How long does the present moment last before it is gone?

And the answer I get is:

It either has to last forever or it does not last at all.

Therefore, if everything that exists, exists in the present moment then the present moment must last forever or else nothing would exist.

Your makeing my head hurt Jeannie !i'm not sure I follow your logic .For as far as I can see a moment is but a blink of an eye . For instance this post will last untill no one posts anymore then it will dissapear when ionterest is lost .Then it will only be a memory for you until you forget it .

That's an interesting observation and in a very real sense it is necessarily true. After all, if the 'now' has a duration, with what would that duration be measured with respect to?

I believe it was Albert Einstein who showed that time and space are inseparable and interchangeable as well as malleable quantities of the physical world. Mathematical linear time (as we use it) is really a measurement of two seemingly separate phenomena. (potentially three if we allow intuitive mental perception into the picture)

The first is a measurement of motion. But all motion is relative. Therefore in this context time is nothing more than a measurement of,... guess what? Relativity!

Einstein showed that even this measurement of time is itself dependent upon motion. So here we have motion depending upon motion. A bit of a circular concept the resolution to which is the fact that space (moving from place to place) and time (the measurement of how you move from place to place) are two aspects of the same thing (i.e. a single fabric of spacetime).

The second kind of time, is not truly a measurement of time at all, but rather an observation of why some processes appear to have a one-way direction with respect to changing motion. This aspect of time shows up in the second law of thermodynamics as "Entropy". Entropy is be explained by the simple fact that, ultimately, it requires work to keep thinks in a highly organized state. Therefore, in any 'closed system' things will tend toward a highly disorganized state of randomness as energy is dissipated as heat. In this situation the very concept of heat in absolute terms ultimately equals a state of randomness. But once again, randomness only has meaning with respect to other things. After all, if we only had one immalleable thing how could we ever claim that it took up a random configuration? So entropy requires multiplicity or at the very least malleability.

Finally we have the mental perception of time. However, the mental perception of time stems from memory and memory can ultimately be explained in terms of entropy. So memory is really nothing more than a recording of the process of entropy. Past and future are nothing more than a reference to the memory of previous entopic states, and the expectation that future entopic states are yet to be experienced.

In fact, when we realized that this is the meaning of past and future it should be clear why time travel would be impossible. It would be impossible to go back and visit a previous entopic state. That state no longer exists. Everything exists in an ever-changing 'now'.

Now and eternity are one in the same thing. The only way to visit the past would be to recreate the entopic states of the past moment in question.

In fact, to believe that we could travel into the past, implies that the past is still there to visit. This would require that every moment exists for all of eternity. Which of course it does. But that's because there is only one such moment. It is an ever-changing moment. Therefore the past is not back there the past as become the present.

A Comment About Light

Light is a strange sort of thing however. According to Einstein's equations of Relativity anything that travels at the speed of light does not experience any entropy at all. In other words, for light, time stands still. For light there is no such thing as time. From the point of view of a photon the entire universe happens all at once. Light exists only in the now and from the perspective of light there is no such thing as time.

Interesting thoughts to ponder huh?

This rambling was brought to you by Now. Although some entropy was used to create it. And by the time you read this these words will have aged somewhat within the confines of this spacetime continuum.

Abra,I believe you are right that light exists only in the present moment, which is where all things exist.. NOW.




There is no such thing as time with respect to light. Light is not affected by time. The reason light seems to 'travel' through space from our perspective is because of the warped nature of our perception of reality as a three dimensional spacetime construct. The true nature of light is that it has no speed at all. It is only through our perspective that it appears to 'travel' or have speed.

Therefore, there is no way we are perceiving the true nature of reality or 'actuality' as Creative calls it.

So what is it that we are seeing? Projections of the mind in warped space, illuminated by the light perhaps?

A blink of the eye can be measured. That is about movement. Divide that blink into three parts: The beginning of the blink, the middle of the blink, the end of the blink. Now divide it into six parts, and so on. There are infinite increments of movement from an open eye to a closed eye and it being opened again. Each of those quantum units can be divided into still smaller increments of movement.

We measure a moment or a second or split second according to our perception ability to see movement. But there are things we don't see that are moving too quickly for our eyes to catch. How far does that go? How many things move and vibrate in our reality that we cannot see?

How many different kinds of light are not visible to our eyes?

Time moves at the speed of light

let me ask you this question: is light from a star instantly seen through the entirety of the universe? another way to ask: when you glance at the sun, how old is the light you are seeing?

Turns out, light from the sun is about 8 seconds old when we see it here on Earth. Light has a very distinctly measurable velocity, roughly 300,000,000 m/s but that's in a vacuum. Through some medium, eg, water, it will be less. Sciene considers it to be the ultimate velocity in the universe but it is niether infinite nor immeasurable.

That depends on the fidelity of the recording device.

From our frame of reference the light took 8 seconds to reach us . . . from the frame of reference either at the speed of light or that of light, there is no time, only movement.

The faster you move through space, the slower through time.

Time reaches 0 at the speed of light . . . that is the point being made.

