The Irrelevance of Time
The title of this article quotes the ponderings of Peter Lynds shortly before he had his "eureka" moment in the development of his unique theory of time and its ability to be continuous (and I will eventually get to his theories on this blog one day). I have been thinking about the irrelevance of what we call "time" for quite a while now. The more I ponder this, the more I believe that Time, at least as a fundamental physical property which underlies the universal structure of reality, doesn't exist at all. It is an illusion produced by our own consciousness. This is different than in consideration of whether everything which we perceive is "real" or not, since our reality as humans is entirely dependent upon our senses and our brains' subsequent interpretation of what we sense.
Our consciousness can be "warped" or "bent" in its perception of time, as it must always interpret the continuity of time based upon events it receives and interprets through our senses. Alter our senses, and so does our perception of time become altered, as evidenced by the effects of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other time-warping substances upon the brain.
Peter Lynds also discussed these notions in his paper, "Subjective Perception of Time and a Progressive Present Moment: The Neurobiological Key to Unlocking Consciousness". The mind must interpret the "flow" of time in discrete parcels, however small, to relay the notion of the "here and now," the present. Thus it may be postulated that our conscious realization of how fast "time" flows is dependent upon how the "present" is interpreted by our brains. In other words, although we think of the present as being "now," one point in time, it must actually be interpreted over a particular period of time, however small that period may be. This period may occur over milliseconds, yet we interpret this period as being an instantaneous point in time, representing "now," the "present".
For example, if I were able to draw the "quickness" of this process of interpretation of the "here and now," and drag it out over a longer "period," it would be as follows. Imagine what we "feel" (how our brain interprets) an hour to be actually "feels" like a millennium (but is still simply an hour as measured by earthly clocks). If our brain worked like this, than the "here and now," what we "feel" to be an instant point in time known as the "present", would actually "feel" as if it occurred over a period of time, say a minute. Of course this model is not to scale, but it illustrates how our consciousness interprets the notion of the "present." The interpretation is not instantaneous, but must occur over time (as well, this interpretation is also limited in time by neurotransmission, which in itself is not instantaneous but also takes time).
From this, our perception of the relative flow of time seems to change as we age. When we are children, time moves soooooo slowly. Think about how "long" it seemed to take from the age of 5 until you were 15, then think about how time flew from the age of 15 until you were 25 (this is almost universal for everybody). Time seems to "accelerate" as we get older. The key to this phenomenon can only be found within the intricacies of our minds' interpretation of this illusion of time.
As well, I believe that the total duration of time which we have "experienced" previously in our entire lives may also play a role in this. For example, at age 5, our brains have only experienced 5 years of actual time-interpretation. Thus, to go from age 5 to 10, we must in fact "repeat" another 5 years of time-interpretation, which is thus equal to that amount of time which we had ever experienced in our entire life (in other words, to "advance" 5 years into the future from age 5, it is as if we must repeat our entire lives over again). Then, as we get older, the process continues. Our brains must repeat an entire "lifetime" of previous time-experience to go from age 10 to 20, from age 20 to 40, and so on. Thus, going from age 20 to 25 seems "easier" than going from age 5 to 10, since "advancing" 5 years at the age of 20 is only as if "repeating" 25% of our entire life time-experience, rather than 100% as in the case of advancing 5 years from age 5 to 10. Thus our lives seem to accelerate the more older we get, based upon previous time-experience.
The division of time into discrete units, such as years, months, and seconds is a man-made phenomenon. Yet it completely dictates our individual lives and the way the world runs. Time seems to be eternal, yet limited. Lengths of time can seem to take forever to pass, yet upon remembering the events, they seemed to occur in the blink of an eye. Depending on which activities we are doing, an hour can seem to fly, or if we are bored, an hour of time can seem to take a lifetime. Such is the unusual manner in which our brain interprets the passing of it. But does this thing called "time" actually underlie the very structure of reality?
Events only occur relative to other events, and thus the order in which the events occurred create an illusion of time. It is the order in which they occur which is important. This concept is valid in physical reality, but it is also important to consider how our brain interprets the order of events. It is almost impossible to imagine a universe in which events do not occur relative to one another (do not try to wrack your brain in doing this).
Since all of the information (and subsequent interpretation of "reality" by our brains) in the entire universe is relayed by light, the relative order in reception of that light by an observer (or other measurement device) "creates" time. This concept holds true for our consciousness as an observer, as our eyes relay physical light information which is received in a specific order, and subsequently sent to our brains for interpretation. Thus, the relative order of perception of this light information dictates to our consciousness the creation of the illusion of time. As this perception is curtailed such as in the examples of sleep or unconsciousness, so is our notion of the passage of time.
These concepts illustrate the point that light as a vector of information underlies time itself. Einstein realized that the light relayed by moving objects vs. objects at rests can thus alter time itself. This abolished the concept of absolute time via interpretation of light from a universal observer (a universal frame of reference). Thus, every infinite point in space can be it's own frame of reference in interpretation of light. Now you can see how time can differ if either the observer or light source is moving as opposed to when they are at rest, of course given the fact that light travels at a constant speed in a vacuum. It is the interpretation of light received in a specific order which creates this illusion of time. The question remains, since our entire reality is based upon our senses and perception, whether time is real or not.
