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Old 09-06-2008   #571 (permalink)
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Re: What is time?

The following is my philosophical opinion. I'm not a scientist, and have not looked into time in relation to the theory of relativity.

In my understanding, Time is the record of matter, and the past is its history. I believe we can all agree that matter exists. Matter also has a state, which is all that is true about that object. Object state could include position, mass, density, etc. The position and properties of matter can change. Of course the original position of all matter was the gravitational singularity of the big bang, and since then matter has changed position and properties constantly due to forces and energy. If we call any change in matter due to other forces an event, than time is merely a list of events. It is clear to us that multiple events can happen at the same moment. To be clear, when I say change I do not mean a complete change such as the collapse of the star or getting a hair cut. I mean when the state of the object changes AT ALL. I would define a moment as a point in time, referring to a particular state of the object(s). Therefore the present refers to the object(s) state we are percieving currently. Therefore a period of time would refer to multiple object states, and the changes between them. The future is simply our interpretation of likely events based on past events. As humans we have the wonderful ability to record and recall object states that we percieve. This is of course, our memory.
This definition of time is dependant on trust of our senses. I believe I could explain this better, but I'm tired and must go to bed.

In summary, I submit that if there were no events, if all matter were stationary there would be no time. Therefore time is dependant on energy acting on matter.
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