What is time??

Discussion in 'Science & Society' started by Shadow1, Feb 5, 2011.

  1. river

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    17,307
    the problem is though , is that to back in time means that all aspects of the past is still there

    are they , all aspects of the past ?
     
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  3. Reiku Banned Banned

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    Time is created from the illusion of a mind thinking a past and future exist for objects, which they don't in physics. There is only the present moment. Time is something we use as intelligently recording machines to catalogue events as they happen. Time is not a real artefect of the world. If the mind was not here, the world would continue to exist, but you cannot say that time would stop, because time does not exist. Time is created by the Superchiasmatic Nucleus which is a gene which ''creates'' our ability to sense a time at all.
     
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  5. river

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    well I'll go with the ordering of moments , because that is all time is and will ever be
     
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  7. Reiku Banned Banned

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    As you will hopefully notice then, if by ordered events we mean some ''flow'' of events from past to future, then this is an indication time is not real as well, because time is not a river, it does not have a flow attributed to it according to physics. Time is an illusion, a grand one.
     
  8. river

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    interesting how does time not have a flow ? what interrupts the flow ?

    Mister I know this is a contridiction of your and my thinking and physics

    I was just curious as to the thinking
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2012
  9. river

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    time is ordering of our lives on this planet

    thats all time is

    time , in and of its self , doesn't instigate movement of anything

    inotherwords if you plug time into any equation , it won't change the objects movement

    only the objects interactions with forces and other objects will
     
  10. Reiku Banned Banned

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    There is no flow to time, because if it was flowing, what is it flowing relative to? Time does not flow or move through us, we move through time, (which in my theory, we experience it, rather than moving any distance in time).
     
  11. hansda Valued Senior Member

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    What is your - Theory of Time ?

    Time moves us from past to present to future .
     
  12. wellwisher Banned Banned

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    There is a principle in science called entropy, which among other definitions, reflects a change from the status quo. Time also causes a continuous change from the status quo of the previous state as function of time. This suggest that time has a connection to the second law, which states that the entropy of the universe constantly increases; time moves forward.

    Entropy can only increase if there is sufficient energy, since an entropy increase requires energy. This means time also has a connection to energy. Photons of energy are have wavelength and frequency (time).

    Say we start with a fish, that has been caught and ready to eat. At room temperature, the time needed for this fish to become rotten is maybe a day or two. The heat in the room causes entropy to act quickly, changing the status quo of the fish to rotten in about a day of time.

    We can slow the rate of entropy, of the rate of change in the status quo of the fish, as it moves in time to rotten, if we remove ambient room energy via freezing. This slows rate of entropy and expands its time. This can be observed via comparing the time lapse photography of the fish, at room temp and in the freezer. But since the entropy of the bulk universe is always increasing, the surrounding universal time of the clock, moves forward to reflect the bulk universal flow of entropy.

    If we could freeze people and revive them, we could also extent their time interval within the universe, since the rate of entropy increase would be slow drastically due to not enough energy in the freezer. We could then compare time lapse photography to show time has expanded due to loss of energy for entropy. Since this is done in isolation, the rest of the universal entropy continues to increase at the same rate, causing bulk time to move forward in the universe (clock ticks).

    If we take our clock and place it in space, we can slow the clock. This suggests we haves decreased the amount of gravitational energy by moving away from center of mass. The result is slower rate of entropy change within the clock. We did sort of the freezer thing, but with a device and GR relativity.
     
  13. Reiku Banned Banned

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    Time cannot move us, it has no flow. If time is a real thing, and not a subjective phenomenon then surely we move through time, not the other way around?

    There are two main reasons why time does not have an arrow, a directionality or a flow. Serious reasons no less:

    1) To define some definate arrow from the past into the future, there needs to be a point in where everything came from to define some direction in space. Direction does not exist in space. Equally there is no center to the universe according to current understanding, every point on the spacetime map would be the center to the universe.

    2) Time does not have a flow according to current physics belief.

    The last concept I found out was used in a strong arguement against the arrow of time:

    http://www.motionmountain.net/download.html

    "Time is a concept introduced specially to describe the flow of events around us; it does not itself flow, it describes flow. Time does not advance. Time is neither linear nor cyclic. The idea that time flows is as hindering to understanding nature as is the idea that mirrors Page 71 exchange right and left. The misleading use of the expression ‘flow of time’, propagated first by some flawed Ref. 36 Greek thinkers and then again by Newton, continues. Aristotle (384/3–322 bce), careful to think logically, pointed out its misconception, and many did so after him. Nevertheless, expressions such as ‘time reversal’, the ‘irreversibility of time’, and the much-abused ‘time’s arrow’ are still common. Just read a popular science magazine chosen at random.''

    ps. My theory of time is simple. Time is an illusion. If any time does exist, only the present moment exists. If time does exist, then it seems likely that the brain creates the illusion of time. If the brain creates the illusion of time, then surely biology can back this up? The answer is yes. The reason why we experience time is because of a gene called the Suprachiasmatic nucleus.
     
  14. Reiku Banned Banned

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    Also, how can time move us from past, present to future, when by definition the present time is all there is? We don't exist in the past, nor do we exist in the future, we are always stuck in the present moment.
     
  15. arfa brane call me arf Valued Senior Member

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    The universe is relational; everything is related to everything else.

    Events are related by intervals of time, that's all time is: a relation between events which corresponds to a 'time-distance'.
    But in a universe where coordinates can be freely chosen, time intervals are related to the independent velocities of observers, and all events that are time-related must occur within lightcones of the observers.

    Time, or the 'shape' of time, is related to gravity because the Minkowski distances are 'straight' in flat spacetime. In spacetime which is curved by gravity, lightcones get bent, or rotated towards a gravitational potential, and time intervals aren't straight.
     
  16. Reiku Banned Banned

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    Personally, I think someone needs to be around to ascribe meaning to two events seperated in time. If no one was around to ascribe meaning in the form of time, it would be hard to define events in a universe in any chronological order. As has been mentioned afterall, time is not linear, there is no arrow of time, nor do things really contain a past.
     
  17. river

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    17,307
    I disagree

    relations are based on perspective by the observer

    the Universe in and of its self has nothing to do with any observer , never has

    the Universe does what it does based on energy and matter and the interactions of them
     
  18. Reiku Banned Banned

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    Oh see my reply above river, our answers are quite similar.
     
  19. arfa brane call me arf Valued Senior Member

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    So, you're saying here that energy and matter are, um, related?
    If that's what you are saying, what does it have to do with observers?

    You don't need observers for the universe or relations to exist. But, observers do exist. So the existence of observers must be related somehow to the existence of the universe, I would say that's kind of obvious.
     
  20. river

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    they are
     
  21. arfa brane call me arf Valued Senior Member

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    I think my earlier post has gone straight over a few heads.

    I don't think the universe "needs" observers to ascribe meaning to events. Events have intervals of time between them regardless of whether an observer is around to measure them.
     
  22. river

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    no



    above
     
  23. arfa brane call me arf Valued Senior Member

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    @river: So you're saying energy and matter aren't related? What do you mean by: "interactions of them" ? Are you also saying an interaction is not a relation?

    About observers: these don't have to be conscious, a particle can be an observer. In that sense, conscious observers are just "special particles".
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2012

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