We know the Universe started approximately 13.8 billion years ago. This amount of time reaches backwards from the moment I am typing these words...our past. However, also at this same moment, there seems to also be 'time' in front of me. This 'time' hopefully is infinite, and, if it is not infinite, for example if it ends 10 years from now, we can guess all that the Universe is comes to a halt...kind of frozen in time or perhaps we cease to exist. So, if 'time' exists in front of us, then what else can exist in front of us? Is it possible, that a post-history actually exists in front of us? Instead of just 'time' in front of us can there be something tangible in front of us? We believe everything we have in our life today will also be here tomorrow, like our homes, cars, golf clubs, etc. So how can these tangible things be here tomorrow unless tomorrow already exists to support them? If tomorrow exists then why can't we fast-forward or skip? Or is the entire concept of time just a figment of our imagination? Two things give me a headache; 1. The dimension of space is infinite...galaxies make up the universe, therefore...universes make up the ____?____, and whatever this might be makes up the ____?____, and so on to infinity. 2. Time, as we know it, must exist in front of us to infinity. I'm thinking if we can understand and manipulate time, we solve the problem of infinite distances of space...
I believe the widely accepted theory is that there is nothing outside of the universe because the universe is, by definition, everything...all matter. Even if the multiverse theory is accurate it still is all part of the universe because the universe is all matter so in a sense the multiple universes are just small things inside of a large universe. Its kind of a hard question to ask because its like trying to ask what is outside of everything? You can say "nothing" but "nothing" doesn't exist because in order for "nothing" to exist then it must have matter and if it had matter then it would be "something" and if it were "something" then it would be part of the Universe and we are back to square one.
We'll always be 'on square one'. I doubt that there is a square two. The question of 'what was before the beginning of the universe, as we perceive it', seems to be unanswerable. If it was (is) void, absolute nothing, and the boundary of the universe is expanding outward (or inflating, whatever) into it, is the universe sort of shoving it aside (?) or displacing it. Irrelevant I suppose, it doesn't exist. So it would seem that the universe,again as we perceive it, is separate and apart from the 'nothingness' surrounding it (but not surrounding it...because 'it' doesn't exist.). Sort of a 'mobius strip' sort of paradox. And, as I asked before on a very old thread; 'Is the 'nothingness beyond the parameter of the universe and the nothingness beyond the infinitely smallest particle, interconnected?
Does a skin mite have any concept of where it lives? ...and if it does does it have any concept that there another 7 billion homes just like it...of course mites don't have that ability but were not all that dissimilar, can anyone really comphrehend a mulitverse?
I can grasp the idea that without motion time does not exist, however, what if we ask 'without time motion can or cannot exist'?
The Universe we know is just a collection of galaxies. If there are multi-universes, then each one would stand alone, like peers, and have a collection of it's own galaxies. The next question is how many universes can there be? And in the hierarchy from planets to solar systems to galaxies to universes, what's the next system containing all of the universes? Then how far can this Russian-doll process continue? How can we know how much matter exists when we don't know what exists beyond 13.8 billion light years? I think it's okay to ask 'what's outside of everything?' because it's a fun intellectual exercise. If there's nothing outside of all that we know, then how is this 'nothing' defined? If there's something outside of all that we know, then what is it? Maybe the so-called dark matter that we believe exists in our Universe is the same dark matter that exists throughout the multi-universes all with it's own gravity system?
If we remove humans from this discussion, therefore there are no memories, and all we have are the dynamic Universe and multiverses, etc. then don't you believe time would still exist? If the Universe was 100% static, then I can imagine no time. However, it is not static...
Not sure who did the counting, but I remember Sagan saying 'there are more stars in the Universe than there are grains of sand on Earth'. In the OP I suggest if we solve for 'time' we can solve for the interstellar 'distances' that exist. For example, 24 hours of time have passed since yesterday at this time but how much 'distance' was it? We say the Universe is 13.8 billion light years old based on our concept of time...perhaps it's more or less than what we perceive? But if so, and our perception of time is not accurate in the grand scheme of things, then who's perception of time is correct?
Yes, it exists. From the perspective of a photon, in the direction of the motion there is no length, but on the sides ... at the speed of light time is substantially infinite [there is not distance to cover, no motion in the direction of the real motion], but the photon is moving! Time is a dimension depending on the other dimensions of the space time, so that to focus our attention on it is a kind of limitation.
I know that space-time is roughly defined as identifying where (3 spatial dimensions) and when (time) an event takes place. Obviously this data will be relative to the observer. But if we picked up the phone and called a Martian on Mars, to tell them an event took place at 11:04:54 PST, the Martian would have no idea what this means. So this tells me time is not only relative to the observer but also to anyone who is within the same time system, for example, calling London about the 11:04:54 PST event they would know what this means even though they didn't observe the event. If the Mars time zone was added to the Earth time zone, in which we have for example PST, MT, CT, ET, then far-away time zone on Mars, we would understand each others time events. My confusion comes when I think about the Universe and wonder why all of us cannot be on the same time system?
