DoctorDick, aside from yourself and Ansii, nobody is looking at this issue from outside of a specific worldview. I'm not, that's for sure. Mine just happens to bring the same concept of time to the discussion as yours does, and I totally agree and accept your definition of time. Until you gave it, I had no actual definition of time.
The fact that you derived your concept of time outside of a specific worldview, using pure mathematics, is to me astonishing. Perhaps I should be ashamed to admit that, but I'm not. Those who disagree with you seem to completely ignore the mathematical arguments you make and focus instead on trying to get you to straighten out their worldview which contains a contradictory definition or idea of time.
They go, 'look at my worldview'. You go, 'look at my mathematics and stop looking at your worldview!'. That scares them so they come back at you with 'look at my worldview', etc.
How long has this been going on.... I'm thinking of a song....
You know, there is understanding and then there is understanding. Perhaps the people who disagree with you are not as good at mathematics as they think they are. I could be wrong but I have this really strong squirrel feeling that I'm not.
Modest, I just read your response too. I liked it, you're very honest. I especially liked how you made it clear you come at all of this stuff from a 'how useful is it to me approach' and you make no bones about that. I think the usefulness of DD's approach will be a coming attraction. Hey, his idea of time agrees with mine perfectly - so how wrong can he be!
