Time might not exist -- but that's okay

[Judi Lynn]

By Sam Baron published about 12 hours ago

Does time exist? The answer to this question may not be as obvious as it first seems.




Does time exist? The answer to this question may seem obvious: Of course it does! Just look at a calendar or a clock.

But developments in physics suggest the non-existence of time is an open possibility, and one that we should take seriously.

How can that be, and what would it mean? It’ll take a little while to explain, but don’t worry: Even if time doesn’t exist, our lives will go on as usual.

A crisis in physics
Physics is in crisis. For the past century or so, we have explained the universe with two wildly successful physical theories: general relativity and quantum mechanics.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/time-might-not-exist?utm_source=notofication

[Mike Nelson]

1. Interesting...

... Time is a way humans and book authors measure things. Particles, loops, and chunks don't think about measuring anything.

[SouthernDem4ever]

2. Time certainly applies to the 40 hour work week

my worn-out body recognizes this.

[Skittles]

6. I cannot even remember the last time I worked a 40 hour week

although I am now down to 48 hours from 53 last year

[Buckeye_Democrat]

3. I think that article's title is click-bait.

If time isn't a fundamental feature of our universe, but rather emerges from other fundamental aspects of it, that doesn't mean that time doesn't exist.

That would be like saying molecules don't exist because they're composed of more fundamental chemical elements.

[ashredux]

4. There is only a moment...there is only the now...we "invent" time...

[mitch96]

24. +1... that's how I see it... Then again the definition of moment is related to

time. A beginning and end. If there is no time then there is no beginning or end?
m

[ashredux]

27. Ah...you seem to get it.... Mbius Strip

[mitch96]

29. Mbius Strip....way above my pay grade... All I know for sure

is that things change... oops? did you see it? it changed again...
m

[ashredux]

31. Missed that one...ooops..missed again....ooppps

[FreepFryer]

5. Star Wars objectively exists. But on a few levels, its existence is dependent on its audience.

It’s also fictional.

[Harker]

8. Ah!

So if "Alien" is screened in an empty theatre, no one can hear you scream?

[FreepFryer]

9. Who screamed? :)

[Harker]

11. Not me.

I muttered a few choice expletives under my breath, though.

[FreepFryer]

19. I shied away from spaghetti and xenobiology for sure :) (Nt)

[Harker]

22. Ha. That's a scream. n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

23. Still love that movie!

[Martin Eden]

7. Every year is getting shorter

Never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught
Or half a page of scribbled lines

[gab13by13]

10. Time doesn't exist for birds and animals,

If a bird could speak and someone asked it what time it was, it would not have an answer.

What is the definition of eternity? Is it endless time, or no time?

[Harker]

12. A cuckoo bird knows what time it is. n/t

[KS Toronado]

18. .......

[BWdem4life]

33. They probably have lots of words for time

Morning time, day time, night time, time for a bath, time to build a nest, time to fly south, time for the human to fill the feeder...

[speak easy]

13. String Theory is meeting an empirical death in the Large Hadron Collider.

[Duppers]

25. Don't be too sure of that.

Give it a couple of yrs.

[speak easy]

26. Next up ... is reality a VR simulation? :)

http://users.cms.caltech.edu/~owhadi/index_htm_files/IJQF2017.pdf

Every LHC test (so far) has confirmed the standard model ... with not a hintt of Super Symmetry.

[cayugafalls]

14. I'm glad they are taking the time to explore this theory...

[Trueblue Texan]

15. Well...time may not exist...

...but aging damn sure does!

[gab13by13]

16. Just a little,

your body is 99.999999% empty space.

[KS Toronado]

17. Is that how UFOs fly so fast?

Some type of time travel?

[BumRushDaShow]

20. I was taught in my elementary particle physics class

that "time" was a "4th dimension". Of course that has always been in debate. In "practical" terms - I could see that in my 3D (I think LC) plots back in the day, where each axis (X-Y-Z) represented some value (e.g., signal level, concentration, detector frequency change) and "time" would become a 4th via a series of "snapshots" of such a plot.

So it's basically something that "doesn't exist" on its own until, I suppose, we "'manually' make it exist". That's why it keeps "changing".



But...

[lonely bird]

21. Time flies like an arrow

Fruit flies like a banana.

[hunter]

28. I've been playing with these ideas for a long time...

... probably since I was a mildly psychotic teenager a long ways ago (for me anyways), within a sphere 100 light years in diameter.

Here's a DU post of mine from more recent days, Fri Mar 22, 2013, 10:05 AM, to be precise...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1018341220#post26

[Ron Obvious]

30. Fascinating stuff.

The more I learn about quantum and what not, the more open I become to the notion that we're living in a simulation, or even that everybody but me is part of that simulation.

It seems that the more we think we understand the nature of reality, we zoom in and reveal another layer of complexity. Probably just as well. Keeps things interesting anyway.

[scipan]

32. Well, at least causation still exists. That's something.

So, time is an emergent property of space? Or gravity? Unfortunately it doesn't make much sense to me.

As an old person, I know my subjective time is running faster and faster.