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Why the U.S. should not only switch to metric, but also measure everything in millimeters
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View Reddit by rexmons – View Source
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Why the U.S. should not only switch to metric, but also measure everything in millimeters
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View Reddit by rexmons – View Source
Seriously, one good reason for switching to metric is that we would increase our foreign exports. This is because right now we lose a certain amount of exports because some countries don’t want to buy parts made to imperial standards, because they don’t want to buy a second set of tools to use those parts, and don’t want to be required to buy repair parts from us.
This is not an insignificant amount, either. I saw an estimate from the 70s that said we are missing out on hundreds of millions in exports because of our building equipment to imperial standards.
Having countless conversations that 13/32 is bigger than 3/8 or some such fraction comparison, doing things is solid mm would be fairly dope.
https://youtu.be/JYqfVE-fykk?si=KyUSGw5sUTzv4gtZ
I bet it’d turn into a left vs right issue if there were serious moves to make this happen. METRIC IS COMMUNIST, WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA!?
The US switched to metric already. Everybody in charge acted like an asshole about it.
Elementary school, I remember the US tried to switch to metric. We would go to the library (I was 7 or 8 so i am not sure) to have metric training classes.
I work a job where you need to measure things in both imperial and metric. It has given me a deep understanding of how stupid and insane it is to still using measurements based on English royals limbs. It is actively making Americans dumber, I don’t even understand why its patriotic.
I like to use both. I’ll use inches and feet, but if I need higher granularity than inches I’ll switch to MM. Measurements like 13/32 aren’t intuitive.
This would cause *mass confusion*. Har har
I just want us to get rid of volumetric ounces.
Having 16 oz to a pound and 8 oz to a cup is just asinine and causes unnecessary confusion and arguments.
Having tried to buy a tape measure in MM only, I was incredibly frustrated. Amazon is the place to go. There were precisely ZERO big box (or small box) stores selling what I need. And this is in Calgary, Canada. I ended up buying a half dozen and spreading them around. Once people catch on to working in mm, it’s hard to go back.
Question:
The construction industry is largely built around 2xX lumber and 4×8 sheet goods. What do metric countries do with this? Does China have an exception for things like 2x4s or do they have 50mm x 100mm boards? Something completely different?
The argument isn’t should we switch to metric, it’s who will die on the political hill to pay the cost it would take to switch over millions of square miles and hundreds of millions of people.
the french dual system isn’t that bad tbh, you can still easily read it as millimeter. 12.03.1 is 12,031mm just read what’s there. I’d even argue that it makes large measurements much more comprehensible and legible.
While rare you do run into *really* large numbers, as soon as you start building bridges and I’d argue 173257 is more difficult to read than 173.25.7. That’s the beauty of the metric system. Anything is (in the end) millimeters, it’s just a choice on how you write it down. Thus it is not a dual unit system.
Engineers have solved the conversion ratios for them for quite a long while.
The reason we haven’t changed is because of tradition but also trade obfuscation of standards.
But that also applies to electricity, video formats, and a multitude of other industries/products.
Each one requires a different engineering solution that takes time and resources to figure out but at the end of the day it’s cause many countries don’t want goods to be universally traded, and have to get their stamp on it.
One interesting issue is that there are so many legacy instruments + aircrafts that were made with made with imperial units. NASA rocket parts could not simply be replaced by something measured in milimeters, since it was all based off of the inch, and you can see how that can cause issues for years to come. The transition is needed but it will be slow.
Americans (Myself included) will not change as long as something is working fine. You’ve lived your whole life growing up using the word “miles”, most of your media you’ve ever watched uses the word “miles”, you have cultural idioms and phrases that use the word “miles”, nobody has any real trouble knowing what you mean if you say you’re going “70 miles per hour” or if something is “ten miles away”, and the reasons people give you do not affect you in any tangible way
“It’s easier to learn” Yeah ok, but we all learned it fine as toddlers so whatever.
“Well other countries use it it’s easier to interact with them” Yeah ok, but we rarely even interact with people from other states here in the USA let alone people from other countries, so whatever
“Yeah but scientists working together blah blah” Yeah, granted, but don’t scientists who need to use metric already do that? Let em, whatever, who cares
Yes you can know that theoretically it’s easier starting from zero to know that, well a kilometer is a flat thousand meters, yes you know in theory that makes more sense than a mile randomly being 5280 feet
But why would you care? Your entire society knows what a mile means, they know what a half mile is, they know what being 6 feet tall is. It’s not just individuals being set in their ways it’s the entire country itself.
You might as well just tell the French that actually, now they should just all speak english, since more people in the world speak english so they’ll be more able to communicate with the rest of the world if they switch to english.
(Yes I realize changing from french to english isn’t a 1:1 comparison to switching from imperial to metric, i’m just saying thats about how americans would feel about it, lol.)
Now if you wanna tell me “Well maybe house builders should all use metric” then take that up with house buiilders I guess. Though I can tell you I worked in a machine shop making plastic injection molding, we made and used both imperial and metric tools, and there was no noticeable difference when working on either. It wasn’t suddenly easier to make a mold if it was metric. I just used my metric calipers and my metric allen wrenches and my metric rulers.
Jesus Christ we do use the metric system. In medicine it’s all we use. Just because your neighbors don’t doesn’t mean the US doesn’t. And the medical is pretty fucking huge so it’s not a minority of people.
Jfc we use both. We are bilingual in measurement methods.
The problem with things like this is when a country doesn’t adapt quick enough, that it goes past a point of no return. You then have to look at what it would cost to change everything and so it ends up staying with the old methods.
Problem is half of the US thinks that the imperical system comes from the devil and thus wants nothing to do with that “socialistic commie crap”.
They’d sooner revert to cubits than advance to metric.
I remember the change in my school when I was young. It wasn’t that big of a deal. Americans should just implement early and they’d be golden.
Honestly, I’m fine with using both. It’s not even an inconvenience at this point. I’ve used both for so long that converting between them is second nature. Besides, they both work just fine, and neither is intrinsically “better” than the other.
The real question is why people are so unwilling to just learn something unfamiliar to them, even if they disagree with it?
I mean, I learned Cursive in school, and even though I never use it, I can still read it just fine while others that never learned it, can’t.
A project that needed precise positioning and alignment was almost thrown way off because of tape measures that, for some reason, were labelled in feet and tenths of feet (instead of inches). (8/10 of a foot is not equal to 8 inches) .
How do you format a precise number in imperial?
Like how do you write it?
This is a good example..:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pikrntjcbyw&t=37s
I’m on board with the whole metric system thing, but if you can’t distinguish cm and mm on a metric ruler then you probably shouldn’t build load bearing structures…
Full agreement that the US should switch to metric. But until everyone stops measuring time in such idiotic ways, the smugness is a little hypocritical. “Forget based on 10, let’s stick with 60/60/24/7/ however many days in a month/52/365.”
Doesn’t stop us Aussies buliding shoddy houses.
The issue is manufacturing. You can’t just flip things with tight tolerances to metric.
I’m about it for everything except temperature. I’ll keep my Fahrenheit for everything non lab related.
We use both… I don’t understand this constant argument.