Aretéans use and promote the Human Era (HE) calendar, which adds exactly 10,000 years to any CE date. This calendar system is easy to use, is culturally appropriate, and conveniently places year zero at the start of the agricultural revolution, a pivotal moment in the development of human society. By using this calendar consistently, Aretéans are able to more easily understand the big picture of human civilization.
Reasons for Adoption
The commonly used Gregorian Calendar inconveniently divides a continuous history into two sections, BCE and CE. This division has several problems. It adds unnecessary complexity to calculations which must account for both forward and backward year-counting, while also accounting for the lack of a year zero. The date of the division is also troubling, since it was chosen to be christocentric, which alienates many groups. The world’s calendar should be for everyone in the world, and should not privilege one particular religion.
The adoption of the Human Era calendar removes these problems and has many additional benefits of its own. There are psychological effects of knowing that you live in the year 12,024. The larger number is a reminder that we are living in an advanced age with many thousands of years of learning experiences behind us. It allows us to more easily think about the distant past as well as the distant future. Inspired by some of these reasons, the Human Era calendar has been independently proposed multiple times by different individuals and groups. On 12,018 January 1st, The Assemblage of Areté officially adopted the Human Era calendar and now uses it for official purposes.
Converting to The Human Era Calendar
It is easy to convert between dates in the Gregorian Calendar and the Human Era calendar. If a given year is CE, simply add 10,000. If the year is BCE, simply subtract the BCE year from 10,001.
Important Events
Invention of Agriculture — 0 HE (approximately)
Domestication of Chickens — 4,000 HE (approximately)
Invention of the Wheel — 6,500 HE (approximately)
Completion of the Great Pyramid — 7,440 HE (approximately)
First Olympic Games — 9,225 HE
Rome Sacked by Visigoths — 10,410 HE
Sealing of the Magna Carta — 11,215 HE
Transatlantic Exchange begins — 11,492 HE
Proposal of the Scientific Method in Francis Bacon’s “Novum Organum” — 11,620 HE
Publication of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” — 11,859 HE
Publication of “A Humanist Manifesto” — 11,933 HE
Publication of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” — 11,948 HE
The Assemblage of Areté Established — 12,016 HE
Learn More
You can learn more about the Human Era calendar in a fun video from Kurzgesagt.