Time in our sense is really an illusion! All is happening at once. There has to have always been something for there to be anything. If all began with big bang even, something made the big bang. Which means that time goes back infinitely (as there always was something)!!! If time goes back infinitely there could not be a present as it would take forever for it to become now and you can never wait forever so it can’t be now.
There for all is happening at once and time is an illusion!!!!!!!
What do you think? Does this make sense to you or am I just crazy? I actually kinda thought I had a break thourgh with this but everyone I tell it to just stares at me blankly :(
2007-12-11 09:57:13 · 3 answers · asked by Robert R 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
This is a philosophical idea that has been around for quite some time. In fact, most Buddhists believe that the entire physical universe (including time) is an illusion, called "samsara" (or "sangsara"), and that ultimate reality, or "nirvana," is unknowable to anyone trapped in that illusion. This is by its very nature unfalsifiable, and therefore it is strictly a philosphical notion, not a scientific one. Science deals only in falsifiable ideas.
As for the science behind it, we must start from the basics. Time is usually defined as the 4th dimension. As three dimensional beings, we can only percieve a single three-dimensional "slice" of the 4-dimensional reality. Under this paradigm, we can indeed consider that all of time always "exists," but that we are always seeing only a single slice of time, much like when watching a movie, you are always seeing only a single frame. The rest of the film is always there, but until it moves through the projector, we don't see it.
However, under some big bang models, the 4th dimension was one of the dimensions (along with the three of space) that began expanding at the big bang. In other words, like the three dimensions of space, time was also confined to a single point at the moment of the big bang.
There are also several physical realities that are pointed to as "arrows of time," such as the laws of thermodynamics. All of these indicators point to the fact that even if all of time always exists, there is only one direction in which it is possible for a 3-dimensional being to perceive.
Last point: Under some models of relativity, all objects in the universe are always moving at the speed of light, c. For an object that we percieve as "stationary," all of its velocity is directed along the time axis. For an object moving very near the speed of light through space, however, only a small component is directed in time. Under this model, it is easy to understand such concepts as time dilation (the slowing of time) for objects moving at high relatavistic speeds.
Read Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" for a more thorough discussion.
2007-12-11 10:16:54 · answer #1 · answered by phoenixshade 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
This breaks down because once you get to the Planck scales your notion of linear time starts to lose meaning. The linear concept of time relates to the fact that energy and time are canonical variables, connected by a Heisenberg uncertainty relationship. At high energies, such as in the very very very initial stages of the Big Bang, quantum mechanics doesn't apply (or something like that anyway), so that you can't really say the in the time from t=0 to 10^-29 s in the life of the universe, 10^-29 s of our linear time elapsed. And it should not be interpreted to mean that the initial 10^-29 s took and infinitely long time to evolve, it means time as we measure it wasn't operational.
That everything is not happening all at once is not an illusion. Matter is fermionic and can't occupy the same space at the same time. Time keeps that from happening, along with lack of personal hygiene in a lot of cases.
2007-12-11 18:21:58 · answer #2 · answered by gcnp58 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The other answers are correct. For a photon, in its frame of reference, its creation and annihilation are simultaneous events. We don't know if time extends back to infinity. Many theories, starting with Augustine in the 5th century, consider that spactime is part of the creation of the physical universe. Some scientists consider space meaningless without the presence of matter. As you study logic, you'll be able to tell the difference between arguments of principle and arguments of terminology.
We have lots of evidence that time is not an illusion, and we know of some physical processes which are not symmetric with respect to time.
2007-12-12 13:27:01 · answer #3 · answered by Frank N 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