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Discussion » Questions » Random Knowledge » To what extent is Time an illusion?
Benedict Arnold

To what extent is Time an illusion?

How is it that time spent at work takes so much longer to pass than weekends, which seem to fly by? Is this a conspiracy by the Illuminati to exploit the hoi polloi? 

Posted - March 9, 2017
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Responses


  • Oh hurrah, time as a conspiracy theory!

    Yes, for me the most useful way to experience time is as an illusion, 100% something we create because it is useful. That does not mean I buy out of it, just that I take time with a lighter touch..."All the world's a stage," that kind of thing...you can still put everything you have into playing your part well.

    Interesting question...there is a program on YouTube exploring why time always seems to run in one direction, when mathematically nothing forces it forwardly...the answer being that time is tied to the 2nd law of thermodynamics, entropy always increasing in our cosmos...

    * * *
    So next please ask, Dozy, "Is the cosmos an illusion?

     

    This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at March 9, 2017 10:26 PM MST
      March 9, 2017 10:23 PM MST
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  • I knew this would be right in your field. :)

    As for direction. About 60 years ago I read a book which claimed that time started in the future and ran back toward us. It wasn't a terribly rational book. It was trying to prove that God made us in his own image by taking various aspects of his ability and finding feeble reflections of them in people. Interesting but unmemorable. Except for that bit about time (which I barely recall anyway).
      March 9, 2017 10:29 PM MST
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  • While I don't usually get too invested in studying the ideas of such folk, still I do appreciate their creativity, the self-searching it takes to come up with such notions?
      March 9, 2017 10:42 PM MST
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  • With hindsight it was as nutty as some of my answers to aM questions. But his writing style could be described as verbo-pomposity -- he wouldn't use a single word if he could find a sentence to do the same job -- and he had me puzzled enough to try to sort it all out. Clearly, it wasn't memorable but probably helped me develop a more critical style of reading.
      March 9, 2017 11:55 PM MST
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  • I assert that time is what we call our method of observing the passage of events. We can easily show time is tangible, measurable, and we measure it by many different increments to suit nearly any purpose. I don't think everyone perceives time in the same way, however. Perhaps its the way we are wired.  

    Time does seem to pass at different rates when we are overly conscious of its passing, like while waiting, compared to when our minds are otherwise preoccupied. "Time flies when you're having fun", after all. 

    I also think when we perceive time in retrospect, we tend not to account for the true duration of uneventful periods in particular, and we compress time as a series of memories, leading to that apt axiom, "Where did the time go?". This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at March 10, 2017 10:30 AM MST
      March 10, 2017 5:08 AM MST
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  • That says a whole lot in very few words and pretty much nutshells the topic. But when you say "I don't think everyone perceives time in the same way," it reminds me of my youngest son who *sigh* doesn't perceive time at all. :(

    Thanks for an interesting answer. 
      March 10, 2017 10:32 AM MST
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  • Not at all.  Where time an illusion no one would age. There would not be deterioration or growth.  And one would not earn a wage. 
      March 10, 2017 8:08 AM MST
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  • I wonder? From a practical point of view what you say seems unarguable, and yet our perception of time can vary wildly according to circumstances. That perception is individual and subjective, of course. I very much liked Zee's first sentence.
      March 10, 2017 10:37 AM MST
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  • Yes, perception of time vary.  Three hours at home quietly reading is perceived quite differently than three hours at work.  This difference in perception does not mean the passage of time is an illusion. 
      March 10, 2017 6:56 PM MST
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