Could it be that the past is infinite whereas the future is not?

Question

Yesterday, the day before, last week, last month, last year, the year before that, the century before that etc etc right back to the start of time, and then something must have happened before that because it did happen, and before that... so...
What about the future? What if time just stopped?

Could it be that the past is infinite whereas the future is not?

Answer 1

How do we know that time exists?

I did think it was infinite in both directions. But you pose an interesting theory which I am going to look into.

Answer 2

Must there have been something before the start of time? If there was, would it count as the past? Surely something has to have happened in a period of time to qualify as the past. Anyway, did time ever start? I suppose you could say it was the initial big band that did it, but can we be sure that there was no time before the big band? We cannot.

Let's say that time did stop. How could we tell that something would not come after that. It would be impossible to do so, because it would be far beyond our knowledge. Anyway, even working withing your own reasoning, you say that 'something must have happened before that, because it did happen'. Is it too much of a stretch for you to say, also 'something must happen after that if it will happen'.

I'd be more convinced with the idea of the future being finite if we could be certain that the past was finite... still, I suppose that, individually, we must all face up to the fact that there is a finite period we can remember, and a finite period of life remaining to us as we are in the present, barring resurrection or the discovery of an elixir of youth, or what have you. In this sense both the past and future would be finite, and the real infinite space would be that of the imagination only :)

Answer 3

The past was not infinite. It stated wit the creation of the universe becasue there was nothing before that point in time known as T= 0.
The future will be determined by the universe itself. If the universe reaches critical mass, and everything comes to a standstill and the universe ceases to expand, than time will have no end. If the universe becomes too massive and collapses upon itself, then all matter will collapse back into the singularity and then time will end along with space. If the universe keeps expanding forever, then time is also infinite.

Answer 4

It might very well be. There is a very interesting point in your question. According to you the past we have experienced, we have lived it, we have seen days, weeks, years and centuries rolling past. We are certain that they were there. We are therefore certain they are there for us to know. But we are not sure about the future. The time in the future might terminate tomorrow, and then there will be not time. Who knows?

This is an interesting look at the time. Do you think that the things we are certain about are the things infinite in nature, or they have an infinite dimension attached to them somehow? Because if time started somewhere does not mater how long ago then it must have a start. And the things that have a start cannot be infinite. Besides, logically speaking if there is start then there must be an end. So in both ways time seems to be limited if viewed from our normal viewpoint.

Now, coming back to the point of certainty in you question, I would say that where there is an ABSOLUTELY certainty there cannot be UNCERTAINTY and therefore no abrupt ends and no surprising starts. This could be your own positive way of looking at things of past life, but objectively speaking this is impossibility in normal human experience. We live in uncertainties, with possibilities of all sorts. We can be predominantly confident in life but we cannot be absolutely sure about anything. The confident we can have, we acquire mainly through our beliefs and partly through our better knowledge of ourselves, and our world. The things of the universe, like time, offer no such respite to our ever-searching soul.

In the essence of human mind there is a capacity to reach further than we can grasp. We can experience things that we might not understand completely but they play very important role in shaping our perception of ourselves. We can contemplate time and space. But no contemplation without devotion can take us very far. It have been known that the speed of time can be altered under certain conditions – like time dilation in fast moving object.

We can also experience the blissful awareness of our own mind in which we can realise that each moment of time is in fact an eternity. Time we realise is linear, like arrive flowing through us, or we being carried away along with it currents. But to be able to observe time in its reality is a matter of high knowledge and a mystic experience.

http://uk.blog.360.yahoo.com/blog/;_ylt=AhF2kw1nYt7Lkx3JFwaOEko8FOJ3

Answer 5

It seems logical that time will not stop and the past is infinite. What happened before the Horrendous Kablooie and what will happen at the end of time? Will the Universe fall into itself into the Big Crunch like a big rubber band that stretched too far? Was there nothingness before the Horrendous Kablooie? Is time and space curved or flat?

Answer 6

For the past to be infinite time would have to be infinite. If that was so then the future would also be infinite. So no. Probably.

You could always wait around to see...

Answer 7

I prefer a more radical theory, proposed by Peter J Carroll, that "time" as we perceive it is an illusion; that "past" and "future" have no meaning; and that every moment is just one single moment of Shadow Time, an eternal present moment which we cannot perceive, only infer through our observations of apparent change.

I find the Chaos Magic Theory model of time a lot more palatable than the current (and morbidly depressing) establishment idea of time being a linear arrow dragging us all, kicking and screaming, towards our inevitable deaths and the eventual Heat Death of a tired, aged universe.

Answer 8

how can you say the past is infinite............we can calculate it,in fact we know how many years old the earth is, or life is.
but as far as future is concerned, it may be finite may be infinite.
if the speed with which science(nuclear) is developing, or growing, we never know when a world war will turn up and everything will get shattered.its like einstin said the forth world war will be fought with bows and arrows.
life may go on and on.but at some point itll end making it finite.nothing can be infinite.......dont you think its pretty vague...the infinite possibility.

Answer 9

It is possible, as the converse tha the future is infinite but the past is not. Whether it is actually so is another matter, depending both upon what is factually true about time and upon our conception of the idea of time.

Answer 10

it extremely is no longer needed for people to exist to make certain that the universe to exist. saying that it's not plausible to get to the 12 months 2025 because of the fact there at the instant are not any people between 2009 and 2025 is like saying the era between the commencing up of the universe and whilst people recognised can not exist. This fact would not make experience: "once you alter time you alter yet another measurement". besides, evaluate this: this is plausible to return and forth into the destiny. extremely you do it continually. interior the time it took me to jot down this answer, I traveled 5 minutes into the destiny. additionally, in case you flow to sleep and don't awaken for sixteen years (possibly you're in a coma), you will possibly return and forth into the destiny to the 12 months 2025.

Answer 11

It is more likely that the past is finite, whereas the future is infinite.
But we have only invented time as a means of measuring change. Without change there could be no time.