Topic: what is time?
Mcobi927's photo
Tue 01/10/17 05:29 AM
Is time an illusion that we create?

sybariticguy's photo
Tue 01/10/17 05:39 AM
Time is something I am never on, usually running out of, don't have, nor even when seeking next, and now is over..

no photo
Tue 01/10/17 06:04 AM
Time is something I recognise through experience.
As to whether it is an illusion, I don't know.

Dodo_David's photo
Tue 01/10/17 06:14 AM
Topic: what is time?

Answer: A magazine?


Tom4Uhere's photo
Tue 01/10/17 07:15 AM
Edited by Tom4Uhere on Tue 01/10/17 07:27 AM
I explored what Time is once. I even came up with a working understanding that makes sense but you have to be able to cmprehend complex ideas.

Short answer:

Time is the capacity to perceive changing moments of duration in the Universe as a constant flow.

Long answer: (You can stop reading now)

I did a quick search for the term 'Speed of Time" that lead me to many scientific websites where others have asked the same question. Every time the question was asked they were ridiculed, quoted paragraphs of reasoning why it is a stupid question. Here is the gist of what I got from what I read.

SPEED is the duration of movement of an article.
TIME is nothing more that a measuring factor created to track relative displacement

Then there was a bunch of stuff about clocks and relativity and Laws of Relativity and how we created time.

To me none of it was the answer I was looking for.
Perhaps it was my choice of search terms.
No matter how I phrased it, the same results showed with the same dead end thinking.


The Speed of Light- 186,000 mps in a Vacuum (Roughly)
It is the duration of movement of a photon in a vacuum.
Duration is time
Movement is displacement
Photon is the object
Vacuum is the environment

Gravitation - Mass Attraction (Roughly)
Gravity is the attraction of two bodies of mass over distance
Graviton - Theoretical Particle that Controls the Effects of Gravitation (Roughly)

Time - Duration Between Instances (Roughly)

Commonly defined as: the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.

Time is an observation we humans make as we progress thru life. The Past is associated with memories and the Present is associated with current circumstances while the Future is associated with our ability to predict events.
Time is thought to be a purely made-up concept by us humans. I don't feel this is true. Time, being duration, is a fundamental law through-out the Universe.
This discussion is about Time as a subject. For simplicity references to time in this discussion will also be references to duration unless expressly cited.

The Duritron
I made this up but if you search for duritron you will find the word defined as a gamer's handle which has nothing to do with the definition I am proposing.
Like a graviton, a duritron controls the effects of time. If one were to harness the duritron one could manipulate the effects of time. Think - Gravity sled...but for time.

Speed, when associated to define duration, is difficult to quantify. Speed is displacement of an object over time but time is not an object (as far as we know).
For simplicity, when we refer to time and speed together it is meant to represent time as a duritron existing instant to instant.
Time does not move linearly. It can remain stationary and still exist.
Stationary is a misnomer because everything in the Universe is moving. The Universe as a whole both moves and vibrates at a resonant frequency so nothing is truly stationary.
It is a relativity issue. For discussion we will use stationary as it pertains to our movement within the Universe since it is our practical applications that will be affected.
We should not dismiss that it might be possible that Time is affected by certain things in the Universe that we have yet to encounter.

When a photon begins its journey it starts a specific point. It then moves at the speed of light until it strikes something and is either absorbed or reflected. There is duration even before it starts to move.
There is duration from the moment of its creation. It is locked to time as it enters existence.
It is justified to think that creation and time begin at the same instant. It is difficult to separate whether the creation or the duritron was first, perhaps they were simultaneous. Since the photon is within the influence of time, time must occur faster than the speed of light.

The speed of imagination exceeds the speed of light. You can imagine, with a little concentration, that you are in a distant galaxy millions of light years away in an instant, while light takes millions of years to do it.
But the imagination takes time to be realized and that duration also falls within the realm of time.

Is there a limit to time?
Is it possible to step outside the influence of time?
Can time be manipulated like light?
Does gravity affect time, even minutely?
Are the secrets of time the last great question in the Universe?
By mastering time are we mastering the Universe?
Do you think time is the same for all possible dimensions?

