Have We Reached The End of Time?
One day about 10 years ago I had a thought.
Rather than me thinking the thought, it seemed to me that the thought just popped into my mind, like some kind of download.
It said, “Time does not exist, it's an illusion, now off you go and find out why”.
In a roundabout way that's what I got from it, so I did. And since then I've been researching, gathering material both in support and against this idea.
I'm in no doubt about what I experienced, but I wasn't sure if I was losing my mind or not. So since then, I've been trying to get to the bottom of this idea.
I have written articles on the subject, one of which proved very popular. From the reasonable success of that article, I decided to expand on the topic and write a book.
Some of the material I've read has been easier to digest than others, but all has been a valuable contribution towards The Illusion of Time.
One of those sources of information has been the work of physicist Julian Barbour.
In his 1999 book The End Of Time, Barbour argues that time and movement do not exist.
I'm inclined to agree with him.
I Am Not A Scientist
I am not a scientist, at least not yet.
I'm currently studying BA in Psychology with a few years to go yet until I qualify.
Quite simply, I am deeply interested in how we've managed to become so welded to this idea of time. An idea which to me appears so obviously an illusion.
I agree with Julian Barbour's claims because this has been my direct experience. I believe that time and space are psychological constructs which come about as a result of our psychic relationship with the environment.
Have you had this feeling too?
Do you experience something other than what everyone you know believes about the nature of our existence?
If we're on the same page, if you think or suspect as I do that time and space are merely elaborate illusions, then Julian Barbour's book is essential reading for you.
The End Of Time by Julian Barbour
In The End of Time, Barbour puts forward the proposition that what we perceive as the passage of time is an illusion. He says, if we could stand outside the universe and ‘see it like it really is’, it would appear to be static.
He considers the fundamentals of Einstein’s general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics in coming to his conclusions. These two fundamental theories of physics have been validated to exceptional accuracy within their respective domains;
- Large-scale phenomena for Einstein’s theory, and
- The Microscopic phenomena of the quantum world.
However, they have remarkably different structures, with the notion of time being treated completely differently within the two theories. This is a big problem because the scientific world believes that there must be a single idea for the existence of the universe at both small and large scale.
The Quantum Theory of The Universe
Discovering the Quantum Theory of Everything presents serious difficulties, not least because of the ‘problem of time’. It seems that a choice has to be made between two irreconcilable notions of time.
Julian Barbour argues that the only satisfactory solution is to get rid of the idea of time altogether. In his book, he outlines his timeless quantum theory of the universe.
He asks; what is the origin of the so-called arrow of time? Why is it that all phenomena show a common direction of time (entropy), yet the equations of physics are symmetric with respect to the direction of time?
Physics shows that a cup dropped to the floor will shatter, but also the re-assembly of the pieces. However, that is never observed in our reality.
Barbour believes that a true theory of the Universe should explain why entropy increases. He suggests that a fundamental asymmetry in the space of all the possible structures of the universe could provide a basis for the arrow of time.
Articles From This Week
If you are fascinated with the nature of human existence and the origins of the universe as I am, then The End of Time is a book I think you will enjoy.
Right, so…some stuff from this week.
Writing suffered this week due to day job commitments and I found it a little frustrating.
I've been coming close to my limits of tolerance with the job so I felt is was time to quit before I started losing my mind.
The people are fine, it's just the predominant culture in the industry in which I work is difficult to withstand.
I've done it for 8 months but enough is enough.
I began working for myself when I was 25 and now nearly 18 years down the road I don't believe my mindset can go back to employee.
From here on it's writing and art to provide an income, so stay tuned for more on that.
This Week's Articles
On Monday I was shaping up to hand in my notice. The rest of the week I was caught fulfilling commitments to that job so the blog suffered for the rest of the week.
Still, three articles in one week is not a bad return.
On Friday I read this really lame article on mastery on Medium. No offense to the author but I found it totally empty of any substance. So I offered some input to assist the authors understanding.
I don't believe it was well received because the response was equally lame, if not lamer still. What's so shitty about this article is that the guy really has no clue about what he's writing but pretends to know.
Just pure lame.
Monday – Why You Need To Quit Your Job And Grow Tomatoes Instead
Friday – A Writing Daily Routine
Saturday – The Complexity In Simple Tasks
Sunday – You're reading it
Anyway, that's my lot for this week, hope you enjoy your Sunday.
Talk on Monday!
-Larry
Of course ‘TIME’ is illusory and implies that Physics is the study in illusion (based on the level of studies being done today otherwise ‘time’ is a reality within the scope of Earth and Earth alone). I’m not a scientist myself but this doesn’t require any science background.
From Physics point of view, time is what is measured by a clock. Time itself is not an issue but the ‘clock’ is where the problem arises. I would have defined time as a physical condition (with regards to man) from which an observed rate (constant) is derived from constant movement against a stationery marker.
For instance; an observer in a rotating room will not experience time until there is some stationery marker from which the observer can generate rate by the number of times they come across the marker.
It is for this reason that the Earth is our main clock because it generates an observed constant rate as it rotates against a visible stationery marker the sun. We can confidently call this ‘Time’.
1 Rotation= 1 day= 24hrs =1440mins=86400secs and hence ‘our time’.
This also implies that all rates including speed of light are Earth dependent – Speed of light 299792458 m / s means it moves at this rate compared to earths rotation because of the second there.
This is a big problem for Physics as a whole- it means time is not a reality because it is not universal. If the same experiments/set up/ observation was to be done in Mars or Jupiter, we would certainly end up with different rates based on their rotation times against the sun and the speed of light would be something very different but a reality based on whatever planet the exercise would have carried in. It means, we have chosen our ‘reality’ and that the Earth is ‘our universe’. Our reality is not really reality when we try to define it beyond our universe and that’s where the problem comes in.
This applies to all physical conditions (time/space/temperature/pressure) meaning that they are all illusory just like time when they are observed out of earth.
I’m a believer in God (not of any particular religion) and i have come to the conclusion that actually these physical conditions are designed for man and time specifically to number man’s days on earth so that ‘reality’ is actually cascaded down to an individualistic experience; when my time comes/mature, i leave the earth and my time is not your time or anybodies time.
The earth is 13.7 B yrs (They say) basing this on the speed of light is deceptive because the speed of light is not a reality (not universal at least). There’s no way light could have traveled for 9 b Yrs on an Earth dependent rate before the earth was even formed.
Kind regards
Hey Moses, thanks for your comments. A universe for every conscious being 🙂
Hi Larry, you are welcome.