Is There A Universal Now?

Discussion in 'Physics & Math' started by Cyperium, Jun 14, 2022.

  1. Write4U Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    20,069
    You are introducing an observer!
    I agree. Before the "beginning", there was timeless, dimensionless, permittive condition.
    Note that nothing is permittive of everything.
    Sorry, that should read "doesn't care".
    Are you proposing that time exists in the future of the universe, outside the current size of the universe?
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2022
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,077
    You have that correct
    Consider attention drawn
    I guess you missed the part of my sentence which refers to a free range second
    My words , you quoted
    It is / was great free range seconds were around (existed) when a mechanical clock was invented to measure them ✅
    I have added the red to the part you seemed to have missed
    You also (I don't blame you) might not understand my reference to a
    free range second is referencing the second which existed before the invented second we came up with
    ie a
    fundimential second which you claim exist
    In answer to my question

    So when did the first free range second get measured by a mechanical clock?

    You give a answer which mentions only constructed seconds

    Also no-one in the thread has listed any property of the free range (fundimential) second

    Any poster is free to list any properties of a free range / fundimential second

    How is the detection performed please?
    How is the measurement performed please?
    My understanding of a clock is the it is incapable of doing either

    Clocks can be calibrated to remain in synchronisation (accuracy will vary) with the definition of a second we constructed, but not set up to detect or measure


    Sure, all those agreed upon arbitrary moments need to be regulated and this is certainly helped with good calibrated devices synchronised to our any (depending on event) arbitrary defined unit of what we call time

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,077
    events are points in spacetime

    Well I would put it as events are just events

    particular frame of reference, because there is no "preferred" or "universal" time

    Surely the loaf itself is its own reference

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  6. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

    Messages:
    39,397
    "Now" requires an observer.
    You're not agreeing with what I wrote. I wrote that there is no "before the beginning". Your assumption is that there was a "before" and in that "before" there was a "timeless, dimensionless, permittive condition" (whatever that is).
    Nothing doesn't do anything, including permitting things.
    No.
     
  8. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

    Messages:
    39,397

    I don't know what a "free range second" is.

    I claim no such thing. I have never mentioned any kind of "second" that existed before the "second" was defined.

    Okay. Then my answer is that no "free range second" has ever been measured, to my knowledge. We tend to construct our clocks to measure seconds, as defined.
    It's your construction. It's up to you to list the properties you think the thing ought to have.

    1. I have not claimed that clocks "detect" time.
    2. In a clock, time is typically measured using some kind of oscillator that maintains a regular frequency of oscillation. By counting the oscillations, effectively, we can measure time intervals.
    3. What do you think a clock does? Why it is useful? What's the point of it, if there's no such thing as time?

    Yes. That's kind of the point. If time didn't exist, no such "calibration" would be possible.
    You speak of "arbitrary moments". In what sense are lengths of time "arbitrary"? Note: I'm not asking you why "the second" is arbitrary. I agree that "the second" is arbitrary. I want to know why (or whether) you think time intervals, in general, are arbitary. With respect, that sounds bonkers to me. So much so that I doubt you really believe it.
     
  9. Beaconator Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,486
    There might not be relevant scientific fact. Yet to reference the distance and differential times from the edge of the universe to the center of the the universe could include an equation that moves faster than relativistic time in order for there to be a a calculable universal now.
     
  10. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

    Messages:
    39,397
    Could it? Explain why you think so. Please refer to relevant physics.

    What is "relativistic time"? What do you mean by it moving? How fast does relativistic time move? How can a time have a speed?
     
  11. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,077
    Sorry that should have read "you claim time exist"

    You have claimed
    To measure seconds would require those seconds to be detected first

    My understanding is that accuracy is in play here. Counting a regular frequency of oscillation and making a comparison with what has been determined (invented) it should be is not time being typically measured

    So your reasoning (position) is we invent what we call time and then claim time exist. Is that a fair summation?

    Since my position is time is non existent there are no properties for me to list

    (Yes I have replaced fundimential second with time)

    However you claim your time construction exist, so please what are its properties?


    Arbitrary moments are NOT lengths of time

    Moment ----- Merriam Webster

    Definition
    • 1a: a minute portion or point of time : INSTANT
    and a minute portion or point of time picked out from a length of time is arbitrary

    I don't - you only think I do. But it is your construct you have projected onto me

    Your construct sounds bonkers to me (you)?

    Interesting

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  12. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

    Messages:
    39,397
    Michael 345:

    Your skipped over the most important and relevant question I asked you:

    3. What do you think a clock does? Why it is useful? What's the point of it, if there's no such thing as time?
    Any ideas?
    Clocks aren't compared to some invented standard. They can only be compared to one another. Again, the units don't really matter. What a clock needs to do is to accurately determine time intervals. We can test whether a particular clock is accurate by comparing its outputs to those of many other clocks.

