.

Conclusion:

Yes, such a calendar would function perfectly from a logical and mathematical standpoint, and it would offer superior uniformity and predictability compared to the current Gregorian calendar. The International Fixed Calendar serves as practical proof of this (on a smaller scale with Kodak).

However, the main obstacle to its universal adoption wouldn’t be its technical feasibility, but rather cultural resistance and the inertia of human habits. The Gregorian calendar, despite its “irregularities,” is deeply embedded in global society, making any radical reform extremely difficult to implement on a large scale.