This drives me insane... how bout you?

[Branden]

What is time? Can anyone answer this?
We all know what we use it for and how to measure it but does time really exist? Or is it just something people made up so that the world around us makes sense?
Without it we would have no concept of "when" we are. There would be no speed. There would be no age. We could not think about time travel. So what is Time?

[Fire$torm]

Have you read this Wikipedia article on time ---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time

In the article there is a great quote by Ray Cummings
"Time... is what keeps everything from happening at once"

[Branden]

Wow time is so confusing for being such a simple concept we use everyday

[STMahlberg]

I couldn't help but to comment on this topic... I hope no one minds.

It just so happens that I started reading a book called. "The End Of Time - The Next Revolution in Physics" by Julian Barbour. A little light reading when I am battling insomnia. :)

I haven't gotten very far as of yet but he brings up some very fascinating ideas about time and motion and that neither actually exist.

As opposed to citing anything he has stated, I will write some of my own thoughts; part of my own ideas are biblically based so I hope I don't lose you and I promise not to quote scripture. ;)

I have two thoughts that I don't believe we have a full grasp of yet; even though, you can ask people what Time and Death are and you will get a rather generic definition. I believe both to only be a concept rather than something that actually exists. As humans, we need to be able to believe that we are in control of everything at any given moment... people do not respond well to the unknown or to something they cannot possibly comprehend; so we must put a name to our fear and try to explain things that are frankly unexplainable. Which is the reason that many people believe that God and Science cannot coexist, that Science can explain everything and since God cannot be explained then He must not exist... but I digress.

In my biblical travels, I have read several times that when we all die we will all meet at the same time for our 'exit interview' with God. It seemed to be strongly implied that it didn't matter when in time you died we will all RV at the same place at the same time. So, Abraham Lincoln and I will arrive in the check-out line at the same instance; neither of us knowing of any passage of time. Which leads me to believe that time is not a thing but a concept and that all time is NOW. Although we do appear to perceive the passage of time, we are actually only taking note of events.

To illustrate that time is a concept and isn't actually a thing, I give the following example.

At some point in history, someone decided that they wanted to figure out when the Sun was going to come up again because things were tuff and they just eat their rooster the night before... so some ingenious Swiss dude who liked the number 24 and 60 created the first device to show that the Sun was going to come up in 'x' amount of segments which he later named hour, minute, and second. Okay, so I lied about the Swiss dude and I'm not sure if he had a rooster... I really don't know who made the first clock but the points remain the same.

We calculate and name a 'day' based on the sidereal rotation of the Earth which is 23h 56m 4s. The 'year' is the orbital period of the Earth around the Sun, which is 365.25 days. I know what you are thinking... tell you something you don't know, right?

Now let's say you, your wife, girlfriend, mistress or all of the above move to Mars... Guess what, their time isn't the same. Mar's sidereal rotation is 24.62 hours and their orbital period is 686.97 Earth days.
See a problem??? Now the cool thing is if I lived on Mar's, I'd only be 26. :D Ok, ok... so it's been a rough 26 years. It's hard enough converting time zones on this planet; imagine visiting your Aunt on Neptune... talk about jet lag.

For me, when I start to really think about time, it starts to become rather meaningless depending on your perspective.

[Freddy Bear]

I couldn't help but to comment on this topic... I hope no one minds.

... So what is Time?

Time is a word that is described in the Websters as :
"the system of those sequential relations that any event has to any other, as past, present, or future; indefinite and continuous duration regarded as that in which events succeed one another. " among others.

I think it is just a word someone made up in an attempt to understand something that is truely non understandable in its true meaning.

[kheinicken]

I thought time was relative.
Or wait didnt someone prove that wrong last week?