Time and Space
Time does not really exist. Well, at least not like we think it does. Time is merely a derivative of change. The Earth changes it's position around the sun and when we compare other change to the Earth's relative position, we derive time.
A runner makes one revolution of the track compared with the Earth making 1/525974.4 of a revolution around the sun. We have a comparison and, thus, a ratio of 1:525974.4 This ratio is clumsy, so we call it a "minute." But, make no mistake, seconds, minutes, hours and days are nothing more than ratios of change.
Ratios of change are hard to contemplate and visualize. So, like other things that are hard to imagine, we make metaphors. People can't conceptualize "God" so they think of a man in the sky and call him "He" with a hand, an eye and a voice. People can't conceptualize death, so they think of travel and "passing on." And people can't conceptualize ratios of change (time), so they think of space instead.
But, death is not a journey and, if there is a god, it is likely not a man. Likewise, time is not space. Our language makes us often think of time as space, but it is not. We cannot move in time in any way. You can't go forward in time and you can't go backward in time. You cannot travel through time or across time. You cannot fill time or empty time and there is no density of matter in time. Oh, sometimes we make metaphors that make it seem like time and space are one, but they nothing more than semantics. Time is, by definition, a ratio of change, which makes "time travel" just ridiculous even without the Delorian.
But besides the heaps of science fiction that has arisen from this space-time metaphor, I wonder what other things have come from it. Theoretical physicists talk about a space-time continuum and a string theory connecting them. Now, these are geniuses coming up with these ideas and I'm not smart enough to comprehend their work, but I wonder if they are regularly thinking of time as a ratio of change. I wonder if they are aware of the power that language has over us.
But like many things that don't really exist like god or culture or nations, we cannot escape the spatial concept of time. Everyone else thinks it does exist, so to live a practical life, we must pretend the emperor has clothes. So, I guess we should enjoy the sci fi and and "move on."
A runner makes one revolution of the track compared with the Earth making 1/525974.4 of a revolution around the sun. We have a comparison and, thus, a ratio of 1:525974.4 This ratio is clumsy, so we call it a "minute." But, make no mistake, seconds, minutes, hours and days are nothing more than ratios of change.
Ratios of change are hard to contemplate and visualize. So, like other things that are hard to imagine, we make metaphors. People can't conceptualize "God" so they think of a man in the sky and call him "He" with a hand, an eye and a voice. People can't conceptualize death, so they think of travel and "passing on." And people can't conceptualize ratios of change (time), so they think of space instead.
But, death is not a journey and, if there is a god, it is likely not a man. Likewise, time is not space. Our language makes us often think of time as space, but it is not. We cannot move in time in any way. You can't go forward in time and you can't go backward in time. You cannot travel through time or across time. You cannot fill time or empty time and there is no density of matter in time. Oh, sometimes we make metaphors that make it seem like time and space are one, but they nothing more than semantics. Time is, by definition, a ratio of change, which makes "time travel" just ridiculous even without the Delorian.
But besides the heaps of science fiction that has arisen from this space-time metaphor, I wonder what other things have come from it. Theoretical physicists talk about a space-time continuum and a string theory connecting them. Now, these are geniuses coming up with these ideas and I'm not smart enough to comprehend their work, but I wonder if they are regularly thinking of time as a ratio of change. I wonder if they are aware of the power that language has over us.
But like many things that don't really exist like god or culture or nations, we cannot escape the spatial concept of time. Everyone else thinks it does exist, so to live a practical life, we must pretend the emperor has clothes. So, I guess we should enjoy the sci fi and and "move on."
posted by American Dilettante at
2:56 PM
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