Ah yes, the “scientific definition” card. Ok, within that framework, time is not arbitrary because science has defined it as something that is not arbitrary. Just as math is not arbitrary because it is defined as non-arbitrary. Essentially, from the scientific viewpoint, they are what they are defined as and the definition says they are not arbitrary.

So they’re not arbitrary by that definition. No disagreement.

However, the scientific definition cannot account for certain anomalous behavior of time, such as Jess642 noted:
There is no amount of mathematical theory that can explain this. (other than the final solution of simply denying it‘s existence because it doesn’t agree with any equations).

And unless I miss my guess, it is this personal perception of time, and the philosophical implications thereof, that are the intended subject of the OP, not the mathematical equations of theoretical physics. (Although to be perfectly fair, this is the “Science and Philosophy” forum.)

So from a philosophical standpoint, change is how time manifests. Observation of change is how we determine that time exists.

Thus, the question of whether or not time actually exists is the question of whether or not change actually exists.

“Change” means “to become different”.

So something that has changed is not identical to what it was before the change. What it was is not identical to what it is.

Thus, when it changes, it is not “the same thing” it is “a different thing”. Or at best, “a similar thing”.

It is this apparency of being the same thing that is at the heart of the illusory nature of change.

Change (and thus time) is an illusion, just as the apparent “motion” of a film is an illusion. Everything is completely and totally brand new in every instant. It is only “similar”, not “identical”.

You don't have to, but remember that you are going against accepted science when you take that position. Einstein showed that time is a dimension in space and not a constant.

Spider, so how would you DEFINE a dimension?

I don't think Einstein was correct.

Perhaps time doesn't exist but movement does.

I don't know?? Going to my room now

Yes, created in our world, it exists and organizes us.

After our lives here? We follow another way of spending our eternity.

Time: The Solution

There are no separate and discrete matter 'particles' space, time, matter and motion are one interconnected thing. Einstein's error was to work from continuous fields in space-time, rather than wave motions of a continuous space.

So Time is really caused by Motion, as the wave Motion of Space. Matter is the same, caused by the wave motion of space. This is why Space, Time, Matter and Motion are all interconnected - they are all due to the wave motion of space. Simple!

Basically we have moved from a metaphysics of Space and Time (which also has to add matter 'particles' and their connecting 'forces / fields') - to a Metaphysics of Space and Motion where the spherical standing wave motion of Space causes matter and its forces / fields.

This unification is unique, there is only one way to do this. This is consistent with the fact that there is only one reality, thus only one language for correctly describing reality.

We can further verify that it is Space and Motion which must exist and not Space and Time.

Let us assume that Space and Time exist, but there is no Motion.

Matter could not move, light could not travel through Space. Thus without Motion there is no measure of Time, thus no reason for introducing the concept of Time. As Aristotle says;

It need hardly be pointed out that with things that do not change there is no illusion with respect to time, given the assumption of their unchangeability. (Aristotle)

Let us now assume that Space and Motion exist and there is no Time.

Thus Matter can still exist as the spherical wave Motion of Space. Our atomic clocks would still be resonating. Our world would still move as we observe it, there would simply be no idea of time, only the the idea of wave motions of space that form matter. This does not cause us any problems, in fact the opposite is true, as modern physics prefers to use the velocity of light and the vibration of crystals (i.e. wave Motion) as its foundation for Time.

Thus the wave Motion of Space explains Time (and Matter / Forces) - but Space and Time do not explain Motion (and instead further require the concepts of Motion / Matter / Forces / Fields).

The thing that has always confused me about the SWM theory is twofold:

1) What is it that is vibrating? What is the medium through which the waves are propagated?

2) What is causing it to vibrate? What is the source of the vibrations?

Time exists only for those to whom it is important. Time is measured by humans on earth, not by animals nor bugs nor fishes nor minerals...it does not exist for them. Our time standard is kinda like 1 + 1 = 2. it is only because some guy somewhere decided it was that way and the sheep all followed it. Time requires a beginning and an end, neither of which it can define. It is useful only because humans are generally incapable of comprehending things which do not have defined paramaters. IMAHO

The fact remains that something is vibrating.