The wormhole entities in Deep Space Nine exist outside of time. I accepted that possibility without much thought but the ramifications of such a concept are far from simple. The wormhole itself exists in duration. The entities themselves exist in duration. The depiction of the possibility is flawed. But how would Scifi depict something that exists outside of time without showing duration because we are locked within duration ourselves? I can imagine it but I can't explain it. By imagining being outside duration have I broken the laws of time?


Perception of Time by Relativity

Given that mass affects time duration (increases time relativity), as well as velocity (decreases time relativity), an observer within the Bootes Void would see time slow down due to less mass.
If the observer were moving, time would speed up a bit. Mass is relative to gravity so does gravity affect time? Yes.

In a void could time slow to a stop? If an observer were teleported to the middle of such a void would he sense duration? If not then Time would need to have a mass limit but if he still sensed duration, mass may not be the governing principal. It may be a particle within the mass not mass itself.
We know that higher mass causes higher gravity. Gravity is present and additive with all mass. Perhaps time is present with all mass. The observer in the void is made up of mass, He has gravity and time because of it. He can sense duration because of his own mass but it is minimal compared to the mass of this planet. Does he sense that duration is longer than normal or since everything around him is emptiness with nothing for reference, does he sense normal duration?
Wow, it was tough to type that thought into words!
The Shapley Supercluster is more dense than our own Virgo Supercluster.
Given the affects of Time Dilation due to mass, Time duration is different in that supercluster than in our own. More mass means time increases. Duration of particle decay is longer.
If a duritron exists, it may be 'tidally locked' to mass. Mass is energy that is in another form. Is energy affected by time or gravity? Not electricity, energy?

So, according to measured observations time moves faster in less gravity. This would imply that the theoretical graviton is more powerful than my theoretical duritron.

Using Earth time as a standard reference, time is much slower on the surface of the sun. Does anyone know of a formula to determine how much slower?
I ask this because I am curious if that equation is immutable.
If the equation is standard then time dialation can be predicted for any mass in the Universe including the total mass of the Universe.
If Universe standard time were say, ONE. Earth time may be a dialation factor of 16 billion to one. On Earth we could experience time 16 billion times faster than the Universe.
If the equation is mutable, what factors dictate the mutality? In the great voids between the superclusters where gravity is not significant due to no mass, would that be considerd ONE and the Universe time a negative multiple of mass/gravity? This would dictate that everything in the Universe exists slower than the voids. The Universe itself being the slowest.
At the point of absolute no gravity time stops. No gravitons means no duritrons. At that point time has a value of ZERO. Zero duration means no time.
As humans we have the ability to fathom the past by memories. I argue that the past cannot be traveled to because duration is not reversable. Once you reach zero duration everything stops. Unless I am missing something, zero duration is an absolute like temperature.
If one were to sucessfully navigate a wormhole the only direction you could move in time is forward. Wormholes are part of a singularity of mass. Akin to Black Holes, which are extremely high mass/high gravity. The higher the gravity the slower time progresses. Duration takes longer but still progresses.
You leave Earth in a wormhole, While in the wormhole time slows to the point you sense it stopping. Meanwhile the Earth continues its journey thru space unchanged. You travel to Alpha Centuri and back in the blink of an eye but while you were gone duration still ocurred. Both for you, at a slower rate and for Earth at a normal rate. You do not return before you left.

If my deductions are wrong let me know. If you can devise a way around it - let me know.

A time machine could not operate at a localized location. The time machine would need to affect the entire Universe at once. To travel into the past the time machine would need to un-duration everything that exists. More than that, duration would have to be reversed across the entire Universe at the rates relative to masses.
Any variation of time would twist and become thready. If a duritron and graviton are linked as I suspect, all mass in the Universe would be subjected to forces that would shred reality.

Now, if one could wrap duration in a protective sheath like one or more of the atomic electromotive forces, then maybe it could be done? It might be localized enough to make you an observer in a protective bubble but once you leave the bubble you would be in the duration continuum that you observe.
Even if you could do this, all matter is moving over duration. Not only would your time machine have to traverse time, it must manuver thru space as well. It would take a serious amount of computing power to calculate all the variables.

