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“The universe may be timeless, but if you imagine breaking it into pieces, some of the pieces can serve as clocks for the others. Time emerges from timelessness. We perceive time because we are, by our very nature, one of those pieces.” — Craig Callender
Great topic, Here's a link that visually describes Einsteins Special Relativity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2VMO7pcWhg It's worth watching.
#0: Time flows in both directions.
thenewgreen · 5194 days ago · link ·
I have a hard time wrapping my head around "past" and "future" as existing. It seems to me that they can only exist in the "replayed video" of the memory and "projected video" of the future. Is it not a fact that the current moment is all we have? It's hard to reconcile though, given that we can't possibly ever be "in" the moment given that we exist (from at a perceptual level) 80 milliseconds in the past.
Can someone explain Einsteins "fourth" dimension in lay terms?
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cynthianews · 5194 days ago · link ·
"In 1915, Albert Einstein first proposed his theory of special relativity. Essentially, this theory proposes the universe we live in includes 4 dimensions, the first three being what we know as space, and the fourth being spacetime, which is a dimension where time and space are inextricably linked. According to Einstein, two people observing the same event in the same way could perceive the singular event occurring at two different times, depending upon their distance from the event in question. These types of differences arise from the time it takes for light to travel through space. Since light does travel at a finite and ever-constant speed, an observer from a more distant point will perceive an event as occurring later in time; however, the event is "actually" occurring at the same instant in time. Thus, "time" is dependent on space." Read more here: http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/02088/einstein.htm
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Yep. I don't see how we can understand that position and gravity alter our perception of the sequence of events and then wonder if time is emergent. Of course it is. Time is a variable, and it's affected by relative velocity and gravitation. What is 'fundamental' mean in this context anyway?
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cynthianews · 5192 days ago · link ·
Of or relating to the foundation or base; elementary: the fundamental laws of the universe. Basically, the basics.