Time does not exist
I wasn't able to sleep last night since I'd slept off a headache during the afternoon. As a result I was laying in bed awake for hours--and that got me to thinking. Not a safe thing, y'know?
One of my conclusions is that time does not exist. I'd been talking about this about 8 weeks ago with Lee but hadn't been very eloquent in my reasoning. I'm going to make another stab at it now.
My reasoning is that time is just a word we use. Time is just a measuring stick by which we judge change. Essentially it's the next dimension past what we can directly perceive. Since we perceive 3 dimensions, we've assigned time to the 4th dimension.
Let's visit a hypothetical situation. A 1-dimensional being, should such a thing exist, would use the second dimension as "time". As its single point moved in a 2-D world, that second dimension would seem to be ever changing from the 1-D critter's perspective--and would be perceived as time. Now to us, beings in a 3-D world, that seems silly, but I suspect that using the 4th dimension to measure change would seem silly to beings that are able to directly perceive 4-D. We are limited to only perceiving the minor aspect of the4th dimension that directly interfaces with our 3-D world. Consider a 2-D line which crosses a 3-D world. It'd be like a photocopier scanner which sees only a line of dots at once. By constructing consecutive lines of dots, that 2-D being would create a world view--but their idea of time would be the consecutive lines of dots. Something we perceive all at once when we look at that piece of paper.
Anyway, that's the sort of thing I think of when I can't sleep at night. Maybe because I view "time" as an enemy during those long hours of sleeplessness. But I stand by my conclusion: time doesn't exist. Mark my words!
One of my conclusions is that time does not exist. I'd been talking about this about 8 weeks ago with Lee but hadn't been very eloquent in my reasoning. I'm going to make another stab at it now.
My reasoning is that time is just a word we use. Time is just a measuring stick by which we judge change. Essentially it's the next dimension past what we can directly perceive. Since we perceive 3 dimensions, we've assigned time to the 4th dimension.
Let's visit a hypothetical situation. A 1-dimensional being, should such a thing exist, would use the second dimension as "time". As its single point moved in a 2-D world, that second dimension would seem to be ever changing from the 1-D critter's perspective--and would be perceived as time. Now to us, beings in a 3-D world, that seems silly, but I suspect that using the 4th dimension to measure change would seem silly to beings that are able to directly perceive 4-D. We are limited to only perceiving the minor aspect of the4th dimension that directly interfaces with our 3-D world. Consider a 2-D line which crosses a 3-D world. It'd be like a photocopier scanner which sees only a line of dots at once. By constructing consecutive lines of dots, that 2-D being would create a world view--but their idea of time would be the consecutive lines of dots. Something we perceive all at once when we look at that piece of paper.
Anyway, that's the sort of thing I think of when I can't sleep at night. Maybe because I view "time" as an enemy during those long hours of sleeplessness. But I stand by my conclusion: time doesn't exist. Mark my words!
Comments
I've always thought you unique. I guess I'll have to stand by and accept it, I suppose. But existence of time -- or anything else -- is not what goes through my mind on sleepless nights. ;-)