Just found this...My word Duritron is actually a scientific term but it is called Chronon

A chronon is a proposed quantum of time, that is, a discrete and indivisible "unit" of time as part of a hypothesis that proposes that time is not continuous. ~ wiki

krissy55101's photo
Tue 01/10/17 08:06 AM
They say that "Time is Money". If that is true wouldn't all elderly people be rich? ohwell

Tom4Uhere's photo
Tue 01/10/17 08:12 AM

They say that "Time is Money". If that is true wouldn't all elderly people be rich? ohwell


Yes, Yes we are but not necessarily rich in money.

krissy55101's photo
Tue 01/10/17 08:16 AM


They say that "Time is Money". If that is true wouldn't all elderly people be rich? ohwell


Yes, Yes we are but not necessarily rich in money.


Good point :thumbsup:

mightymoe's photo
Tue 01/10/17 08:17 AM

Is time an illusion that we create?


yes, just a mathematical value...

Duttoneer's photo
Tue 01/10/17 11:19 AM

Is time an illusion that we create?


The Big Bang Theory is the leading explanation about how the universe began. At its simplest, it talks about the universe as we know it starting with a small singularity, then inflating over the next 13.8 billion years to the cosmos that we know today.

Taken from and see website below.

http://www.space.com/25126-big-bang-theory.html

Dodo_David's photo
Tue 01/10/17 11:30 AM


Is time an illusion that we create?


The Big Bang Theory is the leading explanation about how the universe began. At its simplest, it talks about the universe as we know it starting with a small singularity, then inflating over the next 13.8 billion years to the cosmos that we know today.

Taken from and see website below.

http://www.space.com/25126-big-bang-theory.html



The Big Bang Theory has nothing to do with the question asked.

no photo
Tue 01/10/17 11:32 AM
Isn't it a song by Pink Floyd?

Duttoneer's photo
Tue 01/10/17 11:39 AM



Is time an illusion that we create?


The Big Bang Theory is the leading explanation about how the universe began. At its simplest, it talks about the universe as we know it starting with a small singularity, then inflating over the next 13.8 billion years to the cosmos that we know today.

Taken from and see website below.

http://www.space.com/25126-big-bang-theory.html



The Big Bang Theory has nothing to do with the question asked.


I disagree, please read the article. Before the Big Bang time did not exist because nothing, at all existed, only after the Big Bang did time start to exist, so it is not an illusion.

no photo
Tue 01/10/17 11:39 AM
A brief history of time, Stephen Hawking. A great read.

no photo
Tue 01/10/17 11:40 AM

Isn't it a song by Pink Floyd?

Great tune too, then again they all are.

Dodo_David's photo
Tue 01/10/17 12:04 PM
Before the Big Bang time did not exist because nothing, at all existed, only after the Big Bang did time start to exist, so it is not an illusion.


Actually, physicists don't know anything about conditions prior to the Big Bang, because it is impossible for them to investigate that far back.

It is speculation to say that nothing existed prior to the Big Bang.

As for what Time is, along with being a magazine, it is also a measurement of movement. People do the measuring. Hence, Time's existence depends on the existence of people.

krissy55101's photo
Tue 01/10/17 12:12 PM

Duttoneer's photo
Tue 01/10/17 12:21 PM

Before the Big Bang time did not exist because nothing, at all existed, only after the Big Bang did time start to exist, so it is not an illusion.


Actually, physicists don't know anything about conditions prior to the Big Bang, because it is impossible for them to investigate that far back.

It is speculation to say that nothing existed prior to the Big Bang.

As for what Time is, along with being a magazine, it is also a measurement of movement. People do the measuring. Hence, Time's existence depends on the existence of people.


I agree, it's all theory, as it says in the article :-

Because current instruments don't allow astronomers to peer back at the universe's birth, much of what we understand about the Big Bang Theory comes from mathematical theory and models. Astronomers can, however, see the "echo" of the expansion through a phenomenon known as the cosmic microwave background.
The first second, and the birth of light...

My understanding is there was nothing before the birth of the universe.

Dodo_David's photo
Tue 01/10/17 12:48 PM
My understanding is there was nothing before the birth of the universe.


That is a religious concept. What, if anything, existed before the Big Bang is beyond the scope of science.

Anyway, what I said about Time still stands.
People created Time because people created the measurement of movement.
Time is an intangible tool used by people.

Dodo_David's photo
Tue 01/10/17 12:49 PM




D'oh! slaphead That is why I am poor. I can't do that level of math.