A Conversation for Time - Concepts and Perceptions

A Terrible Pun

Post 1

StevenR

You say in your article that "two hours spent in the company of those boring relatives is very different from two hours with that scintillatingly intelligent person who appreciates your wit", well they do say that time is relative(s).
Sorry about the terrible pun but I couldn't help it.


A Terrible Pun

Post 2

Feisor - -0- Generix I made it back - sortof ...

I understand - I have no time for most of my relatives


A Terrible Pun

Post 3

Peta

Very good - Looks like a we reject your offer to reject to me! Relatives. Pah! Give me friends any day.


A Terrible Pun

Post 4

MadMunk?¿

WOW! Amazing article, but loadsa questions..... So, How come I have plenty of time to spend surfin the net, but no time to do my homework, That's what I want to know.


A Terrible Pun

Post 5

Dolphin Girl: Patron Saint of Incoherent Ramblings; Keeper of Flutes and Singing Watches

It's really good smiley - smiley You've got to write some more! I never have time to do my homework either MadMunk!


A Terrible Pun

Post 6

Peta

How come the bus always leaves the stop 30 seconds before you get there?


Time

Post 7

John the gardener says, "Free Tibet!"

Bravo!

Your capsule definition of time,

"...the thing that prevents everything happening at once",

may be the best I've seen anywhere.

If this isn't Guide material, I don't know what is.


Time

Post 8

bludragon, aka the Dragon Queen of Damogran

...er...isn't it FROM the Guide???


Time

Post 9

John the gardener says, "Free Tibet!"

If it is, that proves my case.


Time

Post 10

Exist@Random

I think it may have been mentioned in the Guide, but in reality it's a notion that I'd heard of even before I read the Guide for my first time, so it must be at least somewhat valid, as well as guide material. It's just that good.


Time

Post 11

Feisor - -0- Generix I made it back - sortof ...

I'm starting to worry now - oh well, I can at least honestly say that if I did plagiarise the definition it really was completely unintentional *hand over heart* I swear it!!!


Time

Post 12

Jim Lynn

I had a quick scoot through AltaVista and I found it credited to 'A Bumper Sticker' so I think we can assume it's one of those clever phrases that's fallen into mass usage. If anyone finds out where it originated, please let us know.


Time

Post 13

Feisor - -0- Generix I made it back - sortof ...

If no one claims it can I call it mine???
(just joking)


Time

Post 14

John the gardener says, "Free Tibet!"

Let's call it a part of the collective unconscious: a gift from aliens.


Time

Post 15

Feisor - -0- Generix I made it back - sortof ...

Hey - maybe I amm channelling aliens!!!!
I can go to America and make millions off gullible movie stars - NAH think I'll stay here and wait to be abducted ......


Time

Post 16

mrs. slartibartfast

good things come to those who wait.


Time

Post 17

mrs. slartibartfast

mind you, i'm not sure if that applies to alien abduction.


Time

Post 18

Spiceman(sic)

Time is ever changing... it was never meant to be measured. Our hopeless attempts at measuring it prove the futility of the measurement devises. As noted above.. Time is relative,(not to be confused with "a" relative.) Man, and woman, have always thought to conquer whatever was there.By defining time and measuring it, we arrogantly assumed to control it.Or so we thought, we're slaves to time rather than vise-versa.


Time

Post 19

Farmer Geddon

I think that we can consider time to be percieved in two ways. Firstly, there is physical time that we assume we can measure. It is the modern tool by which we can achieve the seemingly impossible, such as space flight and setting the video to tape Animal Hospital. This perception of time governs the known physical universe, but is itself relative to velocity, mass and most other physical quantities. This means that no two places in the universe, even between two people in the same room (whether or not they are friends of family) will experience the exact same time as eachother.
The other way to view time is through the eyes of the viewer themselves (As a side thought, what sensors do we have to experience time. Is it just the combination of all our senses that leads our brain to conclude that time is passing, or is there some internal measuring device that checks with reality every now and then to update its clock). Anyway, it seems to be also true that our own personal time is also relative. Time passes inversely proportional to the way in which your mind would like it to. For example, during time of intense bordem, your mind is forced to experience more time for the amount of information it is required to process. This leads to spare time in the mind (just like a computer's CPU) when there are no processes to execute. Similarly, when the conversation is interesting and you have to think quickly to produce an intelligent response, your mind is using all it's available clock cycles and you have no spare time in which to realise that time is passing.
Basically, what I am trying to say is that the whole idea of time elapsing at different rates is really just a state of mind rather than reality. But then again, what is reality? Is it not just our own perception of the universe we inhabit. Therefore, it can be said that time only exists in our minds. If there were no minds to experience time, would it not be true that everything would have happened at once and the universe itself has already existed.

There's far more to say about that, but I haven't got the time at the moment. I'm hungry.


Time

Post 20

johnnyr

it is our experience of time which causes the so called variences
a year to a three year old is 33 1/3% of its entire experience
a year to a fifty year old is only 2% of his or her experience
to a centagenarian it is only 1%
time may be an absolute
but who would know
there is a tree on Mt Reid in Tasmania
a Huon Pine
Dacrydium Franklinii (for the horticulturally minded)
which is believed to be 10,500 years old
a day to it would be faster than a second to me
if
it experiences time in a similar manner


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