Friday, January 05, 2007

Time Space Future Past Present

First, my own words on these five phenomena:

Time is something that just escapes my reality. I have the clock on my computer, the clock in my microwave, the travel size
alarm clock on my night stand, the annoying plug-in alarm clock on my wifes night stand, the clock next to the refridgerator, the clock on my wifes cellphone, the clock on our thermostat, the clock in the car dashboard, each of our own biological internal clocks, each one is slightly different from another: the first four which are immediately accessible read as follows: 12:10:55, 12:16, 12:18, 12:14 - but of course it took me time to get each of those readings, and then come back here and figure out how I was going to list them by pressing certain keys on a keyboard connected to a monitor connected(virtually- by way of light- electromagnetic magic) to anyone who visits my blog or clicks on a link sending them here. Time is spent going from my place to wait to get to board a vehicle which will take me to another place allowing me to travel through more space to get to a place where I can spend more time in order to finally earn money in exchange to use a space "owned" by someone else. the future to me is the laundry list of things I have yet to do for myself for my space for others in return of some goods or services rendered. the past exists for me in the form of dirty laundry worn by our family, and duties past their prearranged time due. the present is really only ever really noticed when in near seclusion not asleep feeling the breath stretch all of your muscles feeling your eyes open and shut feeling the moment your fingers strike the keys briefer than the length of time that the cursor is between appearances. and it is now 12:31 21 minutes after I started writing my thoughts about timespacepastpresentfuture.......

following stuff found on various pages on www.wikipedia.org.......thanks!!!!


Time

There are two distinct views on the meaning of time. One view is that time is part of the fundamental structure of the universe, a dimension in which events occur in sequence. This is the realist view, to which Sir Isaac Newton subscribed, in which time itself is something that can be measured.

A contrasting view is that time is part of the fundamental intellectual structure (together with space and number) within which we sequence events, quantify the duration of events and the intervals between them, and compare the motions of objects. In this view, time does not refer to any kind of entity that "flows", that objects "move through", or that is a "container" for events. This view is in the tradition of Gottfried Leibniz and Immanuel Kant, in which time, rather than being an objective thing to be measured, is part of the mental measuring system.

Many fields avoid the problem of defining time itself by using operational definitions that specify the units of measurement that quantify time. Regularly recurring events and objects with apparent periodic motion have long served as standards for units of time. Examples are the apparent motion of the sun across the sky, the phases of the moon, and the swing of a pendulum.

Space has a range of definitions:

One view of space is that it is part of the fundamental structure of the universe, a set of dimensions in which objects are separated and located, have size and shape, and through which they can move.
A contrasting view is that space is part of a fundamental abstract mathematical conceptual framework (together with time and number) within which we compare and quantify the distance between objects, their sizes, their shapes, and their speeds. In this view, space does not refer to any kind of entity that is a "container" that objects "move through".

Future

It is perhaps possible to argue that the evolution of the human brain is in great part an evolution in cognitive abilities necessary to forecast the future, i.e. abstract imagination, logic and induction. Imagination permits us to “see” (i.e. predict) a plausible model of a given situation without observing it, therefore mitigating risks. Logical reasoning allows one to predict inevitable consequences of actions and situations and therefore gives useful information about future events. Induction permits the association of a cause with consequences, a fundamental notion for every forecast of future time.

Whole pseudo-sciences, such as astrology and cheiromancy, were constructed with the aim of forecasting the future. Much of physical science too can be read as an attempt to make quantitative and objective predictions about events.

The Future also forms a prominent subject for religion. Religions often offer prophecies about life after death and also about the end of the world. The conflict in the Christian religion between the knowledge of the future by God and the freedom of humanity leads, for example, to the doctrine of predestination.

Future tense in English
Strictly speaking, English does not have a future tense as such, that is, a verb form specifically used to talk about the future.

When the English future tense is mentioned, usually it refers to present-tense (or rather, "non-past"-tense) constructions using the modal verb will or shall used to discuss the future: In the future, everybody will be famous for fifteen minutes.

Confusingly, Catalan uses the verb anar for periphrastic constructions both in the future (with the preposition a) and the past (without the preposition). In other words, jo vaig a veure is "I will see"; jo vaig veure is "I saw."

Past

The past is the portion of the timeline that has already occurred; it is the opposite of the future. It is also contrasted with the present. It is also regarded as the conglomerate of events that happened in a certain point in time, within the Space-time continuum. The aforementioned conception is closely related to Albert Einstein's relativity theory.

According to presentism, the past doesn't exist, but all sciences study virtually the world's past, more or less far. Humans have recorded the past since ancient times, and to some extent, one of the defining characteristics of human beings is that they are able to record the past, recall it, remember it and confront it with the current state of affairs, thus enabling them to plan accordingly for the future, and to theorise about it as well.

In classical physics the past is just a half of the timeline. In special relativity the past is considered as absolute past or the past cone). In Earth's scale the difference between "classical" and "relativist" past is less than 0.05 s, so it can be neglected in most cases.

Present

Modern physics has not yet been able to explain what we normally understand by 'now'. Furthermore, there is no demonstrable reason why time should move in any one particular direction. This has led to the conclusion that the idea of a present is illusory and does not reflect the true nature of reality. The notion of "now" may be better understood as an unrealistic concept that has evolved in humans and animals to give us an understanding of reality useful only to the extent necessary for survival.

Special theory of relativity and philosophys "present."
If we define "present" to be the collection of events that are simultaneous with a given event, then "present" is only subjectively defined. "The present" also raises another difficult question: "How is it that all sentient beings experience "now" at the same time?" There is no logical reason why this should be the case and no easy answer to the question.