is time an illusion we use to make sense of the universe?

Question

is time an illusion we use to make sense of the universe?

Answer 1

Its been proven that the faster you move through space, the slower you move through time.



We've sent an atomic clock with our astronauts into orbit around the earth (where you can travel quite a bit faster than you ever could here on earth). When the astronauts got back their clock they brought with them was a little slow.



The holy grail speed at which you would stop moving through time altogether is coincidentally the same speed at which light already travels.



Time is something we are able to observe that is tied to light, speed and space.



I am convinced it is real and not an illusion.

Answer 2

That is definitely interesting !

I personally do not think it is an illusion, as it is an actuall thing in which we can measure.

For example, approaching the speed of light actually slows TIME down, so if you were in a space craft travelling at the speed of light for 3 earth years, only a short amount of time would have passed (i don't know the exact calculation) whereas the 3 years would have passed for anyone outside of the vehicle.

And if you are to freeze an object to absolute zero (0` Kelvin/ -273.5`C), the object would be unaffected by time, so if it were a person, the body would not age or rot as it is no longer responsive to time.

Answer 3

In a sense it is.



Time has no substance, mass, energy, anything. It is a counting system we have invented, to as you say "make sense of the universe." There is no way to "measure" time except by using some man-made standard. The basis on which we base this counting system is quit arbitrary, but useful in measurements, and ordering events. We are currently using the vibrations of some radioactive element as our standard (Cesium) . Apparently is vibrates very fast, and we have chosen a certain number of those vibrations to equal a second. Once we have established this totally arbitrary system, it becomes very useful because we can then compare our new standard to other cyclical events.

Answer 4

Yes, time is an illusion created by your memory to adjust your perception of this space/time. We only exist in the NOW as an image. Just as a picture is flat and our mind creates the illusion of a linear depth that does not really exist in that image, so too your memory creates the illusion of a past and future that do not exist NOW at this instant. The picture is an image which is a dimensionally compressed representation of a higher dimensional reality (namely 3D space) and this 3D reality is also a image, or dimensionally compressed representation of a higher dimensional reality (namely 4D eternity) The picture is extremely flat as compared to the space it represents just as this universal now is extremely brief as compared to the 4D eternity it represents. The identifying hallmark of images are therefore its missing dimensions. We cannot create true 3D images and never will because we are ourselves 3D. God on the other hand is 4D and can created a true 3D image and thus you really are created in his image, which denotes the place of your creation and not the form of your creation.

Answer 5

Time is not an illusion, but it does have an indefinable quality. The best definition I can think of to use comes out of General Relativity and its relation to spacetime. As an observer of the Universe, you mark a constant "event" in the timeline. Extending backwards in time and forwards in time is a light cone. The boundaries of the light cone represent the universal speed limit of light, 3 x 10^8 m/s. If another event that happened in the past lies within your light cone, than it can send electromagnetic signals to you. If another event which will happen in the future lies within your light cone, than you can send electromagnetic signals to it. It all boils down to causality, how events affect each other. If time did not exist, than there would be no causal interaction, either all things would be known, or nothing would be known. Additionally, your light cone, and the light cones of every other object in the Universe, travel along world lines through time. Therefore, if an event happened in the past which was outside of your light cone, but through the passage of time your world line oriented your light cone such that the event in the past fell within the boundary, than causality would exist between you and the event where it did not before. This is the reasoning behind the definition of the Observable Universe with regards to its expansion. There is a particle horizon, as it's known, which is the boundary between sub-luminal and super-luminal expansion of space. This represents the edge of the observable universe for us, as all things which exceed a recessional velocity of c now fall outside of our light cone and are no longer causally interacting with us.



Abstract, yes it is. Complicated, yes it is. I don't know if humans, as a civilization, will ever fully understand the meaning of time, but it's fun to try. It will be even more fun if we ever learn how to travel faster than light.

Answer 6

No. The laws of physics don't work without time. Time IS NOT an illusion. How we MEASURE time is the illusion, unless you use an atomic clock. Atomic clocs are adjusted, on purpose, to keep up with Earth's slowing rotation rate.

Answer 7

An illusion? Time is just our way of tracking the pace of events, the movement and transfer of energy......the measurements are of our own creating, but we know that things occur over time. Its how plot the order of events in our minds and on graphs.



I don't know if time is a physical thing that can be physically captured and rewound (which would be useful for time travel), but one can be certain that things occur in rhythmic, regular patterns that we can measure to keep track of time in a universal way.



So maybe in a sense it could be seen as an illusion, that we use to measure past, present, and future events and phenomena, but without any sense of time nothing would ever happen. There can be no actions without there being some kind of time in which they occur. An instance in time is a frozen image. Time is the 4th dimension. It exists but is measured in a way in which we choose.

