Here's another way to look at it: Time is what keeps things from happening all at once.
Also, without time there can be no motion (velocity, acceleration x time). The units of distance are arbitrary - from the King's foot to a chosen number of atomic wavelengths. And so the units of time are arbitrary - fractions of the rotation of the Earth. Distance exists and time exists, but the measure of things is man - in the sense that without man, there would be no units of measurement. I may measure time with a clock, but I can't characterize time. I can only compare and characterize man's instruments for measuring time. Maybe it's like people's perception of Evolution. Some see it as a thing that causes things to be the way they are. Others know that evolution is a process that describes what happens to genes in changing environments. Oh, I am collapsing under the weight of these heavy thoughts . . . Bill Hawkins -----Original Message----- From: <gandal...@aol.com> Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 11:47 PM To: <time-nuts@febo.com> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Beginner's time reference > > In a message dated 11/12/2009 21:47:28 GMT Standard Time, > michael.c...@wanadoo.fr writes: > > For me time just exists. What time nuts do is to try and measure and > characterise it. > > > ---------------- > Unfortunately, that's not really the way it is. > > Time nuts do not and cannot measure time itself because time as an > absolute entity just doesn't exist. > > We can measure the length of the intervals between events, time intervals > if you choose to call them that, but nobody has ever demonstrated the > existence of time itself as a measurable quantity. > > And just in case anyone wishes to shout me down on this, as happened when > I dared to suggest the same some time ago, I have since been heartened to > read in Walter Isaacson's excellent biography that a certain Mr Einstein > arrived at the same conclusion. > > We could of course both be wrong, but at least I'll be wrong in good > company:-) > > regards > > Nigel > GM8PZR > _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.