time is made up by humans!?

Question

I was reading somewhere that time is a made up by humans, can anyone else go into depth about it. it is really interesting to think what it would be without the measure of time and what else we would do!

Answer 1

Time clearly exists as a dimension. It is possible for us to define reality by reference to it.

The same can be said for distances.

Time and space are taken to be pretty much all that can be said to be real if we accept certain basics in philosophy. 'Cogito ergo sum'. Look up Descartes in Google. It's fascinating.

All else depends on acceptance of a universe that exists. Time and space are so intertwined that in physics they are called spacetime, no hyphen. One simply does not exist without the other.

So if you accept you are more than an infinitely small dot with respect to yourself, time must exist.

It is the method of measuring it's passage which is a human invention [and relative according to Einstein]

Heavy

Answer 2

I agree, it is made up.

Neither time or distance have any real existence. There is no concevable beginning or end (the 'measurement' of time or distance was only possible after the Big Bang when there was something to measure against.
Having said that, how could there have been a pre-Big Bang?

There is no absolute largest or smallest quantity of time or distance.

You cannot isolate a chunk of either (disregard the metaphysical aspects of photography etc). All we can do is to measure intervals of each.

It follows that any secondary Unit which depends on time and/or distance is also imaginary. This is paradoxical because the affects of such scondary units are apparently real.

Try arguing against a speeding ticket (speed is a quotient of both imaginary concepts) and see how much the magistrate fines you when he stops laughing.

As for what else would we do? Well, if we couldn't debate time or distance the we would have to talk about the weather as we usually do.

Answer 3

I see time as the perception of the distance between two events or experiences. Time is created by motion, or a change in space because something has moved through space. Motion through the three dimensions of space creates a fourth dimension in the mind, which is time.

If you were absolutely still, you would not experience a change in events - that is, you would not be able to feel a difference between space and things that changed in that space. So there would be nothing to compare, no two points that differ in their space continuum. In other words, nothing has moved and this absolute stillness would have zero time. But if I compare where I was an hr ago to where I am know, whether it be my space or anything that involves my total experience (maybe now I have a headache, say) then the difference or change or distance between the two events happening is perceived in the human mind and we call that perception time. The ability of the human mind to separate events in space and compare them creates a new perception, called time.

I don't think that animals think about what happened yesterday and compare it to today, or think about the future. So time perception does not exist for them. Same for infants or early toddlers. Since they haven't the ability to think about past and present and future, little humans do not perceive time as a reality.

Answer 4

Measurement of time is something we have to thank the Ancient Babylonians, (whose descendants are present day Iraqis), for. Time itself existed before our Universe was created and will exist when our Universe comes to an end. It is a fundamental dimension, without it nothing solid* can exist, it is a prerequisite for the existence of our Universe.

* Material made of sub atomic particles.

Answer 5

So is distance and velocity and acceleration and mass and force and energy and everything else in physics.

So is language for that matter.

Without measuring time by any means (even the sun and moon and stars), physics wouldn't have gotten anywhere and people wouldn't know when to do what.

The question is kind of silly really.

Answer 6

As you said, its a measure. It was put in place so that many things should make sense and its something that is real. What was made up/invenetd/started are the units e.g. seconds, minutes, weeks, years so that we are able to count, make plans and lots of other important things

Answer 7

without getting over complicated; time is not made up by humans. the word is and the way we measure it is however what it represents exists regardless of humans, not because of.

Answer 8

i wouldnt say time is made by humans.in fact, time couldnt be. yes, gradually, humans figured out how time worked and what it is however humans did not create it.time is the interval between 2 moments. a day/24hrs./time is caused by the earth's rotation on it 's own axis. a year is the earth's one total orbit around the sun.
in summary,time is actually caused by the earth and sun not by humans

Answer 9

Everything is a concept by and for humans!! We didn't have anything better to do so we started the stupid thing like counting numbers and bench marks for virtually everything!

Answer 10

isn't time one of the many dimension in string theory? I understand what you're saying but I don't think it was really made up.. maybe the units we use, but time itself is a real part of life