what is time?

if we could eradicate human perception of time (minutes, days, years etc) does time really exist?

put it another way, is the universe in a state of no past or future yet at the same time everchanging?

Originally posted by eatmybishop
if we could eradicate human perception of time (minutes, days, years etc) does time really exist?

put it another way, is the universe in a state of no past or future yet at the same time everchanging?

I vote Yes--time exists. {in my mind's eye, I see Bertrand Russell answering this question by holding out his watch...}

Originally posted by eatmybishop
if we could eradicate human perception of time (minutes, days, years etc) does time really exist?

Yes, because time existed before man.

Originally posted by eatmybishop
if we could eradicate human perception of time (minutes, days, years etc) does time really exist?

put it another way, is the universe in a state of no past or future yet at the same time everchanging?

Does entropy of a system increase irrespective of human intervention? If the answer if yes (hint; it is), then time exists.

Originally posted by scottishinnz
Does entropy of a system increase irrespective of human intervention? If the answer if yes (hint; it is), then time exists.

but time cant be proved

Originally posted by eatmybishop
but time cant be proved

You mean, the existence of time cannot be proven? Or the properties of time?

Originally posted by eatmybishop
but time cant be proved

What does "time cannot be proved" mean exactly?

Originally posted by scottishinnz
What does "time cannot be proved" mean exactly?

That someone has more of it on their hands than they know what to
do with. 🙂
Kelly

Originally posted by FabianFnas
You mean, the existence of time cannot be proven? Or the properties of time?

not the properties, that can be proved... i mean the very essence of time, dont think existence is the right word...

my point is if i say there is no past or future and no time and the world is in a timeless state yet an everchanging state it cannot be disproved...

Originally posted by eatmybishop
not the properties, that can be proved... i mean the very essence of time, dont think existence is the right word...

my point is if i say there is no past or future and no time and the world is in a timeless state yet an everchanging state it cannot be disproved...

If there is only a present 'now', no past, no future, then the existance of time is meaningless, is this what you mean?
Well, that's one way of seeing it.

In this case, the 'free will' exist. I'm the only one responsible to what will happen. If the future exist already, and time is only the road to it, then I don't have any 'free will'.

I like the idea of 'free will', therefore I like your idea of 'no time'.

When my boss wants me to do some impossible thing, then I just say "I do it in no time!" and in a deeper sense I'm right!

time can be regarded as the sequence of events ?

Originally posted by FabianFnas
If there is only a present 'now', no past, no future, then the existance of time is meaningless, is this what you mean?
Well, that's one way of seeing it.

In this case, the 'free will' exist. I'm the only one responsible to what will happen. If the future exist already, and time is only the road to it, then I don't have any 'free will'.

I like the ...[text shortened]... le thing, then I just say "I do it in no time!" and in a deeper sense I'm right!

yes, this is bordering more on buddist belief now than a science one, they state there is no past or future and all that has ever existed is now...

ie. when the pass happened it happened now, when the future happens it will happen now, when we look to the past we do it now, nothing can ever occur outside of now... why then do we have this logic that time exist and we are moving forward?

To quote a sci fi author I forget who, 'time is what keeps everything from happening at once'. Poul Anderson?

Originally posted by sonhouse
To quote a sci fi author I forget who, 'time is what keeps everything from happening at once'. Poul Anderson?

"A famous physicist once said that "time is what keeps everything from happening at once". This is a funny answer, but in a sense it is true: time is a distance between events, just as space is a distance between places. We measure the "time distance" in seconds, just as we measure the "space distance" in inches, etc. One important difference between time and space, though, is that the two directions of are very different from each other: we are continually moving into the future, and cannot move into the past. In space the situation is quite different: we can move in any direction equally easily. It is still not understood by scientists why the two directions of time are so different from each other."

http://www.scienceline.ucsb.edu/search/DB/show_question.php?key=878928261

Originally posted by FabianFnas
"A famous physicist once said that "time is what keeps everything from happening at once". This is a funny answer, but in a sense it is true: time is a distance between events, just as space is a distance between places. We measure the "time distance" in seconds, just as we measure the "space distance" in inches, etc. One important difference between time ...[text shortened]... ach other."

http://www.scienceline.ucsb.edu/search/DB/show_question.php?key=878928261

Reminds me of the professor that asked me why we remember the past and not the future. That's like asking why one uses sperm and not saliva to fertilize eggs.