What exactly is 'time' ? please define.

[EternalOptimist]

I would say that Time is :

The transitive state of any atom in the known universe.

Whilst the imagined concept of time on an individual biological level varies between organisms, at the top level it is the same for all us.

Well now you have an interesting problem. Imagine a vacuum, there are no atoms in the vacuum, therefore no time.
take it further.
Imagine a valve radio, with a clock on the front. Time exists for most of the radio, because it has atoms, but the bit that makes the radio work, the inside of the vacuum tubes, has no time.

this does not chime with what we intuitively 'know' - that time exists for the whole radio.

[NotAllThere]

There are no perfect vacuums. ( And Dyson doesn't count ). But even if there were, you'd still have protons, neutrons and other particals popping in and out of existence, in accordance with the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

That this actually does happen is demonstrated by the Casimir effect.

And it's not the vacuum inside a vacuum tube that makes the radio work. It's the absence of anything to absorb the electron stream. A subtle, but important distinction. Rather like it isn't the air that allows you to pee into a toilet, it's the fact that the lid is up that's importnant.

[EternalOptimist]

This has got absolutely nothing to do with heisenbergs uncertainty principle. It is about the intuitive view of time. In that view, there are vacuums, and therefore tying time to atoms and transistion does not hold water.

[NotAllThere]

But intuitive views of anything involving quantum mechanics, atoms or transistions is 100% wrong. QM is counter-intuitive.

[EternalOptimist]

But intuitive views of anything involving quantum mechanics, atoms or transistions is 100% wrong. QM is counter-intuitive.

exactly. and if you read my earlier post you will see that.
Now this leaves YOU with a problem. The intuitive view of time helped the dinosaurs and humans evolve, so how wrong can it be ?

[NotAllThere]

Completely. Dinosaur bones were laid down by the planetary engineers who constructed our planet to give us a sense of history. ( And the complete fossilised remains of a T-Rex with a ban-the-bomb placard was put down just to confuse the paleontologists. Which is why it's suppressed by the men in black. )

[expat]

There are no perfect vacuums. ( And Dyson doesn't count ). But even if there were, you'd still have protons, neutrons and other particals popping in and out of existence, in accordance with the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

That this actually does happen is demonstrated by the Casimir effect.

And it's not the vacuum inside a vacuum tube that makes the radio work. It's the absence of anything to absorb the electron stream. A subtle, but important distinction. Rather like it isn't the air that allows you to pee into a toilet, it's the fact that the lid is up that's importnant.

Way WAY too good for this board!

[AlfredJPruffock]

Completely. Dinosaur bones were laid down by the planetary engineers who constructed our planet to give us a sense of history. ( And the complete fossilised remains of a T-Rex with a ban-the-bomb placard was put down just to confuse the paleontologists. Which is why it's suppressed by the men in black. )

No they were not ! Laughed the Children of Gong


Time - in Vodka and Red Wine
Demanding Billy Shears
And other Friends of Mine ....

Take your Time

Time - is not what you think it is.

[NotAllThere]

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but its sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but youre older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the english way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought Id something more to say

Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
And when I come home cold and tired
Its good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.

That's Time, that is.

[AlfredJPruffock]

[

That's Time, that is.

Oh No - it's not ! Cried the Children Of Gong