Is time a man-made concept or not? If so who invented it and what purpose did it serve?

Answer 1

All concepts are man made. However they are not invented and it is often hard to determine their original utility

Answer 2

As this question was asked on a board for philosophical answers I will give a philosophical answer
Time does not actualy exist.After all we can't revisit the past the future has not got here and the present cannot be measured in a mathamatical way,after all the mathematical term used to measure the present has to have a numerical value ,so wether it's a second ,millisecond etc the period can be measured as having a beginning and an end and at the beggining of that numerical value the second half of it is in the future and as you reach the second half of it the first part is in the past ,and you can go on forever shrinking the number down without reaching zero .Hence there is no such thing as the present .

Answer 3

Time, as we understand it, is man-made.

Instead of listing some philosopher or astronomer to back-up this claim, why don't we appeal to a primordial experience. Why is it that time speeds up if you are having a good time, or slows down when you are bored? Why does time pass so slowly when we are young, and only seems to speed up?

There is not one objective answer to these questions. We could appeal to God, or something else we will never understand, but we don't have to. The important thing is to ask the questions, and search for the answers within you.

So, is time man-made, yes for time is "relative." Who invented it and for what purpose, well does this really matter and could we ever be certain our theory is correct? The most important part is to work these questions out in our own experiences, without appeals to others or other's theories.

Answer 4

This seems to go beyond how man came to be. As a Christian I believe that God created us, and God himself has no beginning and no end. So then time becomes a man-made concept. Should you believe in the big-bang theory, or the like, then time is still not such a certainty. If not for us humans being in existence, what purpose would time really serve? I do believe that it is a man-made concept.

Answer 5

While you have received some good answers, concerning "the beginning of time" etc. One answer for its purpose deals with the moderization of society. Think mid-1800's or so. When people started to move from rural areas to urban ones, standardisation of time became necessary. Think of when the use of trains became a major way to move products and people. If a standard was not developed, how would anyone know what time to expect something? How would you keep two trains from travelling on the same tracks at the same time? Basically, the standardisation became necessary if modernity was to ever take place.

Answer 6

Yes time as we calculate it is a man made concept. but God also discusses time in that the world was created in 7 days. Of course seven days in the universal sense of time could be millions of years. But because time has no beginning and no end some compare it to a gold ring, with no beginning and no end. so universal time could be cyclical.

Times purpose is to give order to our earthly world. When to get up when to cut the grass etc.
It's beginnings are probably rooted in the time of year that is best for planting crops.

Answer 7

God created time. Anything that is less than eternal marks time.

For us time is a finite line lived out in a finite universe; sustained, defined and encompassed by the eternal spirit which spoke it into existence.

For those who say that time doesn't really exist may I suggest the theory would look good on many a tombstone.

Here lies Joe McNerd
Time to him? Absurd!
No bills for Joe,
as none came due;
until this last one!

A real measure is always in relation to life and not to things.
Finite life is not an invention. Time is but one of its measures

Answer 8

Time is a part of quantum physics. One thing existing. Space (that we all commonly experience) and its properties. i.e. Rather than adding matter particles to space as Newton did, we consider Space with properties of a continuous wave medium for a pure Wave Structure of Matter. This is the Most Simple Science Theory of Physical Reality and includes time.

Time was not invented, it's real purpose had no meaning. We use it for measuring our life.

Answer 9

I invented...

This seems like a selfish act but it is not. I believe that every person invents time when s/he is born. It is one of the things which bind us like "place" and " physical rules." All of them are invented with perceiving them.

For Kant "time" and "place" are necessary, therefore; they are not something perceived but they are innate. It is a possibility too. If time is innate, actually this means that time is a part of us, we are "time"! Then we should look at who invented us?

I still believe that it is innate and man-made concept,because; I believe that we are actually God(Not Gods but God) but like the forms of Plato, we did not realize that for now. I can explain it like there is an ultimate mind in our head and puts everything in order, completely equal to ultimate infinite. We are the people who forget about that fact and try to recollect that idea. I know that my cheap idea is very confusing and seems contradictory but remember that when we talk about infinity, contradictions come.

Answer 10

Time is a man made concept. It is an incomplete concept, because it only passes in combination with the presence of matter and energy that interacts. If there is no matter or energy, there is no time. It is more a sequential continuity of mattter and energy. But leaving all these difficult concepts aside, it helps mortals like us, made of stardust, to organise our lifes if we have a way to devide the moments our planet is exposed to sunlight or to its own shadow.