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stranger
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Going hand in hand with the thread about Black holes, Bose-Einstein condensates, Event Horizons et al, here is an observation of mine which merits reflexion. I came up with it about five years ago.
All of us have experienced the sensation that, as we grow older, the days seem to pass more quickly. Many are disposed to pooh-pooh (poo-poo?) the notion that time is indeed changing its rate of passing, but I for one, think otherwise.
The argument is, that our perception of time passing more quickly is due to the fact that as we grow older, each day represents a smaller and smaller proportion of the sum of our entire life. That is, on our first day, that day represents a whole of experience, the next, half of our entire experience, the next day, a third, and so on as we grow older. A man in his thirties is experiencing days that represent less that 1/10,000 of his entire experience, so that relatively speaking, his experience of that day is much less significant than the experience in the beginning of his life.
Consider the following:
In the beginning, the Universe consisted of a singularity, a dimensionless point of infinite mass where time, relative to an outside observer (God?), does not pass. This point contains all matter/energy existing in our Universe (now). Contained in the singularity is all the time in the universe, however it is not "passing" because of the infinite density and dimensionless aspect of the point. There is within that point, a constant amount of time, space and matter (which really are just another manifestation of the trinity of the states of being) existed, invariable due to the "one-ness" of the Universe. How can one say otherwise, it *is* the Universe.
When this singularity was disturbed by something (God? I have no idea what did it), the singularity began to expand, what is called the Big Bang.
Now the interesting part starts: the amount of time for the Universe is constant. The Universe is expanding, and its density decreasing.
As the Universe expands ---
Birth of Universe: <->
BOU + some time: <-->
BOU + more time: <---->
and so on.
So, what does that have to do with the price of eggs? Nothing. But, what is happening that as the Universe expands, the total amount within the Universe stays constant. Of everything. And so, consider that if time were a string (yes, I was surprised by the conjectures of D. Bellisario), it would be stretched tighter and tighter, but consider it more as a string with little knots tied in them, and the knots seem farther and farther apart as the Universe grows older. (Not to confuse the knots with time-space distortions at this juncture.)
Now we get to the clincher.
Consider the notion that our consciousness lies outside of the boundaries of space/time. Although the brain, as an organ, occupies space and is subject to all of the afflictions of human existence, the consciousness seems to be -- elsewhere.
When we are born, our consciousness has been developing within the womb for some time. Perhaps it is at the point of conception that is its spark, or perhaps a critical mass of brain tissue has developed, and *that* is the moment that consciousness comes into existence. In any case, our consciousness *is* there, more or less at the time of our birth.
From that point, our perception of the passing of time is fixed. Consciousness lies outside conventional space/time, and therefore is unaffected by local space/time.
As we grow older, the Universe expands. The distance between the "knots in the string" increases. Our perception of the 1 second per second changes as we grow older. As children, we experience summer vacation, a mere two months, as an eternity. As adults, two months flies by in a flash.
What is happening? For each human being (perhaps for all sentient beings) the passage of days seems to be going faster and faster, until our twilight years, when clocks seem to spin the hours and minutes with fury.
That's it.
As an aside, if our Universe *was* a singularity, perhaps it has its own Event Horizon unseeable and unknowable to us. Maybe that is what we pass through at the end of our lives, arriving to Heaven/Nirvana/Asgard/Narnia or wherever.
And Finally...
As humans with our limited perception, time and space seems infinite. Our instruments are showing us otherwise.
as a post-datum, I was visiting the dictionary.com site to check a few of my terms, and after posting *this* message, I clicked on the Word of The Day, which was:
empyrean \em-pie-REE-un; -PEER-ee-\, noun:
1. The highest heaven, in ancient belief usually thought to be a realm of pure fire or light.
2. Heaven; paradise.
3. The heavens; the sky
To that I add a final thought: synchronicity
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear EN.CL: I have read the above with interest, but am unable to make suitable comment. It does seem that the clock accelerates as the deadline approaches.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I personally agree that the rate at which time passes appears to accelerate as we get older.