    No. Nowhere have I said that we invent time. Time was a thing long before any human beings were around.
    Your position is nonsense. Your own life experience belies your claim. This isn't a matter of physics or science; it's just plain old common sense.

    Here are a few:
    1. Time has a built-in order or sequence. The past happens before the present, which happens before the future. We always experience time in the same order. Another way to say this is that there is an "arrow" of time, which points from past to future.
    2. Time is such that effects always follow causes in the direction of the arrow of time. The opposite is never observed.
    3. Movement of observers through time appears to be involuntary.
    4. Time is required for anything to happen. Nothing takes place in no time.
    5. Time is relative, in the specific senses described by the Theory of Relativity.
    6. The "arrow of time" from past to future is also the direction in which the total entropy of the universe is observed to increase.
     
    Mike_Fontenot likes this.
  13. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,077
    What do you think a clock does?
    A clock mimics a set agreed upon set of frequencies

    Why it is useful?
    People working to a standard set of frequencies can in general be more productive

    What's the point of it, if there's no such thing as time?
    Point is what you are calling time has been invented, and what has been invented is a regulated agreed upon frequency

    So is your position humans discovered time?

    What is this built-in order constructed from or built into what (ie what is the casing made of) please?

    1 to 6 appear to be saying the same idea just in a different manner, describing time - but describing time is not a property of time

    Does time have mass? colour? atomic weight? frequency?

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  14. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

    Messages:
    39,397
    The word "frequency" means the number of occurences of a thing in a given time interval. Frequency presupposes the existence of time.

    I do not agree that time has been invented.
    Time is a fact of life. There's no need to go looking for it. It has been right in front of your nose since you were born. The same applies to every human who has ever lived, indeed to every thing that has ever lived.
    Time is built into the universe we live in. You can call the universe the "casing" if you like, I guess.
    Don't properties usually help to describe things?
    Here's an idea for you: maybe time is more like a process than a property. Processes don't have mass or colour or frequency.

    For example, eating your breakfast is a process. Does eating your breakfast have mass? Does it have colour?

    If not, is "eating your breakfast" a thing that doesn't exist?
     
  15. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,077
    No, the frequency is the frequency refined from the invented time

    OK, granted you did say
    which lends itself to time being discovered. Would that be your view? Is there any Eureka moment recorded of "I have found time"? What had the person been looking for (time?) When it was found? Or something else, because they had made observations, indicating something was out there (per Newton/ falling apple). What was that something?

    Another description

    Another description
    You can call the universe the "casing" if you like, I guess.
    You guess wrong

    Depends on which of the properties of the thing you describe. Help, not help

    If not, is "eating your breakfast" a thing that doesn't exist?

    Well you said in your quote above For example, eating your breakfast is a process, which rules out eating your breakfast being a thing. So I would go with - eating your breakfast (not being a thing) along with
    not have mass - not have colour (or any other properties) eating your breakfast - (description of an activity) - does not have an existence

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!



     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2022
  16. phyti Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    732
    Michael345;
    If you believe there is no entity as 'time', why propose the temporal interval 'second'?
    The universe doesn't produce events according to a schedule or time table, but according to the physical states of a system. The behavior of atoms to galaxies is regulated by laws/forces in place. The person dies, not because 'it's time', but because his biological system cannot sustain itself. The time of an event is noted after the event occurs. I.e., time is not a causative factor.
    The mechanism/clock produces the 'second', not measures it.
     
  17. phyti Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    732
    Mike;

    Newton considered gravity as 'action at a distance', i.e. light propagation was instantaneous. He didn't explain gravity but proposed its effect to a universal scale.
    Using the sum of squares for each spatial dimension to get a single spatial interval is simpler, but sometimes you need individual components.
    Have seen that on many forums but never in any of his writings. He defined 'time' as the clock event (reading) synchronous with the event of interest. The clock readings can be used to record when an event occurs or its duration.
     
  18. phyti Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    732
    Write4U;

    quotes:

    #268 Objectively, the speed of light is irrelevant to the simultaneity of NOW on the surface of a 2D slice of TIME

    [A. Einstein, 1905 paper, par.1, simultaneity.
    We have to take into account that all our judgments in which time plays a part are always judgments of simultaneous events... We have so far defined only an ``A time'' and a ``B time.'' We have not defined a common ``time'' for A and B, for the latter cannot be defined at all unless we establish by definition that the ``time'' required by light to travel from A to B equals the ``time'' it requires to travel from B to A.]

    #272 "Are you an anti-relativist by any chance?" No of course not. IMO you are unnecessarily introducing SR to the OP question.

