"Eternity is time
Time, eternity
To see the two as opposites
Is Man's perversity"
The Book of Angelus Silesius
What is time - Musings based on Physical Philosophy?
I have thought (ok for some years atleast) that, what we measure in seconds or minutes is not time and time is among the most mysterious concepts forever within us but remain elusive in its complete understanding. For me, it is quite amazing to reflect that it took an Einstein and his genius to rewrite the history of Physics with his audacious attack on fixed Newtonian scheme of universe. Which core idea pile drived the startling dismantling at the base of foundations of Physics? It was nothing but the radical rewriting of the concept of time!
Time is an amorphous concept inherent in our selves which we perceive as flux in the observable world and its effects on us. Based on this definition, if we imagine an immobile person completely shut off in a dark room but conscious of himself, he perceives a flow of time. This is due to the person, though he cannot observe the flux of universe (similar to the state of a sense impaired person lying down motionless), through his intellect can "sense" the change of state of his body, his rhythmic breathing, hear beats, rumbling in stomach, uneasiness in some joints. If we take this argument further, it can be argued that such sort of imaginary person can sense something similar to time, but as and when new changes cease to be perceived as new and a sort of repetitiveness in the senseless dark world engulfs the person, then his sense of any reliable measurement of the elapsed times will be impaired. For him such confinement of 1 year is no different from 50 years, but the world outside may have completely changed. So left to ourselves in a completely shut off state, any sort of reliable time measure fails and we cannot self consistently talk about change of objects in the universe with any agreement on a sort of universal time within ourselves. So we all have cognitive mental images of a state of world at one reference point which is then compared at another point with the reference state of own self understood to be the time invariant base. So it is obvious that this cant be measured quantitatively. I came across a well written research paper on the individual perception of time by a mathematician, Ludger Ruschendorf. He interestingly constructs a model of time perception based on the intensity of interesting events, and in a very general setting proves that the model allows for logarithmic decrease of feeling of time. So as we grow older, the well known assertion that time moves slower is proved!
What does Science say about time? Based on Einsteins special theory of relativity arguments, it can be proved that simultaneity as a concept has to be rewritten in the language of relativity. This based on the proven scientific assertion that no one can agree on the simultaneity of any event. Taking this argument further, a mind boggling realization can be reached, the world as encompassed in the space time as en entity, is "frozen" - so to speak, where past present and future of the universe exists simultaneously at all time anywhere. If we care to take this argument (based on the sound logic), then any self respecting physicist would wonder "what is that the variable "t" in classical dynamics and quantum mechanics equations doing" - if change of "t" itself is illusory, so to speak? I have observed that Physicist Julian Barbour, in his thought provoking book "The end of time" and Philosopher J M E McTaggart in early 20th century essentially argues that time is illusory. If the world history and its future evolution is irrevocably etched in frozen space time what does it mean to have a time variant evolution of physical systems? But wait, isnt this similar in proposition to the already existing space and we happily measure distances between two bodies without evoking any logical incredulity in mind?
Also string theoretic and Quantum Mechanic logic dictates an ultimately quantized time with discontinuous properties. We could imagine the world forever growing and stopping an infinitely large number of times in every human second. (If quantum of time is 10^-35 s or so, then universe will start and stop 10^35 times every single second)
Lets imagine ourselves to be hovering motionless in deep space with a huge ball for company, and nothing else but you and a big ball in an empty corner of the universe. We are totally isolated and the space around us is empty with no shard of matter or energy (elementary particle, neutrino, neutralino, quarks, non hadronic matter, dark energy or whatever new types yet to be discovered) in our neighborhood. But getting a little ahead, it could argued also that complete emptiness is also a physically unrealizable concept. What does it mean to have space and time but no matter? Newtonian concept calls for absolute space and time as an entity outside of matter. According to many physicists, this is not a logically correct concept due to the inherent fuzziness in quantum nature of the entities and that any empty space will be permeated with the quantum fluctuations of matter and energy fields at all place and all time. But lets just put little physical niggle aside for the time and continue along.