Time system or time line? All the universe lays on one time line, but in it many time systems can exist, depending on how many observers are there. For example, in our beloved Milky Way, our galaxy, the basic time system would be referred to its rotation [the notorious galactic year]. But when did it start? Sure an other civilization in an other sector of the galaxy [we are in the Orion Arm, after a curious star pause, a kind of space abyss] could use the rotation of the galaxy as reference, but the accurate count of the rotations of such an enormous system since its birth is far from being possible [in the sense of the fraction of the galaxy year which lasts millions and millions of terrestrial years, more than 220,000,000!].
Same time system whatever this system might be. Instead of saying an event happened 7.2 billion light years ago, provide a 'date' or 'time' of the event which everyone in the Universe will understand. Maybe there is Universe-sal time followed by regional or local times? Not sure why we must design 'time' around the movement of objects such as the rotation of Earth, or galaxy rotation, etc.? If we're in space and have no relation to a rotating object, what will time be based on? What I'm trying to understand is if there was an 'event' on a nearby solar system, the 'time' of that event should have the same numeric value for those located in other solar systems...like Solar Date 1733459682.7.56.3. If we're observing an event over great distances, like 7.2 billion light years of distance, why not have a Solar Date for that event, perhaps starting with the BB? No matter where any person is located in the Universe, no matter the observational distances, there would be a single numeric number to identify the 'time' of that event...
Potentially the most common time system in this universe could be the one which starts from the beginning of the starting inflation of the universe [that is to say from "when" time appeared] using as unit of measurement of time the vibration of the atom of hydrogen [the most common in the universe]. But terrestrial atomic clocks using atoms of hydrogen suffer of lack of accuracy in the very long term.
No. We humans have a difficult time comprehending comprehension. We are limited to our meager senses of perception; seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling. We can't smell the Universe, so scratch one. We can see and hear very little of it. I doubt it smells(?) however we can touch what's available to be touched. Not too much. We take that limited information our limited senses provides us and make absurd calculations that are virtually meaningless, pat ourselves on our collective backs and announce, Yep, we understand the macrocosm. Oh and by the way, we also understand the microcosm...what arrogance we humans have.
yeah the size of earth compared to me ... the earth in comparison to the sun...our sun compared to largest known star which if it was ours it's outer edges would reach past the orbit of Saturn! ...anything after that becomes irrelevant...for me personally I stopped at me vs the earth comparisons...skin mites quite sensibly don't even bother with such questions ...
If we remove ourselves from the Universe, thinking only locally, meaning the Earth, then we create a time system based on the rotation of the Earth. If we visit Mars then Earth's time system does not work. If we visit the closest solar system Earth's time becomes meaningless. But if we are in space, with our Solar system, Alpha Venturi, both in our sight, and we observe a flash coming from the Solar system, when we record the event, what time do we state? I can understand 'time' being relative to the observer, however, if the observer can travel from one time system to another, they will need to have multiple wrist-watches all with their unique time mechanisms. As the Voyager spacecraft cruise through and out of our Solar system, as they observe events, what time is used to document those events? Maybe there is a clock frequency from the BB radiation which permeates all of the Universe...
The problem of a common time appeared when the railways connected far cities. Before of that, there was no necessity that at London citizens thought it was 10.00 PM like citizens in Manchester [in Manchester they were free to think it was 10.10 PM]. Simply because it was necessary to avoid that two trains passed on the same rail in the same time [for obvious reasons!]. The railway stations with telegraph to coordinate local times became the centers of control of time. Today, on this planet we have got local timings [with the jet leg effect to manage when we travel, I had experience of this going to Nepal, and it was a difference of less than 5 hours from Italy]. When we will travel to different planets, we will have not only to deal with different times, but with different durations of the day! Nothing can allow us to imagine that inhabited planets around other stars have got days of 24 hours ... imagine to take land on a planet with days of 44 hours. You should change your pace of life, and get the habit to sleep 12 ours every 44 [!!! Our descendants will envy us and our beloved jet leg].
I think It depends.... Consciousness, I believe, is the key because without it there is no past, present or future. In consciousness, there is only a constantly advancing future and a constantly receding past. Could be the Universe is mostly made up of 'black matter' which is another name for 'unknown' but influential.' Some 'brainstorming'.... The 'big bang' may be only a miniscule event within a vastly complex and fluctuating universe most of which we have no way to discern yet. Moreover, we may never be able to discern 'black matter' until we change our fundamental individual make up of the elements. Since we are part of that event, we are 'riding' on it's crest which means we are subject to time as we know it. Consider an entity living in a 2-dimensional world where there is only perception along a flat plane. If you (as a 3-dimensional entity) poke your finger down from the top of that 2-dimensional world, you'd be a 'god' because you could appear anywhere at any time from the 2-dimensional perspective. Good thread!!
My understanding is that photons don't move, because there is no time at the speed of light. We see them as moving at the speed of light but to them, there is no movement and all places are the same.
Interesting....How about the 'double-slit' experiment? How would that fit into that scenario? Would observation cause movement?
