THE CONCEPT OF “TIME”

THE CONCEPT OF “TIME”

By Maziar Aptin March 2003

Time does not exist except in human mind. As far as everything else in the universe is concerned, time is immaterial and irrelevant. Trees will grow, rocks will decay, wind will blow, water will run in the streams, galaxies will be born, and stars will die. All these will happen regardless of the existence or non-existence of "time". These events will all happen without any need or participation of time. In other word, there is no need for the existence of time for these events to take place.

For example, time cannot contribute to the growth of a tree, or the decay of a rock. They grow and decay regardless of time. Grass will grow as long as there is enough water, sunshine, and fertile land, unaffected by time and unaware of time.

We humans, because of our peculiar brains, have desire to measure the rate of the growth of grass. Therefore we have created the concept of time to be able to make that measurement. In other words, time is only a tool which has been invented by humans to measure the space between two events; it does not exist naturally in the universe. By the same token meter and inch are yardsticks to measure distance between two points, kilograms and pound to measure weigh and so-on.

Even within human world, time is an arbitrary measurement. No two human feel or perceive time exactly the same way. Even within one's own mind, the speed of time constantly changes from moment to moment. If one is busy, time will pass faster. If one is bored, time will pass slower. If one is sad and full of stress, time will pass slower and the person will age faster. In contrast, if one is happy with less stress, time will pass faster and the person will age slower.

Based on the above reasoning, if a set of twin brothers separated at birth, with different life experiences, after 50 years both physically and mentally will be in different ages. One brother could be both physically and mentally older than his twin brother and mentally older but physically younger, depending on the circumstances in which the two brothers have experienced throughout their lives.

Hence, because time is an arbitrary measurement, the calendar and clock would be too rigid, inaccurate, and an arbitrary yardsticks for scientific considerations but very useful tools for day to day human use, as are gram, ounce, meter and inch.
According to Einstein' theory of relativity if an object travels with the speed of light, time will stand still. In other word, no event will take place, hence time is equal to zero.   

Something to think about