Why Does Time Fly?

lindagarrette · 05-20-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buffy

Well there are some folks who have postulated (no proof yet) that time is quantized, and Planck Time represents the individual "frames" in the movie of reality...Pretty wild (and contradictory) conclusions pop out of this idea...again not proven, and arguably it may not be possible to prove this one since it has the same observational problems as superstrings/branes....

Cheers,
Buffy

Yes, that's really wild! Time is not an event that occurs, it is a description of how events are measured. The terms we use to measure time are arbitrary anyway. And when we speak of Plankc time, it is in terms of the arbitrary term "seconds." Quantized values pertain only to packets of energy. There's no "packet" of time. What purpose would that serve?

lindagarrette · 05-20-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by infamous

Yes Buffy; This is a good discription of the point I was trying to make, as usual you seem to always find the right words to properly define your thoughts. By the way, most folks that hold to the opinion of quantized time are the same folks that are pushing string theory. This should interest Linda. Thanks for your comments Buffy, your an asset to this forum.

I am very interested in who are the folks pushing quantized time. Could you name a couple please? To my knowledge, string theory does not include a time factor. So what is the connection?

Buffy · 05-20-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindagarrette

I am very interested in who are the folks pushing quantized time. Could you name a couple please?

James Putnam for one...

I think McCutcheon also argues it to argue that "there is no such thing as time"...

Cheers,
Buffy

Biochemist · 05-20-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by paultrr

...An hour with someone you hate can seem like an eternity while the same time with someone you like can seem like a brief instant is a statement that rather encompasses that perspective. Yet, behind it all one still has the same hour being considered.

Reminds me of the joke between a gentleman an his doctor--

Doc: I am sorry to inform you that you only have 6 months to live.
Patient: That's awful. Wht do you think I should do, Doc?
Doc: I think you ought to marry an incorrigible shrew and move to Cleveland.
Patient: Why in the world would I do that?
Doc: Well, it will make six months seem like forever.

Little Bang · 05-21-2005

If someone can show me an event in the quantum universe that does become an an event in the macro universe then I will believe that time exists. Otherwise, I have to think that we don't understsnd the quantum mechanics of motion.

TeleMad · 05-21-2005

Quote:

Little Bang: If someone can show me an event in the quantum universe that does become an an event in the macro universe then I will believe that time exists. Otherwise, I have to think that we don't understsnd the quantum mechanics of motion.

What is your dividing line between quantum and macro? Does a buckeyball - which consists of 60 carbon atoms bonded together into an atomic 'soccer ball' - count as macro?

I ask because the double slit experiment has been done with buckeyballs and they did behave as waves: that is, an interference pattern was produced.

PS: I haven't been following the discussion in this thread, so I might have misunderstood your comment.

Little Bang · 05-21-2005

ANYTHING that we observe is part of the Macro universe. An electron becomes part of the Macro universe only when we look at it, otherwise it is part of the Quantum universe or the Probability universe if you like.

paultrr · 05-21-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buffy

Well there are some folks who have postulated (no proof yet) that time is quantized, and Planck Time represents the individual "frames" in the movie of reality...Pretty wild (and contradictory) conclusions pop out of this idea...again not proven, and arguably it may not be possible to prove this one since it has the same observational problems as superstrings/branes....

Cheers,
Buffy

Actually, worse problems. You cannot get even one basic vacuum state yet of LQFT. String theory has the opposite problem of too many different states.

TeleMad · 05-21-2005

Quote:

lindagarrette: Quantized values pertain only to packets of energy. There's no "packet" of time.

Not saying this proves that time is quantized, but...

Quote:

"As we apporach the Planck length and time, though, spacetime itself must exhibit quantization. There must be fundamental, indivisible units of length and time on the order of the Planck units." (Simply Einstein: Relativity Demystified, Richard Wolfson, W. W. Norton, 2003, p235)