Is there such thing as the present? Does the "present," does "now" have a definitive end?

Question

Can you define an idea that has no clear end? Are there any books that discuss this idea? We were talking about this in my science class today, in relation to the speed of light.

Answer 1

Of course "now" has a definite end: we call it "then". "Then" was anytime before now. "Then" will be anytime after now. Any time other than "then" is now.

Another way to discuss this matter is to think of your "now" as a place in spacetime; a coordinate in 4 dimensions: So you could describe your place as being located at coordinate x,y,z,t where x,y and z are coordinates along the traditional 3 mutually perpendicular axes of space, and t is along the axis of time, shooting through into the 4th dimension. As with the 3 dimensions of space, you can nail a given place in time down to the umpteenth decimal point in seconds, years or millenia; any unit of time you like, in either direction (past or future). We finite beings are privileged or condemned to move together along this "timeline" from the moment of our our first breath to the moment of our last. "Now" is where we are right now on that timeline. The past is where we were, the future is where we'll be.

As far as "c" the speed of light goes, special relativity tells us that it is constant regardless of our frame of reference. The flashlight beam shining off the nose of the ultra fast Space Shuttle moves at exactly the same velocity as the flashlight beam shining backwards off the tail. According to Einstein's theory it follows that as our velocity through the 3 inferior dimensions of space increases, so our velocity through the 4th dimension of time also increases. This means that our clocks and biological functions slow down relative to objects that aren't moving as fast as we are are... A round trip from Earth to the other side of the Milky way at 0.99999 c would seem to take, say, a day or two for us, but upon our arrival back home, several tens of thousands of years will have gone by on Earth.

It follows that you ought to be careful when you use the word "now" if you are moving at relativistic velocities, because just the tiniest bit of imprecision could mean that you miss your event by a great amount of time indeed. The "now" in our lives doesn't ever change, but the "thens" stretch and shrink according to how fast we're moving through the Einsteinian universe.

It's complicated.

Answer 2

The present exists until you die. Then eternity begins. Are you ready for a place where time does not exist?

I believe we will be able to watch the Earth until it ends. Same with the Sun, the Milky Way, etc.

Maybe the universe will start over just to give us some sort of entertainment.

The speed of light is a mere comparison. Might as well say the speed of a hummingbird. Better yet, a Monty Python laden African or European Swallow.

Answer 3

You can't talk about, now in the context of the speed of light, time does not exist at that speed. For me it is always, now. There is no past, only records of what happened in the past, history. There is no future, the future can only unfold as events happen. The present and now are one and the same. It is impossible to measure time that separates one event from another. I have written a five page article titled, "What is Time?" I will gladly attach it to my reply to your e mail.
[e-mail]

Answer 4

I have addressed the concept of the universal now moment and its relation to the concept of time in the following articles.


http://ultraviolet-oasis.deviantart.com/art/The-Theory-of-Time-Systems-1-55921913

http://ultraviolet-oasis.deviantart.com/art/The-Theory-of-Time-Systems-2-63116051

http://ultraviolet-oasis.deviantart.com/art/Beyond-Time-Systems-68569523

Answer 5

lmao. watch the movie spaceballs and you'll find out.
This is now now.

Answer 6

there is no such thing as 'now', for as soon as you 'mark' now, it becomes 'then'..... the act takes a split second of time, but in the marking, now becomes then, is becomes was.......