Does time make sense?

Question

so i watched this thing on tv where through a telescope we, on earth, saw a star explode like millions of light years away, therefore we literally watched the past. it made me ask does time even exist? why is it to a dying man 14 seconds can seem like our standards of an "hour" and why to a little girl being at disneyworld half a day can seem like this same "hour"? If we look at a planet two light years away...we in 2007, currently view a planet in its 2005 state ... so basically we all have different perspectives, so does time exist or does it make no sense or is it simple relative?

Answer 1

Here is a quote from Einstein:
“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity.”

What you have come to realise, like Einstein, is that light is not instantaneous. And vision is not magic, it is a chemical reaction imparted by photons hitting cells in the back of our eye.
What I find most amazing, and think about this one, is that enough photons, originating on a star/galaxy millions of light years away, travelled all that way just to land on my retina so that I could see it. Imagine the sheer number of photons produced by each star, considering that they would be radiating in all directions simultaneously.
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Answer 2

Time is a basic element of space.
The space-time pulse that launched this universe is real and as long as it maintains the universe will continue.
Each entity in the universe has it's own zero time point,isolating each individual from all others.
The star that exploded was a million light years away and is easy to imagine.
When you see a person in the same room with you,you are seeing them as they were billionths of a second in the past.
The universe expands as a two dimensional disc of space and time but it injects a holographic effect that allows it's parts to interact as though no isolation exists.

Answer 3

Time is relative - it is not absolute. It is also linked inseparably to space. So when you look at anything, it is always seen the way it actually was - maybe a fraction of a second ago if it is close by - but never as it actually is. Does it make sense? I think so...

Time perception is something else entirely. But I agree with you - those summer days seemed to last a week when I was young.

Answer 4

Time is an invention of man, he had to create it in order to measure speed and distance of movement. If you or anyone else reading this would like to read more about this subject, contact me at
[e-mail]
I will attach a five page article on the subject in my reply.

Answer 5

For "subjective time" you need to ask in the psychology section.

For "physical time" the answer is it does exist but is observer dependent. Even so, relative time does not break causality. Whatever is causal in one rest frame will be causal in any other rest frame. But you will have to study physics in earnest to get acquainted with that concept. It is hard.

:-)

Answer 6

Time does exist. It is objectively measurable (atomic variation and all that), as is space. How you feel about time is totally subjective, as you nicely pointed out. Just don't confuse the two.

Answer 7

have you heard this phrase: "Time flyes when you are having fun" meaning when you are having fun like that girl it seems it was only an hour and when a dying man is dying he is bored and 14 seconds seems like an hour

Answer 8

hard to understand for humans

Answer 9

here is my answer to a similar question;
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnjlU8UqQtefVbJ82xPaDQ_ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071116233253AAoe9o0

Answer 10

no it doesn't make sense