Is my belief about time normal?

I have never thought of time as being a real "thing". To me, in the physical world, there is no such thing as time. Particles, matter, everything, simply interact with each other and go on. Time is really just a psychological phenomenon that humans and perhaps other creatures perceive and use to keep track of events. Is my belief normal, or even scientifically accurate? Am I wrong, is there something I'm missing here?

Voting Results
74% Normal
Based on 31 votes (23 yes)
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Comments ( 20 )
  • dappled

    I can understand the viewpoint. It was only recently that scientists were even able to prove that times always moves in one direction. But time does exist outside of human thought. The most modern definition of a second refers to things which happen periodically in a fantastically stable isotope of Caesium. This is completely independent of humans and happens on other planets, in space, and at the edge of the universe (not that you'll find much Caesium there).

    Perhaps it'd help to think of time as a number rather than an object. The same way we consider distance. If you and I stand three metres apart, that distance of three metres doesn't exist as a physical object. You can't pick up three metres and put it in your pocket.

    As humans we're more used to the concept of distance because we can control it, and it is elastic. If I take four steps towards you, I am now one metre away as opposed to three metres. Time is elastic too; we just don't ever move fast enough to notice relativistic effects so we don't view time in the same way as distance. We should do, though.

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    • flutterhigh

      The issue with the Caesium example is that it's still arbitrary. The fact that natural events occur with precision doesn't validate time, it just validates our measurement of it. And while I love relativity, it doesn't mean time isn't a "real thing", to use the OP's words.

      The scientific principle we should be discussing is entropy, otherwise known as the second law of thermodynamics. Barring a few other rare forces, it is the only physical, universal law that REQUIRES temporal direction. It is the reason that eggs break but never spontaneously reassemble, and the reason that it is impossible (yes, impossible) for all the air particles in the room to suddenly compress into a corner of the room. Entropy is the arrow of time.

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      • dappled

        I almost went into arbitrariness and the difference between the measurement of time and time itself yesterday but I was up to three paragraphs in a trice and I could see another thirty looming.

        You made me think about it again, though. My brain is too tired and hungover to put too much effort into the following question but I'm interested in your answer.

        Can you measure something which doesn't exist?

        Not a trick or a trap, by the way.

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        • flutterhigh

          Entropy is so awesome. Such an underrated scientific principle.

          I think the question that the OP is positing refers to the arbitrariness of time, or rather our structuralization of time, which is what you were getting at. As far as your question is concerned... my friend once asked me if I believe love exists. I said it must, if only for the fact that someone felt it strongly enough to name it that.

          Eschewing any talk of quantum mechanics and collapsing wave-functions (I'm assuming you're not trying to go there), no, I don't think you can measure something that doesn't exist. It's a bit of an odd question though, because I'm no longer sure what you mean by "exist". It's like asking if we can create a word that doesn't have a definition... or what the sound of one hand clapping is.

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          • dappled

            I'm with you on entropy, by the way. When I studied physics most of the things I learned seemed like things I already knew, but entropy is something I hadn't really considered much.

            I take your point about love, too. Although I'd amend it and say that it has a name because it's important enough for people to 'want' it to exist, not necessarily because it does. Same goes for God, ghosts, energy from crystals

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          • flutterhigh

            I never know if the things I write make any sense to other people.

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  • nobleserpent

    Cool. So tell me what use there is for that knowledge?

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    • flutterhigh

      Should knowledge be purely functional?

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  • DannyKanes

    I see your point, most people assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective view point, it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly.......timey wimey......stuff.

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  • Crudhouse

    If Einstein was right, then photons don't age. Never could understand that theory of his. Probably wrong like he was about the speed of light being the fastest possible after the discovery of the neutrino.

    So basically if he was right, neutrinos would be travelling back in time lol.

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  • DaemonWolf

    With the little knowledge I have about time I think that while your perception of time is logical and comes from sound reasoning it goes against Einsteins theory of time and relativity and would most likely be considered wrong in comparison to current theory. In Newtons model of motion and gravity, time was considered a fixed constant. Its rate of progression was constant no matter what speed you do, no matter where you are, for example if I am on planet earth and you are on a space ship travelling through the solar system we will both experience the same progression of time. An hour for you is an hour for me. When you return to me we will both have aged the same amount. This model was thought to be correct from Newtons time until the 20th century.
    When Einstein came along he showed using his equations that time was NOT constant. That people in different situations could theoretically feel different passages of time. Especially when dealing with the speed of light. As you approach the speed of light theoretically the equations tell you that to keep everything balanced time has to slow down. This in my view is what makes Einstein so great. Introducing a completely new way of modeling gravity time and motion that went against the 'establishment'.
    Let's go back to our example, I am on the planet earth and you are on a spaceship approaching the speed of light. Time for you is now slower than time for me. While an hour passes for you, many hours pass for me. When you finally return to me you will notice that I have aged more than you. This shows that time is not just an arbitrary measurement that humans use to mark the passage of time, but a changing entity, a changing quantity that is defined by different variables and conditions.

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  • nowhereboy

    Once i took to much ketamine and time froze.

    It looked like i had bernards watch, everyone in the room just froze. This lasted a few minutes but it felt like forever.

    Fucking weird. I could still move about... Time is crazy.

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  • thinkingaboutit

    depends on what kind of time you are talking. Time is just another measurement to me.

    Our circadian rhythms calculate time without any external input (the sun). It's not psychological. All living things on the planet 'calculate' time.

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  • penpal21

    Time is just a magazine, isn't it?

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  • Time is different around the moon... humans on Earth and humans on the moon age at different rates. The way I experience something and the way someone else experiences it feels different but the same amount of time has passed. Some forces trascend time. Time is not in a straight line although we experience it as such.

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    • thinkingaboutit

      wait...what? time is different on the moon because...why? the moon has 1/6 the gravity of earth. bodies adapt to gravity. people don't become older on the moon...

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  • Anime7

    You have an interesting outlook. I'm not a physicist, although I have taken a couple of classes. I think that what you have is pretty accurate to how the idea of time started.

    Here's something didactic. Time was quantified in the 1400s in order to keep track of business. So yes, the conception of time was a means to regulate events.

    As for particles. Well, what does it matter? haha.

    In all seriousness, time is a phenomenon that we humans want to grasp. Time is a powerful thing. Laws are built around it, think thermodynamics. Everything decays due to time, however, things evolve due to it as well.

    The way you perceive time is rather interesting in its detachment. I'm not at liberty to say how correct you are or how wrong, frankly, you could be right. All I have to say is that I like your opinion.

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  • shade_ilmaendu

    Without going into the entire metaphorical situation and all the reasoning behind it, cause I'm not feeling well right now, yes.

    I debated long and hard with my metaphysics teacher over this topic. He always played the Devil's Advocate. Probably the best prof I ever had, he had a gift for starting good discussions in class, using often ridiculous examples.

    Fucking Dr. Pepper.

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  • Well yes you're right but we have created measurements to keep track of "time". Time was created when we invented those measurements.

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  • wigsplitz

    Yes we base our idea of time off of predictable events, so therefore time isn't real, only the events we base our time on is. And that's only as real as we allow it to be.

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