He's the comedian I first heard if from. Yes, it is hilarious.

http://www.enotes.com/science-fact-finder/time-weights-measures/how-time-measured


JB,

Why do you believe that you can just make ludicrous statements and that nobody will call you on it?

with a cesium fountain atomic clock developed at the NIST laboratories in Boulder, Colorado,

defined as 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation of the ground state hyperfine transition
in cesium.

This is not time. It is motion, rhythms, cycles that is measured by time which is man made.

And I agree with:


Past, present, future are all in one moment as D.T.Suzuki stated better:

"In this spiritual world there are no time divisions such as the past, present and future; for they have contracted themselves into a single moment of the present where life quivers in its true sense...The past and the future are both rolled up in this present moment of illumination, and this present moment is not something standing still with all its contents, for it ceaselessly moves on."
jmo

I did not make any ludicrous statement. All time (in this solar system) depends upon the movement of bodies through space.

What is ludicrous about that statement?

You're both basically right. Time is measured by the change of location of an object in space compared to the change of location of another object in space.

In other words, to measure time, you need two things changing. One to be used as the ruler and one to be measured by the ruler.

In our current technological society, "atomic clocks" are the ruler that is used.

But the fact that it does not matter what you use as the ruler means that time is completely and utterly arbitrary. The "measure" of time depends completely on what you use as the ruler.

Now what we commonly refer to as "time" is not an independent "thing". It is an agreed upon method of measuring change.

So yes, it definitely exists, just as latitude and longitude exist. But just like latitude and logitude, it is a totally and completely arbitrary coordinate system.

And just as with latitude and logitude, nothing is "measured". It's only a set of common points by which everything is referenced.

(BTW - Great topic smiless! )

Thanks Sky, nice post.

Time is real (cause and effect tells us this, we live in time), whether it must flow in one direction in the macro world is up for grabs, near the Planck scale it can flow either way.

A more open question is does time exist at higher dimensions if they themselves exist . . . hehe now THAT is a question . . .

Here I agree with JB at least in the fact that time is relative dependent on movement.

Measuring time can be done even when no relational movement takes place between two bodies, it is also not only measured via movement of bodies as previous posters have pointed out. [atomic clocks ect (particles are still changing however)]

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I read later sky covered this . . srry

__________________________________

Although I do not agree that time is arbitrary, time is like math, we can use any number system you want, THAT may be arbitrary, but math itself is not arbitrary and neither is time.

You can use whatever method you want to map the changes of a system (even if no change) but the relationship between intervals is the same (at each level of granularity) regardless of measuring tool, or number system, or method.

Only relative velocity factors into it, and this does so consistently based on special relativity.

You can't agree with her absurd statement and then disagree in the same breath. Time is not dependent on movement. The measurement of time is dependent on movement.

Time is real because we invented it. Did time exist before man? Time is the measurement. The measurement of motion.

Yes I can! I AM THAT GOOD. lol

It depends on what you are referring to as a body and how granular you want to get.

If by body you mean objects such as lets say rocks . . . and those bodies do not move, or change position, time can still tick without relative motion. (atomic movement still applies, things still change)

If by body you mean any particle, then no . . time would have no meaning if all particles stop changing position, if all particulate movement ceased.

If all things stayed the same, you could not say time existed.

Imagine this, you have a very special room in your basement.


You can open the door (it opens out toward you)nothing can enter this room, and nothing can ever leave it, everything outside this room is completely normal. However nothing moves in the room, including particles, you could stare into this room for ever and nothing would move, nothing would change. You can map time outside this room just fine, but once you try to say anything happens within time inside the room you are stumped becuase all moments are identical to every other moment.

Now if this room where real, you couldn't even see it, because even light would not move . . . THAT is the caveat.

Where light moves, time exists.

Time is more then measurement . . . every read special relativity?

e=mc2

time is in there

Not since my physics class many years ago. It hasn't been my current reading.

But what do remember is that Einstein spoke of the "state of motion" and the principals and theories that applied to motion and the constant state of moving bodies and light (speed of light).

But I will dig my books out. I found it interesting back then and I am sure I will do so now.

I believe time in what we perceive to be the past is currently affecting the present. I also believe that the time we perceive as future is constantly being influenced by the present moment. We make time and our futures in each moment that we are alive.

This should then mean that the ability to manifest a better future is always available. However, I do not believe it is possible to manipulate or to be able to attempt to control what will be. I believe that is shaped by how the past affected us and our lives. Some circumstances, we will never be able to change again.

However, we have the power to heal and make healthy the energy in us and around us that we carry from the past. How, I do not know. I have practiced beginning Reiki in the past, but still do not fully understand about energy, the body, soul, mind, environment, and what/whom we attract to us. I believe healing past will correct our energy and feelings in the present moment and positively impact on what we think is future.

Does future affect the present or past? I do not know. I am fascinated by energy and these concepts.

Rather than ask the question "Does time exist?" you should try to define what time truly is.

It has been called a measurement. If it is a measurement, what is it a measurement of?

It seems to measure change or movement in accordance to what we are perceiving. So does time measure movement or does movement determine the time?

It has been called a coordinate in spacetime. The three coordinates of space and time will locate an event and a change in the time coordinate will follow the process of the event. (Beginning, middle, end.)-- event over.

(The conflict started at 7:10 a.m = time coordinate. It happened on earth in 2001, in new York on 5th avenue. = space coordinates.)

But our reality's time is a local phenomenon and it is based on observation of the position of things in relation to us (the earth) basically.

It surely looks like everyone has their own interpertation of what time is. I will just say this about it:


While I proudly show off my new apartment to friends, a college student led the way into the den.

"What is the big brass gong and hammer for?" one of my friends asked.

"That is the talking clock", I replied.

"How's it work?" my friend asks.

"Watch", I say then proceeded to give the gong an ear shattering pound with the hammer.

Suddenly someone screamed from the other side of the wall "KNOCK IT OFF, YOU IDIOT! It's two AM in the morning!

there's the beginning, time, and then the end.

I'm new, but I like to talk about things like this.
Time is a measurement of duration. How short/long something endures or travels through a position or space.
If one believes that time is an illusion, then they must also believe that "space" is an illusion as well.
I don't like the word illusion, as it seems to mean then, its all one's imagination and no one else sees it.
I like the word "reality" as it then makes it something we all perceive, feel, see, etc.
Its odd to me that someone thinks of time as an illusion and then wakes up at 7:00 a.m. 5 days a week to be somewhere.
Every step a person takes, is time, maybe takes 2 seconds per step (I dunno).
When you are outside of time, you are outside the physical universe, most likely for just a moment or without a body and/or energy of any kind.

Kozee

Time isn't a measurement. Time is a dimension in spacetime, which can be measured indirectly.

Spider, So how would you define "dimension?"

I don't think time is a dimension.