If you hear a noise and you don't know what is making the noise, does that confuse you? Or do you try to find the source of the noise?

I have my theory but it is not a scientific one.

Einstein was so far beyond the rest of us that we are still trying to confirm E=MC2. You are greatly over estimating your own thinking capacity if you believe you understand time better than Einstein.

This wiki article might help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimension

If you don't like this article, then you can do your own google searches for the information.

Spider,

I know how to google.

I was not asking for a link to wikipedia. I was asking if you can describe what you think a "dimension" is as it relates to time being one, and how do you think that time is a dimension, or are you just repeating what you read in some science book?

If you can't, just say so.

Spider,

If a time dimension exists then we should be able to discern where we were back in time and even go back in time if we had the right technology.

Assuming you and Einstein are correct, and there is a specific time dimension, then the past should be kind of like a movie or hologram composed of a complex array of electromagnetic energy patterns that describe how the universe existed at any single moment in time.

That would mean that I am correct when I say that this reality is holographic in its structure and that the three dimensions of space and the dimension of time are coordinates for the location of specific events.

It would also mean that time travel is possible, and dimensional travel is possible (with the right technology) and that this universe is holographic in its structure.

That is, if what you say about time being a dimension is true.

If it doesn't then I don't have to worry about getting my tux back tomorrow on time, ha ha

Sky, I am attempting to find the answer to your questions above.

1a. What is it that is vibrating?

a. Matter vibrates. I found this on my favorite website:

Space itself is very very rigid (to explain such high velocity waves). It does not 'flow' like water - it is a continuously connected wave medium (there are no parts / particles in its structure). Matter is really just spherically vibrating Space. This is why all matter vibrates and has a resonant frequency

1b.)What is the medium through which the waves are propagated?

b. Space

2) What is causing it to vibrate? What is the source of the vibrations?

The source of the vibrations in matter are waves.

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The Motion of the Wave-Center 'Particle'

For a moving wave center 'particle' the spherical in-wave forms in one position in space (as waves combine), then disappears (as waves cancel) then the next spherical in-wave forms in a slightly different position, and so on ....

So matter really moves in discrete little steps (like frames of a film) but it appears continuous due to the high 'frame rate' / frequency. This is what quantum theory discovered - but never understood!

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Sounds like we are inside of a 3D holographic movie of light and sound to me.

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How old is time?

According to that website, space is the medium, Space vibrates and matter is made up of the standing waves (i.e. interactions of waves) within the medium of space. So it’s not matter that vibrates. It is the medium (space) that vibrates.

I understand all that.

But I still don’t understand what it is that causes all the waves. What is it that causes the medium to vibrate? All of the pictorial models show waves travelling through a medium. But there’s nothing that tells where or from what the waves emanate.

You said it was matter, but that can’t be true because the whole theory is based on the idea that matter is the manifestation of the interactions of opposing waves. Matter is the effect of the waves, not the cause.

So I still don’t get what it is that is creating the waves.

Fifty-six years, six months, thirteen days, seventeen hours, fifty-eight minutes. Plus or minus a minute or so.

You aren't able to fly. You aren't able to move through solid rock. You are only able to go one direction through time. We know that we can slow down our movement through time by increasing our speed in the other three dimensions. It's sort of like our whole universe is slowly sinking into a viscous fluid. We can continue to move around, but no matter how much we move around we can't stop our movement downwards. Now that's not a perfect explanation, because it only takes into context three dimensions, but it does work as an analogy.

Time exists, but though out existance, we have defined it by our perception of it. We are born, we grow, we die. So we developed a linear view of time in a straight line moving forward.

Now that we have realized that our perceptual existance has shaped so much of our interpretations of things, we are able to attempt to set aside those concepts and try to discover if that is really an accurate assessment of how things work or not.

That is what this new paradigm gives me. Hope and understanding.