On the nature of Time, time travel and perspectives

[Angus A Fitziron]

Verrry Interrresting ...

We are the shadow of time?

Is that all of us Thistlewaite or just the Steampunk element?

I need another cup of tea ...

mom

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

Us. Them. Everything that we perceive to be "matter."
Please don't ask me to explain...I cannot.
It was an instantaneous intuitive leap that occurred to me immediately upon reading TimeTinker's postulation.

~T

[Khem Caigan]

" In some cultures, time - as we think of
it in the West - barely seems to exist. For
many indigenous cultures in the Americas
and Australia, and in a number of African
and Pacific Island societies, there is no
single word for "time".

Evan T. Pritchard, a descendant of the
Mi'kmaq Nation of eastern Canada, spent
many years observing the elders of his
tribe. The Mi'kmaq are quite conscious
of the regular events that one would
associate with time's passage : they
have words for day, night, sunrise,
sunset, youth, adulthood, and old age
- but not for time itself, Pritchard
notes in his aptly titled book No
Word for Time.

"There is no concept of time outside its
embodiments in the things of nature,"
he writes. "

~ from :

In Search of Time : The Science
of a Curious Dimension
by Dan Falk, 2008.
Preview @GoogleBooks
http://tinyurl.com/yccq6r2

[Atterton]

What TimeTinker talked about is when you do a projection of a higher-dimensional object into lower dimensional space. Such as showing a sphere as several differently sized circles in 2D space. However what you project is the object, not the actual dimension itself.

"My point is that if we can find something that behaves like time, then maybe from our existing knowledge of this new thing we can explore if time behaves the same way."

This sounds a bit circular, however we know from Einstein´s theories that space and time share some common characteristics such as dilation So that could help you learn more about what time is.

[pakled]

Absolutely right.  The good Sarnt Major raised this same point a little over a week ago.

anybody got bacon? I've got egg on my face, and it would be a shame to waste it..

[J. Wilhelm]

Just finished my cuppa so suitably refreshed...

I see where you are heading Sir and I postulate a further concept in relation to your thoughts.  A three dimensional object can cast a two dimensional shadow.  If time is really the fourth dimension can we see the shadow it casts in three dimensions?

(Wooo - managed to get that out but now need to sit down in a darkened room...)

Esteemed Colleagues:

I haven't read all the entries, so please correct me if I'm stepping over previous "tracks."  The universe expands in time.  Time is the fourth dimension.  I  like to think that if you could "freeze" time, whichever three-dimensional shape you have in front of you (present) is a "slice" of the true shape of the universe.  A collection of snapshots is a partial view of the universe.

If the universe is everlasting, then there is always an hidden infinite shape in front of us.  Again no matter how many snapshots we collect, we will never see the true shape of the universe, because there is an infinite number of snapshots ahead of us.  That is analogous to only looking at a shadow, instead of looking at the object itself, because analysis of a shadow never reveals all of the features of the true object that casts the shadow.  That could explain why we can never see the future--you're not looking at the actual universe, just a shadow.

If the universe is not everlasting, then eventually we will reach the final snapshot, at which time we will have full knowledge of the shape of the universe (assuming we are still alive!).  We will have seen everything there is to see.  That means that we are not looking at a shadow, but rather the object itself.




So all we have to do is wait until the end of time  

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

  We will have seen everything there is to see.  




So all we have to do is wait until the end of time  

  Sort of like...."You have reached the end of the Internet. Please turn off your computer." 

End of time, eh? Well, I'll just book us a table at Milliways, and we can enjoy a nice cup of tea whilst we watch!

~T

[dirk_m]

If time is really the fourth dimension can we see the shadow it casts in three dimensions?

surely, sir, but only if you can find a good seat.

[Herr Klinger]

I was reading this thread, along with the 'cat ears/time conundrum' thread, and stumbled across this short film.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://itismonday.com/2009/10/skhizein/

It's about a person who gets knocked out of temporal flux, and has to learn to live with it. Not really time travel, per se, but something to get the brain going.

[Arceye]

I tend to find that five minutes either way is 'close enough'.

That's the whole time thing sorted, then.

            Unless you're running a railway, Herr Doktor  The early railway companies had to have time standardised in what became known as GMT, because up to that point every town had it's own time- maybe only a few minutes difference, but a difference nevertheless.
           Would this have made an early train a time machine? Of course not, it was just an innacuracy of measurement. But an interesting idea, that strictly speaking the modern jet passenger is not the first to move between 'time zones'.

[TimeTinker]

Of course in the armed forces it becomes second nature to talk about time as being either Lima (local) or Zulu (GMT) so that when you re communicating with or receiving orders from another time zone there are no mishaps.

Strangely the time clock here on brass goggles seems to be neither Zulu nor Lima.

[Herr Döktor]

I tend to find that five minutes either way is 'close enough'.

That's the whole time thing sorted, then.

            Unless you're running a railway, Herr Doktor  The early railway companies had to have time standardised in what became known as GMT, because up to that point every town had it's own time- maybe only a few minutes difference, but a difference nevertheless.
           Would this have made an early train a time machine? Of course not, it was just an innacuracy of measurement. But an interesting idea, that strictly speaking the modern jet passenger is not the first to move between 'time zones'.

If I recall correctly, Bristol is twenty minutes behind London, and Lands End another twenty, and in the depths of winter, forty minutes of daylight is a looong time!

Bring back local time for local people!!!

[Jemima Annabelle Clough]

Of course in the armed forces it becomes second nature to talk about time as being either Lima (local) or Zulu (GMT) so that when you re communicating with or receiving orders from another time zone there are no mishaps.

Strangely the time clock here on brass goggles seems to be neither Zulu nor Lima.

From some time in March to some time, erm, October, it will be Lima. For the moment, it's in its own little timezone

Bring back local time for local people!!!

Thank you - you have just reminded me of what I plan to do at work, if I can get in when no-one else is around (we have clocks all over the place. No two tell the same time. So a few of us feel they need labels explaining what time zone they're ine )