Does time exist or is it just a human perception?

Question

We define "Present" as an instant, a very small interval of time.
We define "Past" and "Future" in relation to the Present.
Since, mathematically, to the limit, the Present is an interval of time equal to 0 (just zero), Present can't exist, nor, consequently, Past and Future...
However, we seem to agree that time came to existence at the Big-Bang and will cease to "exist" at the big-crunch (if it happens). So we must accept that time exists, and that it flows in one direction only: from past to future. However, Hawkins says that if the Universe is to go towards a big crunch, at the maximum expansion, time would reverse its flow!
Seems like a paradox. Maybe "all" "times" exist... at the same time?
Quantum leap theory is that all instants in time are present... at the same time... Human concept? Your ideas?

Answer 1

Because the limitations of human perception does not permit us to visualise anything that doesn't have an ending - or worse - a beginning, without either resorting to religion or going potty, we cannot state exactly what Time is.

All we can measure is the interval between events. Even then we have to construct some sort of artificial means of measuring it. For example, the hour, minutute, second convention has been derived as sub-divisions of a "day".
The "day" itself is arbiatary, our ancestors could have chosen phases of the moon as a basis for measuring time intervals it would have been just as valid (albeit a bit less convenient).

Because the "day" isn't a constant length our clever scientists have standardised the "second" as the interval taken by a certain number of vibrations of a caesium isotope nucleus. They could have picked almost anything.

So, all us humans can do is to attempt to measure an "interval" of time between events in the "real" world. Special Relativitity has demonstrated that even that has its limitations and is not constant.

Velocity, distance and time are also indivisbly linked. Try getting your head around the velocity of light in a vacuum being constant regardless of the relative velocities of its source and the observer. It's impossible to rationalise so we have to accept it because theory and experiments so far say it's true.

In other words, you cannot take a "chunk" of Time to examine it.
You cannot look at either "end" of Time.
You cannot conceive of the maximum length of Time (there isn't one, we don't know what happens before or after our present Universe's life - there may or may not be something else happening).
You cannot conceive of the minimum period of Time (there can't be one).
All you can do is to see what happens to material objects within an arbiatrily measured "interval" or "period" of Time. Even then it relies on something material acually doing something, even it's just having a jollygood Vibrate.

So there you go. Time has no real existence. It's just a construct to help humans make sense of the world and universe. It is highly unlikely that other animals or plants have any (concious) concept of time. They can't see it or eat it or make any artifical means of measuring it an probably wouldn't see any benefit in wearing a wristwatch.

Thus all the mystical "time's arrow", quatnum time etc stuff is just a modern equvalent of a Neanderthal's cave painting - an attempt of a fairly limited intelligence (ours) to describe what is effectively the indescribable. Maybe one day we'll understand it, but the pleathora of theories and "expanations" currently existing shows that we don't.

Incidentally, the same arguments apply to Distance. Now you can see that Time and Distance have no real existence. I challenge you to prove that they have.

Answer 2

Not in the sense that we usually mean, no, I don't think it does. If no humans had evolved, there would still be seasons, growing cycles, creatures would live and die, but there wouldn't be hours of the day. I think humans have imposed the concept of time on the world in order to control their own lives. I suppose you could also ask if the concept of 'place' exists? There is some complicated philosophical theory about whether or not the train coming into the station is moving towards you or if you are moving towards the train - I'm sorry that I can't remember it properly. On the other hand if the train was at 3 o'clock and you have no concept of time, you'll probably miss it!

Answer 3

Einstein showed us that time is not a *natural* feature of the universe. There's no such thing as absolute time, like there's some Cosmic Master Clock that keeps the correct time for the entire universe. Time is nothing more than a concept devised by sentient beings like us to separate events into 'past,' 'present,' and 'future.'

Your comment about how long the 'present' lasts is interesting. Scientists deal with a length of time as short as 10 ^ minus 43 seconds (..Planck Time..), but surely there is a shorter time span. Occasionally you'll come across the word 'chronon' which some scientists regard as the absolute smallest, indivisible particle of time.

Answer 4

Hawking speculated (as did many cosmologists) that if the universe were to have enough matter to contract into a "Big Crunch," that as the contraction occurred, entropy should DECREASE. If our perception of time is linked with increasing entropy, then time should appear to flow in reverse.

However, Hawking subsequently, in communication with other physicists, satisfied himself that this would not occur anyway--in the contracting universe, local entropy would still continue to increase, so the speculation is moot.

Otherwise, your arguments are a bunch of vague semantics that don't really stimulate much discussion, and seem to be based on very limited knowledge about this topic... Read more. Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe" would be a good place to start.

Answer 5

Does time exist? The answer ought to be yes and no. Do energy , temperature, and more intriguingly, entropy exist? Since time is an useful concept it makes sense that we accept that it exists.But does anyone really know what energy, temperture , entropy or time really is? For that matter do we know what an electron is? What is it made of? We can at best only talk about its properties.
So it seems it all depends on how do we define the concept "exist". Don't you agree?

Answer 6

HI,
Everything Takes Time,
Time Takes Everything Away,
Time Is Forever... In the past, present, and future parallel
universes that co-exist together.
And yet who can say, Show me Time?

Answer 7

I think that everything is nothing but human perecption to be honest. As humans, we have a 'need' to understand everything and so we make explanations. For example, humans could not explain how the Universe came into existence and so the story of the Genesis was created.

Answer 8

Congratulations! you just earned 5 points for your mention of "Hawkins" - on the Crackpot Index.
And "20 points for every use of science fiction works or myths as if they were fact" ie, "Quantum Leap"
And "2 points for every statement that is clearly vacuous.", ie, "Present can't exist".

You're well on your way to becoming an official internet crackpot.

Answer 9

Time exists! future past present and now are all beliefs concepts and labels based on our similar relative perceptions.

Answer 10

I have always wondered about that. But, I think that time does exist, however, the way humans use it, might not be on the same schedule as the earth is on, do you sorta catch my drift? lol. I mean, maybe we are on the right schedule, but it doesnt seem liek there is any way to really tell.