Is Time an Objective Measurement or an Illusion?

[stsmhood]

I was reading an article on scientists claiming an illusionary nature of time: https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a61021621/is-time-just-an-illusion/.

These sorts of speculations really bother me.

Time is a measurement of motion. As long as motion exists, time can be used to measure it. Time will never be an illusion. It is a tool to measure the duration of motion.

Is anyone else bothered by the types of speculations that articles like the one above submit?

 

[JT Smith]

Time is a measurement of motion. As long as motion exists, time can be used to measure it.

So if nothing moves what happens to time?

 

[berkeman]

These sorts of speculations really bother me.

It's best to ignore the popular press version of the story (it is clickbait on purpose) and instead read the source article in the peer-reviewed journal:

https://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.109.052212

 

[hutchphd]

It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

 

[Klystron]

It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Yes. Decoding the 'Bard of Avon', Hamlet contemplates life, indeed the Universe, subjectively. When a human experiences happiness, time (subjectively) passes quickly. Unhappy times -- the Prince of Denmark revels in misery despite wealth, old friends and a hot girlfriend -- pass oh so slowly.

I have not read the linked papers yet today but have often encountered this concept. Shakespeare anticipates pre-Enlightenment poetry giving way to scientific method. Time is what is measured by clocks, not by counting riffles in a flowing stream.

 

[russ_watters]

I was reading an article on scientists claiming an illusionary nature of time: ....

Is anyone else bothered by the types of speculations that articles like the one above submit?

It bothers me when the key words in the title ("illusion" and "mind") don't appear in the article. That means that regardless of if the article is any good (it references a peer reviewed paper in a quality journal...) the title is just clickbait, possibly not even written by the same person.

 

[PeroK]

I was reading an article on scientists claiming an illusionary nature of time: https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a61021621/is-time-just-an-illusion/.

These sorts of speculations really bother me.

Time is a measurement of motion. As long as motion exists, time can be used to measure it. Time will never be an illusion. It is a tool to measure the duration of motion.

Is anyone else bothered by the types of speculations that articles like the one above submit?

Words like "real", "reality" and "illusion" are not well-defined in physics. Physics has natural phenomena, experiments involving these and theories/mathematical models to explain/predict the results of these experiments. There's no absolute, unambiguous sense in which, for example, the electromagnetic field is "real" or an "illusion". The same goes for time.

The simplest approach I can suggest is to call things like time, space and the EM field useful concepts! They are useful in describing natural phenomena and map directly to elements of the mathematical model.

 

[Baluncore]

the title is just clickbait, possibly not even written by the same person.

Most titles are now clickbait, generated by AI.

 

[ShadowKraz]

Kind of on subject (please move if there is a better forum for this); can any one recommend non-pop sci articles on Time that are not too heavy on the higher maths?

 

[PeroK]

Kind of on subject (please move if there is a better forum for this); can any one recommend non-pop sci articles on Time that are not too heavy on the higher maths?

Time itself is a quite a simple concept in physics - until you study Relativity. If you want to understand time in the context of Special Relativity (SR), then the opening chapter of Morin's book is available online. (If you see yourself as an "enthusiastic beginner"!) There is not much between pop science and this. Note that SR is light on maths. Mostly high school maths.

https://davidmorin.physics.fas.harvard.edu/books/special-relativity/

 

[ShadowKraz]

Time itself is a quite a simple concept in physics - until you study Relativity. If you want to understand time in the context of Special Relativity (SR), then the opening chapter of Morin's book is available online. (If you see yourself as an "enthusiastic beginner"!) There is not much between pop science and this. Note that SR is light on maths. Mostly high school maths.

https://davidmorin.physics.fas.harvard.edu/books/special-relativity/

Thank you.
Edit: Found it, will probably just go ahead and buy the book next month.