Why do we buy houses as opposed to renting one? This question, in its simplistic formulation captures, inter alia, some of the most fundamental emotions of temporal values that we impose on ourselves. Yet, the question has attracted little scholarly scrutiny. The article, using this question as a case, attempts to excavate the silences of our imagination of time in the cacophony of modernity. Time has had varying versions of existence in the modern world. When time is singular, it has the same meaning attributed to by everyone in the same community. A pluralistic conception of time is the exact opposite. I use discount rates as a unique entry point to understand how people view their future (time), and thereby a conceptual aperture to see if time is losing its singularity or not. More importantly, how so. I collected data on house prices in India in five major metropolitan cities in India and compared those prices with rental values. The crude estimation is a useful proxy to observe discount rates, and consequently, varying conceptions of time. I show that time has become a homogenized entity for people falling in similar economic class while it has lost its singularity for those within the same social class (community). This gets folded into questions of ethical implications of modernity’s impact on one’s aspirations.

中文翻译：

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现代性，房价和暂停时间的奇异性

为什么我们要买房子而不是租房子？这个问题以其简单化的表述，除其他外，包含了我们强加给我们自己的时间价值的一些最基本的情感。然而，这个问题很少引起学术界的关注。本文以这个问题为例，试图在现代性的喧嚣中挖掘出我们对时间的想象的沉默。在现代世界中，时间存在着不同的版本。当时间是单数时，它具有相同社区中每个人赋予的相同含义。时间的多元概念恰恰相反。我将折现率用作了解人们如何看待自己的未来（时间）的独特切入点，从而从概念上了解了时间是否正在失去其独特性。更重要的是，如何。我收集了印度五个主要大城市的印度房价数据，并将这些价格与租金值进行了比较。粗略估计是观察折现率以及因此改变时间概念的有用代理。我表明，对于处于相似经济阶级的人们来说，时间已经成为同质化的实体，而对于同一社会阶级（社区）中的人们却失去了独特性。这被卷入了现代性对一个人的愿望的伦理影响的问题。我表明，对于处于相似经济阶级的人们来说，时间已经成为同质化的实体，而对于同一社会阶级（社区）中的人们却失去了独特性。这被卷入了现代性对一个人的愿望的伦理影响的问题。我表明，对于处于相似经济阶级的人们来说，时间已经成为同质化的实体，而对于同一社会阶级（社区）中的人们却失去了独特性。这被卷入了现代性对一个人的愿望的伦理影响的问题。