What is time?: Philosophy Forums

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What is time?

knowitall
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Posted 05/12/09 - 09:59 AM:	#521
Time is the separation between different instances of the same material phenomenon. For example, time is the separation between the instance of you that started reading this sentence and the instance of you now finishing it. Time is orthogonal to physical space which is the separation between different material phenomena that are perceived to reside in the same instant in time (relative to their observer). As its name indicates spacetime is an amalgam of space and time.

basdirks
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Posted 05/12/09 - 11:21 AM:	#522
It seems some of you want to say: - What is Time? "that which passes" - What does it mean, to "pass"? This can't be said, only known. It can off course be described, but why would this be necessary?

ecspose
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Posted 05/12/09 - 04:35 PM:	#523
Thinking Thing wrote: ecspose wrote: Ok, what is the interval called then that exists within an oscillation? One half oscillation? One millionth of an oscillation? If the oscillation was time, then how could time pass between oscillations? Surely this is just another way of saying "Time is the movement of a clock". We don't talk about distance as being "markers on the road", or "notches on a broomstick", We accept that it exists apart from our methods of quantifying it. Clearly that was covered in my post in discussing unsynchronous oscillators. Clearly. I'm glad you could teach me.
Self replication leads to self replication

ronjanec
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Posted 05/12/09 - 07:01 PM:	#524
Jarnsida, Two PHYSICAL things can not exist in the same place. This rule does not apply to an item and a concept. As many concepts as you like can fill the same place, and a physical item does not mean that you can't put ideas there. Yes, my point exactly: 3:45pm This can only be time existing here defintively not physically. If time is always definitively something else itself existing physically somewhere like I am saying here(or only exists definitively in the same place as some other physical object like in the example of the clock), then time has no physical existence anywhere in the universe. I'd say that's true for how we interpret time. But the universal order of things, the oscillations of planets and all sorts of things like that, will continue on. Animals and the like may not be able to define time, but I believe that it would continue to exist (if only as an useless idea from a dead civilization) in that situation. Yes, all of this would still go on if man did not exist, but this would not be time existing anymore: The oscillations of the planets is just that...the oscillations of the planets(end of story): If man himself no longer existed. This implies that something must have a physical form to exist. If we can measure time, if we have a record of experiments done that shows it slowing down in certain situations, then it exists. It may exist in a non-physical form, but this does not mean that it does not exist. Our ideas, if they go unwritten, only exist in a non-material form, but no one would imply that they do not exist.[/quote] No, I am saying that time can and does exist without it's own physical form by "borrowing" something else's physical form. Time did not slow down in the atomic clock(s) experiment: Atomic movement slowed down(You are one thing or the other right?) We are talking about two completely different things here. This experiment did not prove that time slowed down, or would slow down. Oops, I screwed up the quote function. Edited by ronjanec on 05/12/09 - 07:13 PM

Kwalish Kid
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Posted 05/12/09 - 07:43 PM:	#525
ronjanec wrote: Time did not slow down in the atomic clock(s) experiment: Atomic movement slowed down(You are one thing or the other right?) We are talking about two completely different things here. This experiment did not prove that time slowed down, or would slow down. What experiment would you accept to show that time slowed down?
"Scientific truth is always paradox, if judged by everyday experience, which catches only the delusive nature of things." - KM, V, P and P Can you pass Religion 101?

Thinking Thing
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Posted 05/13/09 - 03:07 AM:	#526
ecspose wrote: Clearly. I'm glad you could teach me. Sorry dude. I misread your question (I wasn't paying much attention) and dismissed it out of hand. My bad. I answered it above. Edited by Thinking Thing on 05/13/09 - 03:13 AM

ronjanec
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Posted 05/13/09 - 05:17 AM:	#527
basdirks wrote: No it wasn't aimed at you. The whole discussion in this thread arises from confusions and presumptions. When you look at "Time" from a superficial philosophical standpoint you're bound to get lost. Heidegger does a good job at putting temporality into words, but for some this won't do. They absolutely MUST know: "What is Time?". I refer those to a dictionary. Most of the confusion in this thread is not my fault, your fault, or the other posters fault: I blame philosophy, science, and the education system for not establishing standards we can all work with. For example, what does the word existence mean? What is being? What are the different categories of existence? etc.

ronjanec
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Posted 05/13/09 - 06:02 AM:	#528
knowitall wrote: Time is the separation between different instances of the same material phenomenon. For example, time is the separation between the instance of you that started reading this sentence and the instance of you now finishing it. Time is orthogonal to physical space which is the separation between different material phenomena that are perceived to reside in the same instant in time (relative to their observer). As its name indicates spacetime is an amalgam of space and time. Ten posts in five years, and I noticed that the few comments you have made on the forum were on the really difficult subjects: I hope that we will see some more of your comments in this thread. What you call seperation, I would call the duration of the sentence or an event. My knowlege of spacetime is very limited, and I am not a physicist, so most of your post went right over my head.

ronjanec
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Posted 05/13/09 - 06:02 AM:	#529
knowitall wrote: Time is the separation between different instances of the same material phenomenon. For example, time is the separation between the instance of you that started reading this sentence and the instance of you now finishing it. Time is orthogonal to physical space which is the separation between different material phenomena that are perceived to reside in the same instant in time (relative to their observer). As its name indicates spacetime is an amalgam of space and time. Ten posts in five years, and I noticed that the few comments you have made on the forum were on the really difficult subjects: I hope that we will see some more of your comments in this thread. What you call separation, I would call the duration of the sentence or an event. My knowlege of spacetime is very limited, and I am not a physicist, so most of your post went right over my head.

ronjanec
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Posted 05/13/09 - 06:02 AM:	#530
Duplicate post.

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