Any movement is space is perceived though information transmitted from the moving object through light waves; which our mind processes as a change of state. This intertwined evolution of our observation of this part of universe and consequent change of information about it (if we assume that the quantum mechanical uncertainty is always source of new information), if normalized wrt to a quantity, I would say that is time. Any metaphysical interpretation of time without a physical basis will not affect us, and in this respect would be as good as irrelevant. What we perceive as the history and future evolution of a ball in space is completely determined by observation of the ball for a finite of amount of time. With this, the entire history of ball and its future can be accurately deduced. As information is is the uncertainty of outcome, processing of information with the help of relevant physical laws will remove uncertainty about the motion of the matter. While we do not know beforehand that the ball will hit the hovering space man, by observation and deduction we can safely calculate this possibility of such a collision. This is what is called determinism of physical laws in classical sense. As the famous thought experiment of "universes A,B, C with flashing lights at regular times" show, it is not absurd, but we can even logically think about a duration when time didnt flow, as long as it has a physical basis - a changeless universe. So change in information and change of state is the physical basis of time. Here we can escape from a logical problem by postulating ultimate bulding blocks of matter and energy. A particle or matter (eg an electron) might not change at all since creation, hence for the matter on its own does not possess a time varying property, but since it has some ultimate structure with internal change of states which affect the physical properties of its interaction, time still persists even in a basic universe with a single electron.
Buddhists (rational Buddhism) often think of the word as a series of recurrences going on for infinite time, with no beginning or end or purpose for the world, and only for the soul or energy that animate living matter induce change of state of matter and evolve and dissolve in an infinite regress. I find this unappealing for two reasons 1) We cannot logically think of an infinite physical parameter in a physical universe without producing logical fallacies - as sound logic is prelude to any sensible explanation of universe, this argument fails here 2) If an explanation of the sort which somehow incorporate a cyclical time is the case, then by definition of time as a measure of rate of change of information of a physical object - what would they perceive as cyclical time is in its essence a linear time. Topology of time as linear in nature or even curling back to itself is counter intuitive to the notion of a cyclical time, as the curling back is not by physical characteristic produce a cyclical universe of the definition.
Time, eternity
To see the two as opposites
Is Man's perversity"
The Book of Angelus Silesius
What is time - Musings based on Physical Philosophy?
I have thought (ok for some years atleast) that, what we measure in seconds or minutes is not time and time is among the most mysterious concepts forever within us but remain elusive in its complete understanding. For me, it is quite amazing to reflect that it took an Einstein and his genius to rewrite the history of Physics with his audacious attack on fixed Newtonian scheme of universe. Which core idea pile drived the startling dismantling at the base of foundations of Physics? It was nothing but the radical rewriting of the concept of time!
Time is an amorphous concept inherent in our selves which we perceive as flux in the observable world and its effects on us. Based on this definition, if we imagine an immobile person completely shut off in a dark room but conscious of himself, he perceives a flow of time. This is due to the person, though he cannot observe the flux of universe (similar to the state of a sense impaired person lying down motionless), through his intellect can "sense" the change of state of his body, his rhythmic breathing, hear beats, rumbling in stomach, uneasiness in some joints. If we take this argument further, it can be argued that such sort of imaginary person can sense something similar to time, but as and when new changes cease to be perceived as new and a sort of repetitiveness in the senseless dark world engulfs the person, then his sense of any reliable measurement of the elapsed times will be impaired. For him such confinement of 1 year is no different from 50 years, but the world outside may have completely changed. So left to ourselves in a completely shut off state, any sort of reliable time measure fails and we cannot self consistently talk about change of objects in the universe with any agreement on a sort of universal time within ourselves. So we all have cognitive mental images of a state of world at one reference point which is then compared at another point with the reference state of own self understood to be the time invariant base. So it is obvious that this cant be measured quantitatively. I came across a well written research paper on the individual perception of time by a mathematician, Ludger Ruschendorf. He interestingly constructs a model of time perception based on the intensity of interesting events, and in a very general setting proves that the model allows for logarithmic decrease of feeling of time. So as we grow older, the well known assertion that time moves slower is proved!
