Ancient and Modern Time Concepts

[Native]

“Once upon a time”, time was measured by humans watching the revolution and the solar orbital motion of the Earth. In some cultures, even the Moon and some planets and stars and stars constellation were used as earthly time-keepers. Even the very contours of the Milky Way were used in this ancient and historic time-keeping.

Today, modern cosmological physics measures time as the start of a Big Bang. Once the time was a cyclic cosmological motion and now it is cosmologically seen as a linear motion. Time is even seen as a conceptual space-time.

Watch this video "The Physics and Philosophy of Time" - with Carlo Rovelli

So what is time really? Cyclical? Linear?

 

[HonestJoe]

So what is time really? Cyclical? Linear?

The word “time” is, like many words, used to refer to different concepts in different contexts. Trying to conflate them in to one meaning is a recipe for frustration and argument.

 

[Thief]

when in high school ...study hall had a LARGE dictionary

Time ….had two dozen definitions and more uses after that

but let's note a viewpoint I remain firm about....
time is a measurement
a quotient

it is not a force or substance

it is a cognitive device created by Man to serve Man

 

[gnostic]

when in high school ...study hall had a LARGE dictionary

Time ….had two dozen definitions and more uses after that

but let's note a viewpoint I remain firm about....
time is a measurement
a quotient

it is not a force or substance

it is a cognitive device created by Man to serve Man

In another word, you are saying because it is man-made or of human construct, time doesn’t exist.

Is that what you are saying?

I am asking for clarification.

 

[12jtartar]

when in high school ...study hall had a LARGE dictionary

Time ….had two dozen definitions and more uses after that

but let's note a viewpoint I remain firm about....
time is a measurement
a quotient

it is not a force or substance

it is a cognitive device created by Man to serve Man

Thief,
I also believe that time is a measurement. It seems to me that time must be something that is infinite, just as The Almighty God is infinite.
It seems to me that time was started by God, because it was used several times in the first chapter of Genesis, by God. It seems that days were mentioned, even day and night.
The Bible says that God Created everything in six days, and rested on the seventh day. Each of these things seem to indicate time. Then in the fifth chapter God even mentions years, and the length of some people’s lives. It seems to me that God is a time keeper, not necessarily for Himself ,but for His Creation of intelligent people.
It is interesting to note that days mentioned in Genesis, can mean several different time periods, not it seems, just 24 hours.

 

[Native]

Time ….had two dozen definitions and more uses after that

but let's note a viewpoint I remain firm about....
time is a measurement
a quotient

it is not a force or substance

it is a cognitive device created by Man to serve Man

Agreed in this and I´m having some troubles understanding the Einstenian concept of "curved space-time" as a cosmological entity.

Time doesn´t curve but motions of objects in space follows circular or spirally motions.

 

[Native]

I also believe that time is a measurement. It seems to me that time must be something that is infinite, just as The Almighty God is infinite.

Except from your religious notions. I agree in this. In several cultural Stories of Creation, there is no beginning or no end, i.e. "time" is out of the equation.

When religious or mythical texts speaks of "a beginning of creation" this deals IMO with the principle pre-condition and factual description of the formation of the ancient known part of the Universe, our Milky Way and NOT of the creation of the entire Universe.

For instans in the Egyptian story of creation, the creation is eternal in nature which of course excludes any beginning or end.

The Bible says that God Created everything in six days, and rested on the seventh day. Each of these things seem to indicate time.

IMO the biblical "six days of creation" really should be interpreted as "six stages of creation".

 

[syo]

So what is time really? Cyclical? Linear?

cyclical

 

[Ben Dhyan]

“Once upon a time”, time was measured by humans watching the revolution and the solar orbital motion of the Earth. In some cultures, even the Moon and some planets and stars and stars constellation were used as earthly time-keepers. Even the very contours of the Milky Way were used in this ancient and historic time-keeping.

Today, modern cosmological physics measures time as the start of a Big Bang. Once the time was a cyclic cosmological motion and now it is cosmologically seen as a linear motion. Time is even seen as a conceptual space-time.

Watch this video "The Physics and Philosophy of Time" - with Carlo Rovelli

So what is time really? Cyclical? Linear?

Here we go again, one of my all time favorites, no pun intended.

Thief is correct, time is merely a measurement of the continuity of existence, and all so called time measurement methods are obliged to use a proxy for there is no entity 'time' to be apprehended. Such proxies include the celestial cycles, sun shadows, pendulums, quartz crystal oscillations, EM atomic cycles, etc..

And before someone raises the 4D spacetime argument, there are also no such real entities as the up, down, sideways, the three dimensions of space are only the concepts to describe the result of relative observation from some central point in space.

Having said that, space and time measurements are an essential creative development in the evolution of mankind, and especially science, and will continue to be used, but time and the three dimensions of space do not exist as a real tangible entities, merely relative observation.

 

[ChristineM]

“Once upon a time”, time was measured by humans watching the revolution and the solar orbital motion of the Earth. In some cultures, even the Moon and some planets and stars and stars constellation were used as earthly time-keepers. Even the very contours of the Milky Way were used in this ancient and historic time-keeping.

Today, modern cosmological physics measures time as the start of a Big Bang. Once the time was a cyclic cosmological motion and now it is cosmologically seen as a linear motion. Time is even seen as a conceptual space-time.

Watch this video "The Physics and Philosophy of Time" - with Carlo Rovelli

So what is time really? Cyclical? Linear?

Time has been used by different peoples in different ways, and using different methods of measurement. It is a complex idea that can be both absolute and/or relative.

Actually cosmology does not measure time by the BB, It measures the time this universe has existed from that point, it is unknown whether time existed before the BB or whether time was created by the BB.

As to time being cyclic or linier, the concept of the "arrow of time" indicates it is linier. But in reality its in unresolved question.

 

[Native]

Having said that, space and time measurements are an essential creative development in the evolution of mankind, and especially science, and will continue to be used, but time and the three dimensions of space do not exist as a real tangible entities, merely relative observation.

Agreed in this.

I´m also thinking of cosmic time measurement which is related to the motion of light and with the idea of an expanding Universe. To me this is a very contra intuitive and speculative idea.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Time has been used by different peoples in different ways, and using different methods of measurement. It is a complex idea that can be both absolute and/or relative.

Hi Christine, can you provide an example of time being absolute, or being measured in that context?

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Agreed in this.

I´m also thinking of cosmic time measurement which is related to the motion of light and with the idea of an expanding Universe. To me this is a very contra intuitive and speculative idea.

Any such speculation is still using a proxy, red shift is a Doppler Effect proxy involving time and space.

 

[Thief]

Agreed in this and I´m having some troubles understanding the Einstenian concept of "curved space-time" as a cosmological entity.

Time doesn´t curve but motions of objects in space follows circular or spirally motions.

Albert can be quoted
Time is an illusion

I suspect the flat fabric analogy throws people off

I would have preferred something of a 'gel'
and gravity as turbulence as substance comes and goes

 

[Neutral Name]

So what is time really? Cyclical? Linear?[/QUOTE]

I really believe that there are two concepts of time and they should have two different names but they don't seem to. There is chronological time which we encounter everyday but there is also what may be termed space time which is not chronological. It can fold, go forward or backward or be at any place at any time anywhere in the universe. It is not chronological.