Is the concept of time real?

Question

We utilize time as a measurement. It gives us the ability to create a unified point of reference which all of society understands. Other than this, what purpose does time serve?

Answer 1

Time has long been a major subject of philosophy, art, poetry, and science. There are widely divergent views about its meaning; hence it is difficult to provide an uncontroversial definition of time. Many fields use an operational definition in which the units of time are defined. Scholars disagree on whether time itself can be measured or is itself part of the measuring system.

Absolute, true, and mathematical time, in and of itself and of its own nature, without reference to anything external, flows uniformly and by another name is called duration. Relative, apparent, and common time is any sensible and external measure (precise or imprecise) of duration by means of motion; such a measure - for example, an hour, a day, a month, a year - is commonly used instead of true time.

The idea that time could be something that we have invented, rather than something intrinsic to the universe, has a long history. In 5th century BC Greece, Antiphon the Sophist wrote, in his chief work Truth;

"Time is a thought or a measure, not a substance."

Similarly, Parmenides believed that time, motion, and change were illusions, leading to Zeno's paradoxes (Zeno was a follower of Parmendies).

Immanuel Kant, in the Critique of Pure Reason, described time as an a priori notion that allows us (together with other a priori notions such as space) to comprehend sense experience. With Kant, neither space nor time are conceived as substances, but rather both are elements of a systematic mental framework necessarily structuring the experiences of any rational agent, or observing subject. Spatial measurements are used to quantify how far apart objects are, and temporal measurements are used to quantify how far apart events occur. Similarly, Schopenhauer stated in the preface to his On the Will in Nature that "Time is the condition of the possibility of succession."

In contrast to Newton's belief in absolute space, and closely related to Kantian time, Leibniz believed that time and space are a conceptual apparatus describing the interrelations between events. The differences between Leibniz's and Newton's interpretations came to a head in the famous Leibniz-Clark Correspondence. Leibniz thought of time as a fundamental part of an abstract conceptual framework, together with space and number, within which we sequence events, quantify their duration, and compare the motions of objects. In this view, time does not refer to any kind of entity that "flows," that objects "move through," or that is a "container" for events.

Emerson considers time as presentness, where past and future are but our present projections (of our memory, hope, etc.). For Emerson, time needs a qualitative measurement rather than a quantitative one.

In Existentialism, time is considered fundamental to the question of being, in particular by the philosopher Martin Heidegger. See Ontology.

My favorite: Einstein's time

Einstein's answer overturned long-held ideas about the nature of time as a steady, continuous progression of events from past to present to future. Although it's hard to believe, there is no single "master clock" for the entire universe. Time does not progress at the same rate for everyone, everywhere. Instead, Einstein showed that how fast time progresses depends on how fast the clock measuring time is moving. The faster an object travels, the more slowly time passes for that object, as measured by a stationary observer. Perhaps even more astonishing, one person's past could theoretically be another's future—which is why Einstein described the past, present and future as "persistent illusions." This room and everything else on Earth are traveling at 107,000 kilometers (67,000 miles) an hour around the Sun. You are standing still, but only in relation to Earth. Relative to the Sun, you are traveling through space very quickly. Physicists use the phrase "relative motion" to convey the idea that whether an object is at rest or in motion depends on your point of view—or your "frame of reference."

Answer 2

it s a man made illusion supported by the speed of the globe going round
if that changes then the concept would not make sense anymore ,and guess what ,it has been changing all the time .

the earths magnetic out put has not been consistent
and the thought s on that are ,

is that we are going slower than before.if we put the pattern in a computer the Time wave(Terrence McKenna)comes to a zero at 2012.

the sloshing of the oceans, because of an arrested Earth ,will wash this planet clean like a giant washing machine
in no time
as for the purpose of time it is so that we can make date and arangements using the same points of reference

if their was no time ,how would we be able to arrange a meeting or a date or be punished for being late ,or be on time

,we would loose a big chunk of our language and frazes as well,hope i explained this in time for you untimely question ,and that my timing was there in the nick of time

Answer 3

I will interpret real as meaning: representative of the universe as presently known by physics.

1) Absolute Time as Newton saw it does not exist.

2) Einstein showed that your way of marking time and my way of marking time will differ depending on our frames of reference. In other words, if I am moving relative to you, we will not agree on how fast time is going for you (or for me).

3) The lack of agreement about what happens in what order is another disturbing aspect of time in Relativity. You may observe A happening first and then B, and I may observe B happening first. And a 3rd person might see them happening simultaneously.

4) Almost all the laws of physics seem to regard time as just being another dimension without any special direction at all. Only Entropy seems to make a distinction.

5) Quantum Physics seems to show that causes do not always come before effects. In other words, time may become quite twisty at very very small intervals.

To sum up, Time is real, but how we intuitively view time is not always correct. Time cannot be viewed independently of Space and even the direction of Time may not always be consistent (or important!)

Answer 4

I think that although the concept of time is real, time itself does not actually exist. I think it serves only as a cosmic safety check valve. I think it blinds us to our real selves, and others too. If we could see ourselves and others as we really are, or what we will eventually become/encompass, we would either bow down and worship the God-like being we see, or we would recoil in horror at the evil entity. C.S. Lewis said something like that in his writings, and it made a lot of sense to me.

How I view the universe is... hmmm... imagine a large, thick, jute rope in outer space. Everything that exists is contained in that jute rope, which is composed of many tiny fibers. Each fiber is a human being's entire existence, from birth to death. We are allowed to see only one "slice" of rope at a time, so the other jute fibers appear as little "spots" of people. We call our current slice of that rope the "present time." Time appears to "progress" as we move along the rope (or our view of it changes.) Only God sees the rope in its entirety. As time progresses, we see the next tiny "slice" of the rope. If someone dies, it only means we no longer see their "dot." They still exist in the rope, always have and always will (the rope contains everything, eternally.) If we saw what everything and everyone will eventually become, it would perhaps limit our responses to them. This way, everyone has an equal chance at attaining God-likeness or Evil-ness. I'm sure there are other reasons for time, but I am not sure what all they encompass. Any other ideas?

Answer 5

I have read in a book that time is like this... a big loaf of bread. Every piece of that loaf, every slice of bread, is what orchestrates each space. Connecting all these slices of bread together constitutes what we call "time." Without that, each slice of bread is just a three-dimensional world. Every action, every breath, is part of the overall loaf. Now that would be a huge loaf (and small slices), but still. Whether it is only one way is a good question. Welcome to the Realm of the Unknown and the Theoretical!!

Answer 6

The concept is real....but, time may not be.

Time, for some reason, seems to exist and go in only one direction. Tis such the mystery.
May only be a flaw of the human mind that causes time to appear to exist, and to flow in only one direction.

thanks for reminding me about this mystery.

:-)

Answer 7

To answer your question: The mere and simple CONCEPT of time is absolutely real. How can a concept NOT be real? The true question is: What is or how can you truly define this so-called time?

Answer 8

Time is used in the answers to many problems and mysteries of the nation.

Answer 9

time helps you realize change in everything. Being consciousness of that allows you to look at things in retrospect and prepare to do better.

Answer 10

Nothing. Like all other measurements.