What does Science say about time? Based on Einsteins special theory of relativity arguments, it can be proved that simultaneity as a concept has to be rewritten in the language of relativity. This based on the proven scientific assertion that no one can agree on the simultaneity of any event. Taking this argument further, a mind boggling realization can be reached, the world as encompassed in the space time as en entity, is "frozen" - so to speak, where past present and future of the universe exists simultaneously at all time anywhere. If we care to take this argument (based on the sound logic), then any self respecting physicist would wonder "what is that the variable "t" in classical dynamics and quantum mechanics equations doing" - if change of "t" itself is illusory, so to speak? I have observed that Physicist Julian Barbour, in his thought provoking book "The end of time" and Philosopher J M E McTaggart in early 20th century essentially argues that time is illusory. If the world history and its future evolution is irrevocably etched in frozen space time what does it mean to have a time variant evolution of physical systems? But wait, isnt this similar in proposition to the already existing space and we happily measure distances between two bodies without evoking any logical incredulity in mind?
Also string theoretic and Quantum Mechanic logic dictates an ultimately quantized time with discontinuous properties. We could imagine the world forever growing and stopping an infinitely large number of times in every human second. (If quantum of time is 10^-35 s or so, then universe will start and stop 10^35 times every single second)
Lets imagine ourselves to be hovering motionless in deep space with a huge ball for company, and nothing else but you and a big ball in an empty corner of the universe. We are totally isolated and the space around us is empty with no shard of matter or energy (elementary particle, neutrino, neutralino, quarks, non hadronic matter, dark energy or whatever new types yet to be discovered) in our neighborhood. But getting a little ahead, it could argued also that complete emptiness is also a physically unrealizable concept. What does it mean to have space and time but no matter? Newtonian concept calls for absolute space and time as an entity outside of matter. According to many physicists, this is not a logically correct concept due to the inherent fuzziness in quantum nature of the entities and that any empty space will be permeated with the quantum fluctuations of matter and energy fields at all place and all time. But lets just put little physical niggle aside for the time and continue along.
Any movement is space is perceived though information transmitted from the moving object through light waves; which our mind processes as a change of state. This intertwined evolution of our observation of this part of universe and consequent change of information about it (if we assume that the quantum mechanical uncertainty is always source of new information), if normalized wrt to a quantity, I would say that is time. Any metaphysical interpretation of time without a physical basis will not affect us, and in this respect would be as good as irrelevant. What we perceive as the history and future evolution of a ball in space is completely determined by observation of the ball for a finite of amount of time. With this, the entire history of ball and its future can be accurately deduced. As information is is the uncertainty of outcome, processing of information with the help of relevant physical laws will remove uncertainty about the motion of the matter. While we do not know beforehand that the ball will hit the hovering space man, by observation and deduction we can safely calculate this possibility of such a collision. This is what is called determinism of physical laws in classical sense. As the famous thought experiment of "universes A,B, C with flashing lights at regular times" show, it is not absurd, but we can even logically think about a duration when time didnt flow, as long as it has a physical basis - a changeless universe. So change in information and change of state is the physical basis of time. Here we can escape from a logical problem by postulating ultimate bulding blocks of matter and energy. A particle or matter (eg an electron) might not change at all since creation, hence for the matter on its own does not possess a time varying property, but since it has some ultimate structure with internal change of states which affect the physical properties of its interaction, time still persists even in a basic universe with a single electron.
Buddhists (rational Buddhism) often think of the word as a series of recurrences going on for infinite time, with no beginning or end or purpose for the world, and only for the soul or energy that animate living matter induce change of state of matter and evolve and dissolve in an infinite regress. I find this unappealing for two reasons 1) We cannot logically think of an infinite physical parameter in a physical universe without producing logical fallacies - as sound logic is prelude to any sensible explanation of universe, this argument fails here 2) If an explanation of the sort which somehow incorporate a cyclical time is the case, then by definition of time as a measure of rate of change of information of a physical object - what would they perceive as cyclical time is in its essence a linear time. Topology of time as linear in nature or even curling back to itself is counter intuitive to the notion of a cyclical time, as the curling back is not by physical characteristic produce a cyclical universe of the definition.