Answer 8

We do use time to make sense of the universe.Time is relative, meaning its definition varies depending on where an object is in the universe and the speed at which that object is moving.

Answer 9

This is an interesting subject. It's just based on opinion. I'm personally a believer in alternate universes and believe everything is happening at the same time, meaning time is not linear, we only perceive it that way. Long touchy subject though

Answer 10

Time has two properties.



Progress(related to evolution) and Event(related to Creation) by turns.

and Probability exist between two properties.



Mobius strip explains it very well. (one progress, one event, one probability)



Look at this!

Chicken (event) Egg (progress) & Egg (event) Chicken (progress)

Schrodinger's cat was placed between one properties, just event. So, probability can not exist.

The reason, Wave-particle duality of light. I think so...



Progress / Event / Probability is a time. This is my trinity.

--------------------------------------…

Does time have the shape? Does soul have the shape?



Everything has the shape but these two in the world.



So, I made a great assumption "Time is soul(thinking, knowledge, memory, etc.)".



It was the beginning of my UNIONTERA.



We know...

To our great discouragement, these doesn't have one way by us.

Time walked to the way of science. Soul walked to the way of religion.



Now, I propose a great reconciliation.



Light up candle for a second. A second of light exist permanently or not?

--------------------------------------…

Einstein deceive our world. Where is our common sense?



I mean, why he didn't tell us this so easy common sense.



The only base which can be the cause of Einstein's assumption...



[Assumption] "principle of constancy of light velocity".



[The only base] "Time of light is different from the starting point time."



This base is not an assumption but a common sense. Can you see?



In my opinion, he already knew this base.



This common sense is a certain evidence for me.



This is my uniontera.

Existence is the time expressed by light itself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN1jTwHUC7E



- Key Point -

1. Arrow A is the laser work. (Same time work)

2. Arrow B is the reason of gravity. (also, Higgs boson individually / Different time work)

3. The rose line is the beginning light. (result from Bible)

4. The existence of different time. (result from relativity of light)

5. 2 dimension is not a space. (result from 2-axis, math)

6. Universe came from nothing. (result from No.5 / cf. Playing with bubbles)

6-1. A barrier[posititon] exist between the inner and outer bubbles. But universe do not have that barrier. (Cause of Inertia & Sun)

6-2. Nothing is not a no existence. No existence is a zero dimension. There is two zero dimension. One has a position. The other doesn't have a position. These different positions were connected by something. That "something" is not a what but a way. (Cause of Light)

7. Progress / Event / Probability is a time. (This is my trinity.)

8. Wave-particle duality of light, creation & evolution, uncertainty principle, etc (result from No.7)

9. Coalescing of different time (Cause of Rotation / Equator has plenty of time.)

10. Your so-called black hole is a wholly condensed time. (cf. Kerr spacetime, math)

11. The reason of "your so-called magnetic field" (result from step3 and 4)

12. The reason of "your so-called electric field" (result from the crack of time / Same time's crack is a different time's coalescing. / Cause of Static electricity)

13. Your so-called "space" is a crack of time. (result from No.12 / Cause of Lightning)

14. Boundary is a crack of space. (result from No.13 / Same space's crack is a different time's contact. / Cause of Superfluid, cf. Fractal)

15. Boundary is nothing. Your so-called hole is a boundary itself. Also, nothing is K=0 temperature. (result from No.14 / cf. Calabi-Yau Space, math)

16. This is a wall of your so-called fire. (result from No.15) - copyright ⓒ uniontera



Our nonsense have come from one time. Uniontera is a key.



English is not my first language, sorry!



If it is difficult to understand, just remember & enjoy "Hand touching everything is a time". This is the only one result of uniontera.

Answer 11

our perception of the passage, the speed or rate, the measurement of time is certainly illusionary.... but outside of our senses, beyond what we think and feel, time DOES exist. it has an OBJECTIVE existence that is not SUBJECT to our perceptions. Space and time are INTEGRAL... you'll study integrals in calculus. The spacetime contiuum tells us that time is as real as space in every sense.

Answer 12

No, time is the motion of energy by which we measure things according to the changes that take place. Changes take place whether someone is there to observe them or not and is not dependent upon observations.

Answer 13

Your sense of time is a learned behaviour.



Time itself is fixed. Its hard wired to gravity, electricity, magnetism, light, matter, etc. Its all part of the same machine.

Answer 14

I can't believe no one has provided you with the definitive quote about time:



"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime, doubly so."

--The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galxay

----Douglas Adams



I think that says it all.

Answer 15

I certainly believe so, given that according to the theory of relativity, space & time are on one continuum. There is day & night because of the movement of the earth, so according to most people's minds, if the earth stopped spinning, time would "stop", and to me that means it isn't real at all. All we are tracking is movement & events.

Answer 16

Yes, we live in motion not time.