TIME!:What is time? What is our future to be like?
TIME! Two distinct views exist on the meaning of time. One view is that time is part of the fundamental structure of the universe, a dimension in which events occur in sequence. This is the realist view, to which Sir Isaac Newton [1] subscribed, in which time itself is something that can be measured.
A contrasting view is that time is part of the fundamental intellectual structure (together with space and number) within which we sequence events, quantify the duration of events and the intervals between them, and compare the motions of objects. In this view, time does not refer to any kind of entity that "flows", that objects "move through", or that is a "container" for events. This view is in the tradition of Gottfried Leibniz[2] and Immanuel Kant,[3][4] in which time, rather than being an objective thing to be measured, is part of the mental measuring system.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines time as "the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future, regarded as a whole." [5] The American Heritage Dictionary defines time as "a nonspatial linear continuum in which events occur in an apparently irreversible succession." Encarta, Microsoft's Digital Multimedia Encyclopedia, gives the definition of time as a "System of distinguishing events: a dimension that enables two identical events occurring at the same point in space to be distinguished, measured by the interval between the events."
Many fields avoid the problem of defining time itself by using operational definitions that specify the units of measurement that quantify time. Regularly recurring events and objects with apparent periodic motion have long served as standards for units of time. Examples are the apparent motion of the sun across the sky, the phases of the moon, and the swing of a pendulum.
Time has historically been closely related with space, the two together comprising spacetime in Einstein's special relativity and general relativity. According to these theories, the concept of time depends on the spatial reference frame of the observer(s), and the human perception as well as the measurement by instruments such as clocks are different for observers in relative motion. Even the temporal order of events can change, but the past and future are defined by the backward and forward light cones, which never change. The past is the set of events that can send light signals to the observer, the future the events to which she can send light signals. All else is the present and within that set of events the very time-order differs for different observers.
Time has long been a major subject of science, philosophy and art. The measurement of time has also occupied scientists and technologists, and was a prime motivation in astronomy. Time is also a matter of significant social importance, having economic value ("time is money") as well as personal value, due to an awareness of the limited time in each day and in our lives. This article looks at some of the main philosophical and scientific issues relating to time.
Re: TIME!:What is time? What is our future to be like?
Glad to see your new threads though this one does belong in the PF. There is a time thread in there somewhere and THE REAL INTELLIGENT people hang out in there...........hahaha
Don't bother with the people in this GF, they just like looking at pics of "The most handsome guy and girl", and of course there is the "masturbation and having sex with animals threads.".......
Talking about time is cool.............
Guess I didn't add much to this discussion did I. But time is only what we perceive in our own dimension, not what could be the REAL, but only perceived as real to us.
I am not driven by people’ s praise and I am not slowed down by people’ s criticism.
You only live once. But if you live it right, once is enough. Wrong. We only die once, we live every day!
Make poverty history.
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TIME!:What is time? What is our future to be like?
Dec 6th, 2006 01:32 AM
I really didnt know where to post it. But thanks for the heads up.
