The Theory of Nothing

Is time real or an illusion?

Is time real or an illusion?

This sounds like a crazy question, but it’s not. The debate on the nature and reality of time has been raging for centuries. There are two viewpoints on this subject. One is from realists like Isaac Newton, who believe that time is a fundamental part of the universe. The other side, like Immanuel Kant the philosopher, considers time to be an illusion.

Scientists are split on this debate. Time, usually designated by a small t, is part of many equations concerning things like energy, gravity, space and even quantum physics. Albert Einstein changed our concept of time when he published his special theory of relativity that states that time is dependent on the relative speed of the observer. This is a result of not only the speed of light but also the ability of spacetime to be distorted, bent or compressed. Appreciable time dilation or slowing relative to a non-moving clock occurs when one travels near to the speed of light. This is one method that has been proposed for time traveling into the future.

There are many theories about how to travel back to the past, but they’re much harder to accomplish because bending space or opening a wormhole stable enough to get through it requires a lot of energy.

As you know, time is a measure of the progression of events that always goes forward, not backwards, unless one goes into the crazy world of quantum physics. Entropy--the thermodynamic measure of disorder--forces time to go forward because everything wants to be in a lower energy state. As you can see from this, time is an essential element of physics. Most physicists consider time to be a real thing. However, quantum physicists consider time to be flexible in what direction it takes at any given moment. Because of quantum uncertainty and entanglement, the future can affect the past. Go figure!

Philosophers are not concerned with physics. They delve into the realm of the mind, which is more supernatural in nature. How one thinks about time depends upon one’s belief in Absolutism (belief that time is real) or Relationalism (belief that time is just an artifact of reality). Newton ascribed to the first and Leibnitz, the second. This was an argument between a scientist and a philosopher. You also get into the argument about whether time is finite or infinite when you throw religion into this fray, and it results in even wider views on time. Omar Khayyam discussed this arrow of time dilemma in a poem:

‘The Moving Finger writes; and; having wit,

Moves on: not all thy piety nor Wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,

Nor all thy tears wash out a Word of it.’

This succinctly describes the problem of time in writing poetry.

The problem with time as a real entity is that its proof of existence is by inference. Watching a clock change time is evidence of this. We can measure time down to the wavelength of light, but what the heck is it?

Think of it this way: We can only perceive present time. Past time is gone and future time has not yet arrived. In other words, we are always living in the present time. We can’t step back into the past and we can’t go forward into the future at any given moment, at least not yet. This would suggest that the past and the future are illusions. We can record what happens in the present using video and preserve it to look at it in the future when what we see is in the past. But, what are we looking at? It’s not really the past, but recorded images--shadows of real things--from the past. St. Augustine in his ‘Confessions’ referred to this by defining time as a distention of the mind where we can simultaneously grasp the past in memory, the present by attention and the future by anticipation.

I think time is real but very mysterious and abstract. So, the next time someone says: I’ve got time on my hands; I’m running out of time; Time is on my mind; or what time is it? Just think how crazy time really is.

Thanks for reading.