This does not of course make sense, nevertheless its reality.

understood but the contention was that in effect, time does not exist. At the same time it has been said here that time and space are in effect the same, with which I'm inclined to agree.

but if it is so that time does not exist, then does space not exist as well? Space exists. We live in it. so where in the tween that the tow meet?

further, it is impossible to reach the speed of light. as one approaches the speed of light, the speed of light "speeds up" such that it always appears to the observer to be moving at the speed of light...

even if one were to approach the speed of light, time wou;d not cease to exist, it would just slow down so as to appear to be standing still while the rest of the universe continues to experience time as it always had..

mind bending topic. my thanks to the op.

Sure, and for light its true, for matter it is not.


Again, for light its true, for matter it is not.

Yes its true, its impossible for matter to accelerate to the speed of light, but not becuase the ceiling grows, but becuase of the relationship between time and space, and how it requires exponential force to accelerate faster when your mass is increasing.

F=MA The problem is that M gets bigger the closing to the speed of light. There for this simple equation shows why when M gets bigger and A gets bigger it causes F to have to become exponentially bigger, which eventually (at C) gets to infinity.

Yes, this is the point of relativity.

We can make no observation of time and space without a specific frame of reference.


The eye is able to capture about 40-60 FPS (Frames per second)

Now that needs to be distinct from the idea of other bands of the light spectrum.

The frame rate the eye can capture is different then the wavelength of light the light sensitive cells in the eye are attuned to.

ah ha! but it is possib;e to accelerate matter to near the speed of light. This occurs in nuclear reactions. Is this not the meaning of E=MC^2? doesn't relativity tell us that infact matter and energy are one in the same, that matter can be made into energy ie, light?

thus if it is true for time and space, then then it must be true for matter and energy..

no?

Well, a moment is a short period of time, how long I dont know. I suppose if it were actually measured, or could be, wed know. I suppose until who ever is considering the moment is in charge there, but all in all its a short time.

Kids around the world in kmart are wondering this sameeee thing, RIGHT NOW.

Also, as long as RIGHT NOW lasts.

Sooo, you do the math.

Maybe, but not really. The only variables in the equation above are energy and mass, so that is all the equation covers. E = Mc**2 is a bit like 1 Euro = 1.5 dollars. It is just the exchange rate for energy and mass. Time comes to play in formulas which include time.

Relativity is something a little different. You may not be incorrect but you are mixing apples and oranges. Matter and energy are one and the same, they just have different wrappers.

So JeannieBean, are you trying to decided if someone is Mr. Right? or Mr. Right now?

Seems once again, a case of having to deal with semantics.

The structure of 'matter' would have to change in order to be compatible with light, which has no speed outside of the vacuum of space.

Can the structure and vibration of matter change? And if so, what might cause it to change?

If time does not exist, then space does not exist either; therefor movement is all about vibration and frequency NOT about movement THROUGH ANY SPACE.

So if there is any movement, (and we know there is) then the movement is VIBRATION AND FREQUENCY and not a moving of matter from one part of warped space to another part of warped space within a vacuum.

The structure of matter can change, in my opinion and it can and will change its frequency.

When this happens, time as we know it, will cease to exist.

Why then would time slow if we close to the speed of light?

Perhaps the speed of light is also not the limiting factor we percive it to be.

Anyone here heard of Cherenkov Radiation. It has been observed to actually arrive at a controlled destination before a beam of light when both are fired at the same time. (Faster then Light?.. They say its not possible).

Not faster then C, just faster then the speed light travels as it propagates through a medium such as water, glass, atmosphere ect.

The blue light of Cherenkov Radiation is due to Doppler shift. This is NOT faster then the speed of light just faster then light moving at less then the speed of light through a medium.

Confused yet?


If you made any sense here, then I could not tell. Lets break it down maybe that will help.

What does it even mean to talk about light and matter and compatibility?

Yes and Yes.

Matter's structure is what makes each element discrete.

The "vibration" of matter is called thermal energy.

One example of a method to make larger structures of atoms that create new elements is with a particle collider, and you can heat up anything and increase the rate at which the atoms vibrate, enough heat will also cause elemental bonds to break which also changes the structure of matter.

Theoretically space can exists without time. A space with no matter would not have any meaningful way of having time due to no movement of said non existant matter through space.

Time being representative of motion means that time is dependent on motion not space, how this fits into relativity and space time is for someone more educated then me.

Why?

The true nature of light is that it has no "speed" except within a spacetime vacuum. (All it has is its own frequency.)

If you could "travel" at the speed of light you are being "compatible with light" and there is no time. Time is nonexistent. Entropy stops.

The structure of 'matter' would have to change in order to be compatible with light, because matter, as it stands, cannot "travel" at the speed of light through the spacetime vacuum it has created.

Matter has created warped space. This space cannot exist without matter. (You disagree, I realize.)



I don't see any logic in the idea that space could exist without matter. Without matter, there is only light or darkness. Space cannot be perceived, measured, mapped, etc. Space would be nothing but an idea, presuming there was an observer existing in this space to have an idea of space.




When the vibration of matter changes, the speed of light traveling through a spacetime vacuum will change.(Because the spacetime vacuum will change and there will be less resistance) When the speed of light changes, time changes. (Time as we know it will change. There may still be time but it will be different.)

If the vibration of matter changes (throughout a spacetime vacuum) to match the speed of light, time will cease to exist completely. All that will exist is NOW and HERE and each person or group of persons (individuals) will create their own spacetime environment or reality.

This will be done in a similar way that we create an environment for lucid dreaming that seems very real.