Everyone's opinion of time?

Question

I'm interested in hearing everyone's opinion of time. Do you think it's a physical force or just something we use to measure sequences of events? Can time be manipulated or is it constant?

Answer 1

Time itself is more than just a construct that humans have created, it is a integral part of the universe. Our observations about the passage of time may be subjective but the entity of time itself exist. Time may be able to be manipulated and science is now just embarking upon the possibilities. Time is constant in the way we now view the universe, but just as once humans thought the world was flat, there may come a day when we understand how to manipulate it to our purposes.

Answer 2

First off, time is a physical force, a dimension in the universe that we can observe, but not yet control.

Now, time cannot be manipulated except at a local level (by travelling at high speeds), according to Einstein's theory of relativity. Beyond that, it is a constant force in the universe.

Answer 3

Many times, it has occured to me that maybe time didn't exist. See, it doesn't really make sense. Why is it that sometimes time flashes by quickly, while other times it's so agonizingly slow. I guess time is just a way for people to measure where we are. It's a way for us to not feel lost in this big world. Because if we think about it, many things are still the same. The only reason we are as we are is because we have evolved. In this way of thinking, time seems not to exist at all.

Answer 4

Measurement of duration as distance is the measurement of space.

To who is there a beginning and end but to the entity called 'self'? The thing that is here and there has always been and continues in the same way regardless of how many different reflections of it attempt to break up their 'experience' into parts.

Answer 5

this entire debate to despite if gay marriage is a incredible or despite if it relatively is immoral is an pointless debate. it relatively is a various way of watching this situation that removes faith and good and incorrect from the priority: look, what attainable company does the government have in issuing certificates that say 2 people love one yet another? What attainable company is that of government? it relatively is ludicrous. whilst those regulations that reference marriage have been initially exceeded, it grew to become into simply by fact we theory that marriage grew to become into the desirable corporation for having and elevating one's own infants. the only public interest grew to become into in the infants. If we no longer think of that marriage is approximately infants, then we'd desire to get rid of all connection with marriage (or civil unions) from our regulations. look, whilst the US abolished slavery, we did no longer replace the definition of race nor did we alter the definition of slavery. fairly we eradicated all connection with race from our regulations. that's what we'd desire to constantly do to any regulation that references marriage or civil unions.s

Answer 6

from the first , among poeple Time use to put their realation in order and help them to explain (begining , finish and duration) an event . The thing that couse discussion for thousands years between scientist specially philosopher is this subject that by this meaning of time we can not explain the (begining ,finish,duration)universe

Answer 7

Its Constant,
They have tried to change it many times before,
it simply doesnt change
I dont know what you think about it,
But it says in the bible that it is definately constant

Answer 8

Constant. Cannot be manipulated.

Answer 9

Ok, I'll bite. ^_^ And I will also be contrary here.

If what I've read about some cutting-edge physics theories are true, chances are time as a natural constant doesn't exist.

Search either one of the links below for the keyword phrases (quotes and all): "theory of everything" and "eternal moments" or "immortal moments".

http://www.sciencenews.org

http://www.sciam.com

In short: there are several competing Theories of Everything circulating in physics circles. One of them states that in order to have *everything else* make sense, time as a constant has to cancel itself out in a mathematical, algebraic sense--it's an artifact of balancing the other more important equations for things involving dimensions of space, electro-magnetic-weak forces, gravity, light and so on.

So basically, time as such ends up being a calculus, or a way of thinking that we use to make sense out of cause and effect, out of moments "now" and "not now". Think it isn't so?

Then ask yourself...do other animals measure time quite like we do, as a linear progression, always marching on, moving forward? Yes, animal life has *rhythms*, or things that repeat in a pattern--sleep/wake cycles being one of them. But that's not the question.

The question is, do animals like bears and birds literally measure time piecemeal like a clock? Do they know or care to know whether it's noon or 1 p.m.? I'm not being facetious here: some migratory birds do in fact cross over *our* time zones as they travel. Do you think it matters so much, or is it all just "mid-day" to them? Or does it even register on that level if nothing happens to make it worth paying attention to?

Or consider more primitive animals, like frogs, or praying mantids. Do they really have a sense of time? Or is it more like a sense of timing, a difference between "wait time" and "pounce/lunch time"? See what I mean?

It isn't about time itself...it's about what happens to make the *timing* of moments "now" and "not now" worth paying attention to. It's possible to feel like you've slept 2 hours, until you look at the alarm clock and realize only 15 minutes have passed. The difference? You were asleep, not paying attention, and by your senses, *nothing of note happened*.

Likewise, it's also possible to spend 2 hours online and feel like you've barely got anything done--just barely checked email, replied to a message there, and maybe answered a few questions *here*, maybe answered a few Instant Messages there--just because things happen and they happen with their own timings (Answers is slow, email less so, Instant Messenger is quicker) according to the things happening "there". Simply put, there's stuff going on to *process* and make sense out of, and so time "flies".

And the difference gets more pronounced when you get into physical activity, into people getting into a "flow" or into a "zone" and their perception of time is so accelerated that it seems like "reality" is in slow motion. That may well be what *unprocessed*, instinctive, non-thinking *reptile time* looks like.

It's a calculus. ^_^ It's all in our heads...but it needs to be there, because we think, and in order to think about things coherently, we can't just settle for "now" and "not now", we have to expand that into "now/current", "previous/past" and "future/next", and then expand those categories on multiple levels until we have *time zones* gird the earth and fret over *Daylight Savings Time* and such.

And well....it could be worse. ^_^ You could also keyword search those sites above for the phrase "holographic universe". O_O And find that *competing theory* that says, no, *time* isn't imaginary, the *third dimension of space* is.

Just my plug nickel, never mind me. *lol* Good Question.

Answer 10

For a lengthy and complete analysis of HOW we comprehend time, HOW we are able to perceive it, read Edmund Husserl's "Phenomenology of Internal Time Consciousness."