Something amazing about time.

[Maroon_Sweater]

(Sorry for two topics) Okay. I have a question that no one on this earth can answer. That no one will ever be able to answer as long as mankind exists. Time moves. It moves forward, at what we believe to be a continuous rate. What makes time go? It's going forward all the time, and always in order. Something out there is keeping each second in order. Time doesn't jump around, it makes everything happen in a perceivable order. First I jump, then I land. And what keeps the seconds going? What is pushing existance forward? Tell me! Why do things keep going, all the time? What makes the clock tick 1, 2, 3, 4... Why doesn't it stop? How does it do that?

[[SomeGuy]]

LOL IS GEARS AND A BATTERY DUH AND IT STOPS TOO WEN DA BATTERY DIES LOLOLOLOLOLs

[[SomeGuy]]

Really, it just does. There is no force between it. If it didn't move forward, nothing would happen. And for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. You jump, you go down. It is just the way it works.

[Maroon_Sweater]

But what keeps it from not happening? And what causes the reaction? Keeps time in a straight line. How do I know that I won't land, eat an apple, and then jump?

[[SomeGuy]]

The reaction happens too quick to eat an apple. I mean, what's to stop you? The reaction. What causes the reaction? Simple. Take a string and put it on a door knob and have a friend (or a stranger, I don't care. It still works) then karate chop it. it get's pulled down because your hand is solid, solid dont go through solid,and it moves it. Nowhere else for it to go. It has to happen. It's logically impossible for it not to follow your hand. That's a reaction. If something is bouncy, like a ball hitting a bat, the force from the bat hit's the ball and it moves.

[drewmandan]

Time isn't moving forward. That's entirely an illusion being felt by your conscious mind. The universe doesn't 'know' time moves forward; the universe exists simulataneously at all times. Causality is simply caused by the second law of thermodynamics.

[StonedApe]

Time moves. It moves forward, at what we believe to be a continuous rate. What makes time go? It's going forward all the time, and always in order. Something out there is keeping each second in order. Time doesn't jump around, it makes everything happen in a perceivable order. Attachment. Time is an illusion. It is relative. Attachment to life, your deires, wants, needs. These things create time. I've never experienced this, but apparently if you are very skilled at meditation, you can reach a point where time stops. Our brains or souls are what keep things in order. I'm not sure which. Personally I think they are related. Both are part of it.

[CoLd BlooDed]

Time is just a word proposed by humans for humans in order to understand this 'consistent propelling of life as we know it,' there is no literal object or thing that pushes us forward.

[Rainman]

I think I understand the question. Life is affected by time..if there was no time, I would not die of old age some day, perhaps... perhaps not.. The reality is, most humans are incapable of percieving a world or a universe without time...even on the simplest of subconscious levels, we need time. Without it, there is no logic to how things are or how they came to be.. Time is human creation, which is why we cannot fathom something that would be called indefinite. To us, time is linear. In other mental states, time is not linear, and can be stopped.. It's perception, I think.

[archdreamer]

Causality is simply caused by the second law of thermodynamics. I'd like to see an explaination of exactly how the second law (a statement about the probability of the increase in entropy in a closed system) causes causality.

[Invader]

I think I understand the question. Life is affected by time.. Everything is effected by time. And don't forget that time is linked directly to the space you exist in. You change the space, and you end up changing the rate of time (although you wouldn't consciously notice the difference). Changing the space to effect time isn't the only way to do so, as you can also alter the way time effects a certain object by changing it's velocity through space. So you posed a good question. You asked what keeps it moving, and we know that the alteration of space or one's interaction with space somehow effects that 'movement' of time. Gravity is a good example of natural space-time distortion by the way, in case you were interested. You might at as well ask what keeps all of the physical properties of the universe in place. What enforces the laws of physics as we understand them? Why can't our superior (egotistical) human consciousness violate these laws by sheer willpower alone? Gee, I don't know, perhaps there's some other greater will enforcing those rules. But that's when you get into the whole "Either we live in a setting like The Matrix or an omnipotent super-being's will keeps the impeccable order" argument. Some people will say that they believe nothing is behind it at all, that the laws of physics kind of just enforce themselves. Like running a police state without the police... No damn sense.

[drewmandan]

I'd like to see an explaination of exactly how the second law (a statement about the probability of the increase in entropy in a closed system) causes causality. Here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_o..._arrow_of_time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_(arrow_of_time)

[archdreamer]

These articles don't seem to offer any sort of real argument for your claim that the Second Law is the cause of causality (If I am mistaken, please quote the passages). The second law itself relies on causality, as it is a prediction about the probability of causal interactions of large numbers of particles resulting in a net increase in entropy. Your claim, to me, makes no sense.

