New dark matter theory: time is disappearing

[vlights]

If the theory set forth is true, then one of our basic laws of thermodynamics which states "All systems tend toward disorder" would be false. The cessation of time or "frozen time state" proposes a static universe (if the snapshot analogy holds). This unchanging state, even if unbalanced, would be the essence of order, because no change would be taking place. Brave new world indeed.

[Florestan]

Originally Posted by Lanilobster

EXACTLY! Ever since the tsunami, it always seems to be Thursday or Monday. All the other days just vanish...! or is it something to do with being the wrond side of 60 or my wine intake? or ........ the mind boggles

I know what you mean about it always seeming to be Thursday.

Funny how it's never always Saturday.

[Balthazar]

Originally Posted by Chilperich

To be quite honest, if a modern physicist were to make the claim that our known universe is situated on the farthest edge of George Formby's banjulele (now, thanks to the rapid expansion of matter, grown to cosmic proportions), and back this claim up with thickets of equations and learned references to "superstrings" (which I mentally picture as gooey strands of processed cheese obstructing the entrance to black holes), I should not be able to refute (in the most robust sense of that much-misused word) him, even though I should remain disinclined to believe him.

There's a difference between this and religion, though. If you had the time and inclination, you could study modern physics (or finance, or the Mongolian language, etc.) and come to at least an informed understanding of it. When we talk about moderrn physics, we're talking about theories that have been formulated to explain sets of observations. The terminology is supposed to mean basically the same thing to everyone who uses it. If you kept studying, presumably you would be able to refute anyone whose claims were in fact lacking evidence or coherence.

That's not the same as religion. There's no agreement even among religious people as to what their core terminology refers to, or whether it's even supposed to mean what it literally says. It's odd that this came up in a discussion of physics, because Daniel Dennett is of the opinion that even our notions of space and time haven't changed as much over human history as our notion of God. While we still understand miles and years the same way our ancestors did, the concept of a supernatural force or basis-of-all-being is vastly different than the Big Magic Guy our ancestors prayed to. But is it any more intelligible?

[Scott Good]

Originally Posted by Balthazar

... Daniel Dennett is of the opinion that even our notions of space and time haven't changed as much over human history as our notion of God. While we still understand miles and years the same way our ancestors did, the concept of a supernatural force or basis-of-all-being is vastly different than the Big Magic Guy our ancestors prayed to. But is it any more intelligible?

The more I hear from Daniel, the more I appreciate his insight. Very interesting guy.

Thanks for sharing. (and all!)

It was great to go through this thread again. If I'm not mistaken, it was St. Augustine that postulated there is only one kind of time - present time, and the future is always the present future, and the past is only the present past. But the present can, if we choose to look at it this way, reveal patterns through time, and project them into the future. With the mind, as in science, patterns are sought and interpreted, making the illusion of the future seem so real.

I think this is a great gift of the intellect, and intricately woven into our capacity for language.

[Héctor]

Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) offers an interesting analysis of hesitation. Logical time is divided into three "moments".

the instant of seeing
the time for understanding
the moment of concluding

Lacan illustrates this with a story of three prisoners. The prison governor shows them three green discs and two red ones. Then he puts a green disc on each prisoner's back. Each can see the disc on the other two prisoners' backs. The first one to deduce the colour of the disc on his own back will be granted his freedom.
The correct deduction appears to depend on the hesitation of the group. "If I had a red disk, then each of the other prisoners would not hesitate to deduce immediately that he was green. Since neither has done so, I must also have a green disk."

Delay, doubt, hesitation, procrastination, the ability to make nothing happen (ungeschehenmachen) - these characteristic features of decision-making are grounded by Lacan in the phenomenology of obsessional neurosis.

[marquis66]

Originally Posted by Balthazar

the concept of a supernatural force or basis-of-all-being is vastly different than the Big Magic Guy our ancestors prayed to.

It is like what Burke did to literary aesthetics after John Dennis and Longinus. Dennis and Longinus were all about the wonder and supernatural of it all, Burke returned it to naturalism and obscurity. Instead of superimposing God on/in everything, you can be awestruck just by the very nature of the thing.