What is Time?
Hello beautiful people.
I wanted to write a blog about time and I did some research about the subject then I got lost in time.
I am not sure if I understood all I read.
I wanted know the answers to the following questions:
Does time have a beginning?
Can we consider time without considering space?
Was there a universe before time?
When did time become a feature of the universe?
How was the universe before time came into existence?
Those are all questions I wish I could answer, because I am not sure if I understood what I read.
If somebody could explain in easy words, please enlighten us
But I am going to try to make this post interesting and not stop at the questions marks.
What is time and why it is always moving forward?
We take it for granted that time always move forward but physicists don’t: most natural laws are “time reversible” which means they would work just as well as running backwards.
Imagine that for a second. People would grow younger instead of older and, after a process of gradual rejuvenation – unlearning everything they know – they would ending up in the wombs of their mothers.
Time’s direction is an issue that cosmologists also are grappling with. Not only physicists
For a long time scientists, including Albert Einstein, thought that the universe was static and infinite but we know now that it is not; that it is in fact expanding, and at an accelerating rate.
We came to the conclusion that it must have originated from a more compact state that we call the Big Bang,
If we believe in the Big Bang theory, it means that time does have a beginning. Through various realizations scientists started to you to determine the age of the universe (see below).
It is very complicated subject, so I am going to just talk about time on our planet earth.
The simple answer that everyone can understand is that time is the persistent progress of existence and events that occur in an irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future
This definition of time is not complete because it doesn’t take into account Time perception which is a field of study that refers to the subjective experience of time, which is measured by personal perception of the duration of advancing of events.
Time perception seems to be a simple subject, but believe me it is not.
I can simply say that we can measure the perceived time interval between two successive events but the confusion is when we know its is not possible to understand or experience another person's perception of time.
Apparently the reason is because Time Perception is a construction of the sapient brain, but one that is manipulable and distortable under certain circumstances.
I hope it makes sense.
Certain emotional states have effect on time perceptions
Here are some examples:
Awe The feeling of awecan expand somebody perceptions of time Because when we are in a state of awe we experience of immense perceptual vastness together with an increase in focusing our temporal perception would slow down 
Fear Time seems to slow down for a person during dangerous events such as a robbery, a car accident, a robbery, or when we are in front of a predator. It sis the same when a person skydives or bungee jumps, where they're capable of complex thoughts in what would normally be the blink of an eye 
Empathy
The perception of another persons' emotions can also change our sense of time.
Embodied cognition connect on an internal process that mimics or simulates another's emotional state. For example, if person #1 spends time with person #2 who speaks and walks incredibly slowly, person #1's internal clock may slow down.
Depression
Depression may increase one's ability to perceive time accurately.
Depressed people focused less on external factors that may change their judgment of time.
In addition to emotions, time perception can change with age and drugs
There are so many other topics related to time but the blog will be much longer and let finish with a simple definition of time everyone can understand
It has been really very interesting to do research about time.
I hope you enjoyed the post and please put your comments about what you think time is.Also, please put what time is it where you are when you read this post
Have a great weekend ahead.
Love and Bliss
Adel
Recent Comments
44
Interesting post. That must have been fun to research.
In my first book, a small essay on time was included. I'll quote just a couple of sentences:
"Time is non-existent, except for our feeling for its life...Time is only a tool to give a rationale for being. Time does not pass; we pass through space and call our passing time."
A timely post.
Hello Fran
It has been very interesting research about time.
It's really a complicated subject and it's confusing
The more I think I understand, the more I realized I don't.
It's confusing because also at times I though I found all the answers, the questions have changed.
I think it's Paolo Coetho said that and it's so true with me
Thank you for sharing the quotes.
There is truth in them
Have a great weekend and Merry Christmas my friend
I have to agree with Jerry and Keisha. Time is subjective, and an illusion.
I will admit, that in reading this, you may have made given me a brain cramp though ;)
(hahaha)!
Shaunna
Hello Shaunna,
I think there is truth in what you said.
Time is really a complicated subject
The more I think I understand, the more I realized I don't.
It's confusing because also at times I though I found all the answers, the questions have changed.
I think it's Paolo Coetho said that and it's so true with me
Have a great weekend and Merry Christmas my friend
Hello Michael and Jovo,
There is truth in what you said both.
Time is a very complicated subject
I some research before wrote the blog and the more I think I understand, the more I realized I don't.
It's confusing because also at times I though I found all the answers, the questions have changed.
I think it's Paolo Coetho said that and it's so true with me
Have a great weekend and Merry Christmas my friend
Actually it is not what you say (that most natural laws are “time reversible”).
The most fundamental second law of thermodynamics tells you the opposite, there is no time symmetry here, it is irreversible.
There is yet another problem in what you write (that the universe is in fact expanding, and at an accelerating rate). If so, how come that such a highly improbable initial state has ever existed? Expanding? Into what?