Our consciousness can be "warped" or "bent" in its perception of time, as it must always interpret the continuity of time based upon events it receives and interprets through our senses. Alter our senses, and so does our perception of time become altered, as evidenced by the effects of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other time-warping substances upon the brain.
Peter Lynds also discussed these notions in his paper, "Subjective Perception of Time and a Progressive Present Moment: The Neurobiological Key to Unlocking Consciousness". The mind must interpret the "flow" of time in discrete parcels, however small, to relay the notion of the "here and now," the present. Thus it may be postulated that our conscious realization of how fast "time" flows is dependent upon how the "present" is interpreted by our brains. In other words, although we think of the present as being "now," one point in time, it must actually be interpreted over a particular period of time, however small that period may be. This period may occur over milliseconds, yet we interpret this period as being an instantaneous point in time, representing "now," the "present".
For example, if I were able to draw the "quickness" of this process of interpretation of the "here and now," and drag it out over a longer "period," it would be as follows. Imagine what we "feel" (how our brain interprets) an hour to be actually "feels" like a millennium (but is still simply an hour as measured by earthly clocks). If our brain worked like this, than the "here and now," what we "feel" to be an instant point in time known as the "present", would actually "feel" as if it occurred over a period of time, say a minute. Of course this model is not to scale, but it illustrates how our consciousness interprets the notion of the "present." The interpretation is not instantaneous, but must occur over time (as well, this interpretation is also limited in time by neurotransmission, which in itself is not instantaneous but also takes time).
From this, our perception of the relative flow of time seems to change as we age. When we are children, time moves soooooo slowly. Think about how "long" it seemed to take from the age of 5 until you were 15, then think about how time flew from the age of 15 until you were 25 (this is almost universal for everybody). Time seems to "accelerate" as we get older. The key to this phenomenon can only be found within the intricacies of our minds' interpretation of this illusion of time.
As well, I believe that the total duration of time which we have "experienced" previously in our entire lives may also play a role in this. For example, at age 5, our brains have only experienced 5 years of actual time-interpretation. Thus, to go from age 5 to 10, we must in fact "repeat" another 5 years of time-interpretation, which is thus equal to that amount of time which we had ever experienced in our entire life (in other words, to "advance" 5 years into the future from age 5, it is as if we must repeat our entire lives over again). Then, as we get older, the process continues. Our brains must repeat an entire "lifetime" of previous time-experience to go from age 10 to 20, from age 20 to 40, and so on. Thus, going from age 20 to 25 seems "easier" than going from age 5 to 10, since "advancing" 5 years at the age of 20 is only as if "repeating" 25% of our entire life time-experience, rather than 100% as in the case of advancing 5 years from age 5 to 10. Thus our lives seem to accelerate the more older we get, based upon previous time-experience.
The division of time into discrete units, such as years, months, and seconds is a man-made phenomenon. Yet it completely dictates our individual lives and the way the world runs. Time seems to be eternal, yet limited. Lengths of time can seem to take forever to pass, yet upon remembering the events, they seemed to occur in the blink of an eye. Depending on which activities we are doing, an hour can seem to fly, or if we are bored, an hour of time can seem to take a lifetime. Such is the unusual manner in which our brain interprets the passing of it. But does this thing called "time" actually underlie the very structure of reality?
Events only occur relative to other events, and thus the order in which the events occurred create an illusion of time. It is the order in which they occur which is important. This concept is valid in physical reality, but it is also important to consider how our brain interprets the order of events. It is almost impossible to imagine a universe in which events do not occur relative to one another (do not try to wrack your brain in doing this).
Since all of the information (and subsequent interpretation of "reality" by our brains) in the entire universe is relayed by light, the relative order in reception of that light by an observer (or other measurement device) "creates" time. This concept holds true for our consciousness as an observer, as our eyes relay physical light information which is received in a specific order, and subsequently sent to our brains for interpretation. Thus, the relative order of perception of this light information dictates to our consciousness the creation of the illusion of time. As this perception is curtailed such as in the examples of sleep or unconsciousness, so is our notion of the passage of time.
These concepts illustrate the point that light as a vector of information underlies time itself. Einstein realized that the light relayed by moving objects vs. objects at rests can thus alter time itself. This abolished the concept of absolute time via interpretation of light from a universal observer (a universal frame of reference). Thus, every infinite point in space can be it's own frame of reference in interpretation of light. Now you can see how time can differ if either the observer or light source is moving as opposed to when they are at rest, of course given the fact that light travels at a constant speed in a vacuum. It is the interpretation of light received in a specific order which creates this illusion of time. The question remains, since our entire reality is based upon our senses and perception, whether time is real or not.
posted by J-Mart @ 7:21 PM
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