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Does Time Exist?

bigthink.com

1–10 of 73 posts

Re: Does Time Exist?

#3
Asking about time gets you into adjacent issues like free will. I find that interviews with Lee Smolin are illuminating, even tho I'm totally OTL on the technical aspects.

Re: Does Time Exist?

#4
To me it's pretty intuitive that time isn't real (outside of being a concept). We just use time as an elaborate way to explain our movement through distances (and how fast or slow we cover those distances), that's about it. The twin paradox[1] does a good job of explaining this.

There's no discernable difference between today and lets say, arbitrarily, 1984. The only difference is our movement through that spatial distance.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_paradox

Re: Does Time Exist?

#5

I’ve been wondering a lot lately if it’s possible that time is felt differently (I guess moves ) for us on an individual level.

As I approach 40, a year feels about as long as a month did when I was elementary-school aged. I worry that if the current rate-of-increase continues, my last decade will feel weeks long.

Re: Does Time Exist?

#6

I’ve been wondering a lot lately if it’s possible that time is felt differently (I guess moves ) for us on an individual level.

I think someone has proposed a formula according to which we experience the passage of time as a function of age. So basically time passes faster the older we get, I guess the reason would be that there's less and less fundamentally new things to experience and hence less lasting memories. I saw it in a numberphile video, but don't remember which one unfortunately.

Re: Does Time Exist?

#7
afaict, "time" is simply a measure of matter in motion... ie resonant frequency or how long it takes a liquid to flow x distance. Thus, time is just a mental construct, not a "dimension", and "time travel" is not possible. There is only "now".

Re: Does Time Exist?

#8
post #5

I’ve been wondering a lot lately if it’s possible that time is felt differently (I guess moves ) for us on an individual level.

As I approach 40, a year feels about as long as a month did when I was elementary-school aged. I worry that if the current rate-of-increase continues, my last decade will feel weeks long.

I think the answer to this is to do more interesting things on a regular basis. If every weekend you do something different, then the month feels longer than when you stay home every weekend.

Re: Does Time Exist?

#10

To me it's pretty intuitive that time isn't real (outside of being a concept). We just use time as an elaborate way to explain our movement through distances (and how fast or slow we cover those distances), that's about it. The twin paradox[1] does a good job of explaining this. There's no discernable difference between today and lets say, arbitrarily, 1984. The only difference is our movement through that spatial di…

Agreed! In my mind, to go back in time is to put all particles or whatever fundamental components back in the same place and state as they were previously. Thus, that would include the particles that make up you as well. How would you ever do that and if you did, how would you notice and is it really the past or just now with a replicated state?
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