I happen to be a theoretical physicist and I rather do not think about these popular theories about big bang and other nonsense. They just male no sense, and as you say in the first sentence it is easy to get lost in time.
"Can we consider time without considering space?" No, everything is described in a 4D space-time universe. Note also that the time is not absolute, it depends on the physical system. In short, time passes slower in a moving system than in a stationary one, this seems to be proven without a doubt.
Hello Jovo,
Thank yo my friend for sharing your thoughts.
It seems that you understand what time is.
It's great
I did some research before I wrote the blog, and the more I think I understand, the more I realized I don't.
My conclusion is that we still don't know much about time and what we know now will be diminished one day after other new theories come up backed but conclusive experiments and measurements by tools that we still don't have now
It's confusing because also at times we think we got all the answers, the questions will changed.
Have a great weekend and Merry Christmas my friend
No, I am far from understanding what the time is. But there are physical laws that describe certain aspects of it, and those are facts now. They cannot be changed because they are confirmed experimentally.
There is no physical law known to me that has ever been diminished with new theories. This is impossible, this is why we call them laws. They can be broadened but cannot be ruined.
Theories are theories, they have no value of laws. There are many crazy theories out there but I would not mix them with laws. Think about the Big Bang nonsense, or dark matter, or dark energy. This only tells you that we have no clue what is going on, and some introduce such terms which have no meaning.
I like what yoy say that "questions will change". This is the point, there is no end of the process of learning, otherwise this would be the end of everything.
Great weekend to you too, I understand you are in Japan, have spent a big part of my scientific career there in Tokyo, Nagoya and Fukuoks, such a wonderful country.
Rod Serling in the Twilight Zone indicated imagination was the 5th (and Potentially higher) dimension. I submit that imagination perceives different contingent (if then) tracks of time. A cross time trek. This takes one in a different "direction" than the normal time stream. What are your thoughts on this?
Was once in a bad car accident and I remember time slowing down, IE my perception of it. I can still see the scene in my head and it is in slow motion. I have read that this occurs with many who have been in a traumatic situation. I have always wondered if time or the universe had a beginning, how could that be? What was there before the beginning? One could go crazy thinking about this stuff. Very interesting, however.
I am sorry to hear about your bad accident my friend
I hope you are fine now.
Yes, time is a very complicated subject.
I did some research before I wrote the post and the more I think I understand, the more I realized I don't.
Have a great weekend and Merry Christmas my friend
Adel,
Those are all interesting. I've been aware of most of them having read some of these theories. As far as time on earth is concerned, most primitive societies used cyclical time -- the seasonal cycle for example. They remembered events by recalling other memorable events that happened at the same or near the same time.
According to a book I read by Thomas Cahill, The Gift of the Jews, it was the Jews who gave us linear time like we see it today. They saw time beginning with the creation (the big bang) and ending in some apocalypse in the future.
Physicists are finding that time warps in the universe and that it can run backwards, but reading all that makes my head hurt.
Good post.
Ellen
Thank you Ellen.
I think there is truth in what you said.
I did some research before I wrote the blog, and the more I think I understand, the more I realized I don't.
My conclusion is that we still don't know much about time and what we know now will be diminished one day after other new theories come up backed but conclusive experiments and measurements by tools that we still don't even have now
It's confusing because also at times we think we got all the answers, the questions will changed.
Have a great weekend and Merry Christmas my friend
So true
I did some research before I wrote the blog, and the more I think I understand, the more I realized I don't.
My conclusion is that we still don't know much about time and what we know now will be diminished one day after other new theories come up backed but conclusive experiments and measurements by tools that we still don't even have now
It's confusing because also at times we think we got all the answers, the questions will changed.
Have a great weekend and Merry Christmas my friend
... artificial construct ... no confusion here about that ....
keep well, keep happy! ... that's real ! .... cheerio .... 😊
enjoy a beautiful holiday season ... 🎁 virtual gift ...
So true but some say time is an illusion
It's very complicated subject.
I did some research before I wrote the blog, and the more I think I understood, the more I realized I don't.
My conclusion is that we still don't know much about time and what we know now will be diminished one day after other new theories come up backed but conclusive experiments and measurements by tools that we still don't even have now
It's confusing because also at times we think we got all the answers, the questions will changed.
Have a great weekend and Merry Christmas my friend
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Hi Adel. Enjoyed your post. Looks like time is a subject that one could spend a lifetime studying, only to have more unanswered questions... just thinking...
Hello Raymond,
I am glad you enjoyed the post
It's really a complicated subject
The more I think I understand, the more I realized I don't.
It's confusing because also at times I though I found all the answers, the questions have changed.
I think it's Paolo Coetho said that and it's so true with me
Have a great weekend and Merry Christmas my friend
I know what you mean Adel - I used to study the concept of time in the 1980's. It is a fascinating topic.
Have a great weekend and Merry Christmas