[drewmandan]

The causal arrow of time Causes are ordinarily thought to precede effects. The future can be controlled, but not the past. A problem with using causality as an arrow of time is that, as David Hume pointed out, the causal relation per se cannot be perceived; one only perceives sequences of events. Furthermore it is surprisingly difficult to provide a clear explanation of what the terms "cause" and "effect" really mean. It does seem evident that dropping the plate is the cause, the plate shattering is the effect. Physically speaking, this is another manifestation of the thermodynamic arrow of time, and is a consequence of the Second law of thermodynamics. Controlling the future, or causing something to happen, creates correlations between the doer and the effect, and these can only be created as we move forwards in time, not backwards.

[ClouD]

Time is non-existent without memory.

[gaia]

Time doesn't always move forward. Time doesn't move at all, the word "move" implies time itself. What humans perceive to be time does indeed seem to flow - altho atleast for me not always at a constant pace. When I've a lot to do time goes quicker. According to modern physical theories your assumptions are incorrect: According to the laws of physics, there is no discrimination between either direction for time to go. Imagine an egg rolling off the desk and breaking - the same sequence of events could take place "backwards", and indeed would do so in reality, if the speed of every single particle would be reversed. The particles of the shell would come back together, the floor would provide enough energy for the egg to perfectly jump on the table and roll back to its position. Only thing in physics which discriminates about time is called entropy - the idea that the universe evolves from order to chaos. The chance of the egg breaking instead of mending is incredibly higher, therefore this is what we witness.. Every single event could take place either backwards or forwards in our universe. In addition, quantum physics has shown that time does not "flow". Rather, past 10x-47 seconds, the concept of time becomes meaningless. Time "flows" in packets, in quanta, hence the name of the theory. On a shorter time scale than that mentioned, time does not make sense: it can move backwards, forwards, warp and do all kinds of weird things, just as space can. Thirdly, general relativity has shown that time can very easily be explained away as a fourth dimension of space. So taking all that together, humans have very little ideas of what time is, on the scientific level. For me, whichever model of time fits best to our universe, I'll be happy with it. I see it as a part of the phenomenal world, empty of inherent existence just as everything else. Time allows for cause and effect, infact any change at all. I have no clue what time is, and perhaps indeed the human mind cannot ever answer this question.

[Zera]

Time is our perception of constant change. A way to measure it.

[Maroon_Sweater]

But wait a second. We're all going at this assuming that everything is happening constantly, and we're only perceiving it in order. For example: If I built a time-machine and went back in time to see something happen, I could keep going back and seeing it a million different times because it keeps happening. Time-machines don't exist, so we can't prove that's how it works. Why not look at it like this: After every moment passes, it is destroyed. We then rely only on this particular moment of our existance, until it passes. Why do we keep getting new moments? If we didn't remember the moment before, it never would have happened, and we therefore have no way to create it. That's so awesome.

[ChaybaChayba]

Time is our perception of constant change. A way to measure it. Yeah agreed, but then the question is.. howcome the universes keeps changing? Why is change constant? Will this change ever stop? And what is the cause of the change? What forces are behind this constant change? If change is constant, and the universe is infinite, does this mean the universe keeps changing until infinity? How do you explain this?

[StonedApe]

Desire. Attachment. These cause change.

[ChaybaChayba]

Cool, haven't thought about it like that yet.. I assume this would apply to everything that changes? So desire and attachment on a subatomic level would be the bounding of electrons into atoms?

[drewmandan]

Cool, haven't thought about it like that yet.. I assume this would apply to everything that changes? So desire and attachment on a subatomic level would be the bounding of electrons into atoms? lawl. I think it would be better for everyone if we left the metaphysical crap out of this, and this comment demonstrates why.

[♥Mark]

First I jump, then I land. And what keeps the seconds going? What is pushing existance forward? Tell me! You see, everything is made of fish. Fish must keep swimming in order to breathe and stay alive. When the fish stop, they die, and so to our existence dies. Without the fish constantly swimming (i.e. moving time) we would all stop. It is not, as is often said, that time is a river. Rather, time is that which swims in that river.

[Xei]

I think this is a valid question actually... I suppose time could just be seen as a human manifestation of the laws of change, in a sense, yes... I think perhaps consciousness and brain activity may have something to do with it... I've always wondered what would happen if you doubled the speed of a piece of neural activity... would you percieve the world going twice as slow? Is time just an illusion..? We really need a good physicist in here though. With a degree.

[ClouD]

We really need a good physicist in here though. With a degree. Not so hard to find at all! Rather like an intelligent comment on youtube.