I'm not sure that there's any connection to the greater physical universe. I would tend to agree that the fact that time appears to speed up is a function of each unit of time passing being a smaller unit of our sum total of elapsed time.
Our personal view of time is subjective, being both observational and experiential. While your views on the objective nature of the universe may well have validity, you can't prove them any more than I can views on the same subject, which differ somehwat.
What do you perceive the connection between the physical and the subject to be?
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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old hand
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old hand
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Dear EN.CL, welcome. At first read your idea of the experiencing organism experiencing a decreasing perception of time with the passage of time because consciousness exists outside the frame of the expanding universe, seemed new and exciting and worth thinking about. But after slow and careful consideration I fear that the real answer is all too obviously and all too sadly much more mundane.
Simply said: The young mind is nearly empty and therefore quick and shallow. The old mind is nearly full and therefore slow and deep. I hate it but a computer analogy is apt, i.e. the files simply become full. Or better still, the rapid verbiage of the American Yankee as contrasted with the duly considered drawls of Gentlemen from the South.
Please excuse me, EN.CL, for being so slow in thinking this response.
Keep up the good thoughts,
Milum.
PS: Concerning your final thought, I ask; How can there be synchronicity in a singularity and so then how can there be sychronicity in the oneness of your begotten universe?
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Carpal Tunnel
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All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.--Walt WhitmanMany consider Carl Jung, with his Theory of Synchronicity, to have empirically proved the existence of miracles! Welcome, EN.CL! I think youll find this a good place for your lucid and introspective conversation.  I read the material you presented with great interest, and found passages there that aptly expressed ideas I've reached but never found the proper words for. It also causes me to recall the classic porposal that "there's only so much energy in the universe." Ergo, your life's energy must be delegated to a new niche in the energy continuum upon its demise...whether it's still you or not is quite another question. Someone once suggested (I think it was Alan Watts) that all consciousness is One, growing to become conscious of itself. Also the concept of no-thingness and mutual arisal...there cannot be somethingunless there's nothing, simultaneously, not in linear degree. But, then, Eugene O'Neill was a proponent of The Eternal Return, the future is just the past becoming itself over and over again. As far as time, I've always said that if the human life span was 300 or 900 it would all still seem too short, and probably about the same, when you get to the end. 'Cause in retrospect, everything goes too quickly, even the pain once you're out of it. Well, I guess that's enough theoretical hash to throw into the pot for now. Again, welcome EN.CL...and thanks for a stimulating and thought inspiring thread!
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stranger
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OP
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For an excellent look into "nothingness" and "somethingness", and the discovery of "zero", check out Isaac Asimov's essay Nothing Counts, which appeared in a collection Of Time and Space and Other Things (1965) and in Asimov on Numbers (1977).
On the subject of "nothing" a quotation I encountered that comes in handy:
A witty saying proves nothing.---Voltaire
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Carpal Tunnel
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A witty saying proves nothing.---Voltaire
At the risk of having it thought that I am dismissing EN.CL's conjectures lightly (which I am not, but that's a whole nother post requiring no little study and thought), I have placed this quote from Voltaire at the top of my collection of witty sayings. Beats the pants offa anything by Wilde.
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Carpal Tunnel
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But many a true word said in jest.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Nothing is much harder to prove than anything, so, for a witty saying to prove it is no mean feat.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Re: Oscar Wilde
Faldage, not to argue against your put-down of Wilde, but here's a gem of his:
The only way a woman can ever reform her husband is by boring him so completely that he loses all possible interest in life. -- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
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Carpal Tunnel
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a gem of his
I rest my case.
I do think that Oscar Wilde has provided the ultimate test for a male actor; deliver an Oscar Wilde quip without sounding like you are quoting Oscar Wilde.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear WW: I'm afraid you played right into Faldage's hands. That quote just is not one of Wilde's best. A woman who bores her husband completely drives him into arms of some other woman.
A Wilde quote I like is the one about Niagara Falls being the first but not the greatest disappointment in American married life. I have a joke about that, but it is too earthy for the Board.
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