a chronology of pig and human history
Tempus porco nihil est. — Time to a pig means zilch.
Sandra Boynton. ‘Pigorian Chant’ from Snouto Domoinko de Silo.
What Is Time To A Pig and Why This Timeline?
We think of time as a concern to people, rather than farm animals. But while pigs are not people, they are part of history, and indeed may be occupying it far more fruitfully than a certain similar tasting mammal.
Pigs, in fact, do think of time, but metaphysically, and in so doing they doubt that it properly exists. They only know that the present is as indefinite as what’s for dinner, the future has no reality other than as a present hope of the next pleasurable indulgence, and the past has no reality other than as a present memory of the last succulent scent or morsel.
So for now, those time framers who ask such questions can watch ontology beating up on epistemology, as their considerations about time are mocked by time meaning nothing. But for the rest of us who appreciate the time difference, the fact that to a pig time means nothing is a position to be envied…
