Is Time An Illusion?

Okay, I think I derailed the Mayan thread with my OT posts about time so I thought I would shift the discussion to a fresh thread.

If you need to catch up, there are some people claiming that time doesn't actually exist. There also seems to be confusion about how we measure time being related to the reality of time.

Time has frustrated and confounded humans and scientists. Time seems to be intimately tied to increasing entropy in the universe, hence the reason for an arrow of time and why we can only go one direction. Einstein showed that time appears to be intricately woven into the fabric of space itself and is not a separate entity. We call this spacetime and relativity tells us that there is no universal time, every point experiences its own localized time which can be affected by acceleration and gravity.

In order for physicists to work out a more complete understanding of our universe, we will have to unravel the mystery of time. Brian Greene's book, The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Realitywas extremely interesting and tried to explain some of the ideas about the reality of time and space. Definitely worth a read if you like this stuff.

[video=youtube;eoKhE-97pNo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoKhE-97pNo&feature=relmfu[/video]

[video=youtube;21jomxqDavk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21jomxqDavk&feature=relmfu[/video]

[video=youtube;wVDR-KSLaCw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVDR-KSLaCw&feature=player_detailpage[/video]

Time is not a illusion it is a measurement.

Are inches real? Whatever that answer is, it should be the same answer for the question "is time real?".

Hepheastus420 said:

Time is not a illusion it is a measurement.

Are inches real? Whatever that answer is, it should be the same answer for the question "is time real?".

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Inches measure space, but what is time measuring?
I agree, it is not an illusion, but it is still a mystery.

this again? look time is what you make of it. I can choose to sit outside my house and wait for the world to end or i can do something productive with it. Like grow me some herb. I am not scared of nor do i give a shit about time or anything else exept what i do with my life. If you want to be worried about things that really dont concern the majority of people then by god do it. That is the greatest thing we human beings have is time. Some have more than others but i rather live my life everyday and knowing i did everything i wanted without regrets than live 150 and not do shit all day just worry.

The irreversibility of time is one of the great scientific mysteries imo. cn

Hepheastus420 said:

Time is not a illusion it is a measurement.

Are inches real? Whatever that answer is, it should be the same answer for the question "is time real?".

Click to expand...

Time is a measurement of an illusion, when in reference to decay.

Hepheastus420 said:

Time is not a illusion it is a measurement.

Are inches real? Whatever that answer is, it should be the same answer for the question "is time real?".

Click to expand...

Inches are not real, they are a measurement of space.
Centimeters and everything are a figment of our imagination.

These words you are reading on this screen aren't real. Psychotic breakthroughs by our ancestors have brought us here. These prints are equal to the paw print of a bird or fox, but we put TRUE meaning in them.

If you got punched in the face is that an illusion? No that shit just happend for real.

On topic I have been to a stephen hawking lecture before, and he seems to describe it very well. I don't think time is really up for debate, seing how we age. Is age an illusion? No our bodies break down with time. Time is what IS measured not what we measure with. A calender and a clock is the tool we measure time with.

Finshaggy said:

Time is a measurement of an illusion, when in reference to decay.

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This is where I still don't understand what you are attempting to say. If things change, then by definition time passed. Where is this illusion you are talking about? Did you watch the videos?

Hmmm ok so days come and go, and time tells the distance between the two. I mean we don't need to label "time" in order for it to exist. If "time" didn't exist then we would not be able to move on to the next second of life, but it does exist.

Thank you Peyote ... you beat me to it. It is valuable to distinguish between the nature of time and its metric. Tha map is not the territory. cn

cannabineer said:

The irreversibility of time is one of the great scientific mysteries imo. cn

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I believe it is because it is not real. We are on one big reel of time called "space". If time exists it would have to be outside of this space, or we would have to break some kind of dimensional wall. Time as we know it, does not exist. And could only exist in a hypothetical scenario, when in reference to our universe. The time we use is a misunderstanding of a measurement, mixed with the visual movement of the sun. So we get confused and feel as if we are operating within a "time" that could somehow be a different "time".

Very true. I just had to remember back to that lecture like 10 years ago.

PeyoteReligion said:

If you got punched in the face is that an illusion? No that shit just happend for real.

On topic I have been to a stephen hawking lecture before, and he seems to describe it very well. I don't think time is really up for debate, seing how we age. Is age an illusion? No our bodies break down with time. Time is what IS measured not what we measure with. A calender and a clock is the tool we measure time with.

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Ok, but the punch is deterioration. TIME is if I sit on the ground and imagine punching you back, because I felt (saw) the punch (deterioration).

mindphuk said:

This is where I still don't understand what you are attempting to say. If things change, then by definition time passed. Where is this illusion you are talking about? Did you watch the videos?

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I agree, time is pretty much the measurement of change.

Time = Measurement of change.

PeyoteReligion said:

If you got punched in the face is that an illusion? No that shit just happend for real.

On topic I have been to a stephen hawking lecture before, and he seems to describe it very well. I don't think time is really up for debate, seing how we age. Is age an illusion? No our bodies break down with time. Time is what IS measured not what we measure with. A calender and a clock is the tool we measure time with.

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Age is what causes the illusion of time is what I'm saying. WE believe in time because we FEEL as if we can see it.

mindphuk said:

This is where I still don't understand what you are attempting to say. If things change, then by definition time passed. Where is this illusion you are talking about? Did you watch the videos?

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It is not eveidence of time passing. It is evidence that deterioration happens. If a worm eats dirt and shits it out as fertilizer, it didn't just speed up time.

Hepheastus420 said:

Hmmm ok so days come and go, and time tells the distance between the two. I mean we don't need to label "time" in order for it to exist. If "time" didn't exist then we would not be able to move on to the next second of life, but it does exist.

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How do you know we can move onto a second life?

Finshaggy said:

I believe it is because it is not real. We are on one big reel of time called "space". If time exists it would have to be outside of this space, or we would have to break some kind of dimensional wall. Time as we know it, does not exist. And could only exist in a hypothetical scenario, when in reference to our universe. The time we use is a misunderstanding of a measurement, mixed with the visual movement of the sun. So we get confused and feel as if we are operating within a "time" that could somehow be a different "time".

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These are misconceptions given by people who take to many hallucinatory substances. Time is real look at you watch. Trust me, my name is Peyote and I've had all these "eye opening revolations" about the universe and what not. But trust me when I say keep yourself in reality.

Finshaggy said:

I believe it is because it is not real. We are on one big reel of time called "space". If time exists it would have to be outside of this space, or we would have to break some kind of dimensional wall. Time as we know it, does not exist. And could only exist in a hypothetical scenario, when in reference to our universe. The time we use is a misunderstanding of a measurement, mixed with the visual movement of the sun. So we get confused and feel as if we are operating within a "time" that could somehow be a different "time".

Click to expand...

I don't really understand this, but if I did, I would probably disagree with it. cn

<edit> outdrawn by Peyote again!! I blame time.