    [SR deals with 'time' and the effect of motion induced phenomena on perception and measurement. Einstein asked the same question of a universal time, and concluded there is none.]

    #281 Both observers get a subjectively false experience of the true pitch of the sound. And so it is with time.
    IOW time has an objective NOW . Observers experience a subjective relative NOW depending on their POV.

    [It's a true experience altered by relative motion of source and detector.
    Observer (or device) motion cannot alter the pitch, but it can alter the perception of the sound. The same is true for clocks, which are frequencies. Their perceived rate depends on their motion. Perception is what the observer thinks is happening, and doesn't always agree with actual events outside the mind. Feel free to call it an illusion.]

    #281 Question: does time exist without an observer? Can the Universe be its own observer and experience its own NOW?

    [History shows 'time' as a human method of recording and coordinating events, an abstract procedure, like mathematics or music. The behavior of the universe of objects
    is regulated by laws (forces), and depends on the state of the objects.]

    #283 When I observe something, I see it as it was in my past. But that does not mean that it did not exist and share a common NOW before my observation of its existence in my present

    [You only know it existed 'then' after you saw its image. I.e. you can only be aware of an event after it happens, all information is historical.]

    #287 Simultaneity is not necessarily subject to relativity.
    This answers the OP question. There is no need to invoke observers. Events can happen simultaneously and have the same NOW independent of observation.

    [Simultaneity is part of the foundation of SR. If a device records events, a human is needed to interpret the recording.]
     
  19. phyti Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    732
    Write4U;

    1. Human thought defines convenient intervals of time.

    2. The um for time has to be uniform for the purpose of measurement.
    The 9 billion+ cycle result using cesium atoms is close enough to the second (defined as
    1 hr/3600) for current applications.

    3. It is arbitrary, just like the meter, and all standards. They don't have to have an equivalent physical counterpart to work. The low tech sundial served its purpose for that era.

    4. Time does not move. At light speed a light clock would cease to function. Biological processes (chemistry) would also cease. The observer with the clock wouldn't have any awareness. There is no evidence that electrons have memories. When it absorbs a photon, it's like the first time.

    5. The decay rate of radioactive material is random and based on statistics. It is proportional to the amount of material. For uniform intervals of time, 1/2 of the material decays. This is similar to actuarial calculations. From a population of 100 seniors, 10% will die within a 10 yr period. Which 10 is unknown. In both cases it's an analysis of group behavior.
     
  20. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,077
    I don't

    The temporal interval second, as I understand, was created, and agreed upon, to allow some activities to occur at an agreed moment with some precision

    Gentleman set your watches. It is now exactly 10:49:11 seconds and we will meet at our agreed location in exactly 4 hours

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!



    Agree - the Universe has no need of time, physics determines what occurs

    Well it produces what it (the mechanism) hopefully is a copy of what has been agreed upon as being a second

    My reference to "finding the free range second" is directed towards those who claim time exist (hence there should be free range seconds out there) waiting to be found. Particularly, if has been claimed in this thread, time has been around long before humans existed

    IF IF IF I was on the other side I would say "time has been around since the Big Bang", but I'm not, so I won't

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!



    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  21. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

    Messages:
    39,397
    I see.

    So you now deny that "eating your breakfast" is anything real, in the same way that you deny that time is real.

    I don't think I have anything else I can say to you on this topic. If you can't see the obvious absurdity of your position, then I think you're a lost cause.
     
    Mike_Fontenot likes this.
  22. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,077
    Will go through again
    Here's an idea for you: maybe time is more like a process than a property

    As my stance (time does not exist) it would be neither

    Also in the above sentence it is implied l said time is / was like a property - that is incorrect as per

    I was asking if time HAD properties



    Did I? I think the wording used

    especially the words in red indicate the (description of an activity) does not have an existence

    Since you have done so poorly finding "TIME" to have an existence I won't ask if you can / could find a
    description of an activity with an existence

    Note the
    DESCRIPTION of an activity NOT the activity

    Arrrrh peace and quiet from this quarter

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!


    Except that was not my position and you are free to think as you wish

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  23. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

    Messages:
    39,397

    As far as I'm concerned, the activity I call "eating my breakfast" exists. In fact, I participate in that activity most days.

    Similarly, I have noticed that things don't happen all at once. Hence I am very confident that the process, or activity, I call "time" exists.

    It doesn't look like you're able to think clearly about these things. Your argument is so absurd that I think it's a waste of my time to continue to engage with you about it. Have fun. Maybe you can find somebody else who won't mind wasting time with this.

    (Oh, but I forget, time can't be wasted, because it doesn't exist. Gee, you got me good, there.)
     

Share This Page