Serialised book (with a progressively updated >>dashboard/ToC<< page). Part I: Metaphysics of the Life Instinct.

Book: Philosophy of Life Instinct: Chapter 3: The Nature of Time

What time is and how it is intrinsic to everything

(I made it as concise and straightforward as I could, but if you find this chapter and the previous one a bit difficult, please persevere and skim through them if you can, although you may skip them too and still gain from the rest of the book. I promise you everything from chapter 4 is practical and easy reading.)

Time is so important that it deserved its own time, in a separate chapter. So, here we go.

Existence means the persistence of an object in time. There cannot be an object without time. Existence needs time.

Time means the changing of an object. There cannot be a change without an object. Time needs existence.

From where does time come?

If the cosmos were a void, time would not exist, for there would be no entity that changes to indicate the passage of time. By void, I do not mean empty space, for the concept of space implies extension. To be meaningful, extension needs reference points and separation, i.e. it needs entities or boundaries. The presence of entities or boundaries, however rarified or nebulous, would mean we don’t really have emptiness. So, by void, I mean nothingness. We can restate it: ‘If the cosmos were a nullity, time would not exist’. Or — ‘If there is no cosmos, there is no time’.

If a universe exists that is static, would there be no time in it? Let us take a closer look. What does being static mean? It means things remain exactly as they are, in time. So, a static universe can only exist if time exists. The state of being static is not a property of time; it is a property of the entities of the static universe. Can we say time has not stopped, but change in the entities has stopped? But how do we verify that the entities are not changing? For that, we have to record the state of the entities at a moment in time and after some time has passed, then check that they are identical. But how do we wait for time to pass? The only way to do that is by observing something that changes, e.g. the position of the hand of a clock, the Sun, or something. But then, the universe can no longer be considered static as these entities are changing and allowing us to check if other entities are unchanged. Therefore, we can conclude that there cannot be a completely static universe, or if there is one, we can never know or prove it.

In terms of our universe, if we cannot know of anything that existed before the Big Bang, then we cannot ask questions about the time before the big bang. There was no ‘before’. Our time started with the Big Bang. And if our universe becomes a nullity in a few billion or trillion years, there will be no ‘after’ that either.

In a nutshell, time only exists in changing universes (including the instant of its creation and destruction). And as a corollary, only changing universes can be said to exist. Existence, change and time cannot be separated.

Time and space

If every point in a universe were identical, it would be indistinguishable from nullity. A meaningful universe implies discrete entities. Discrete entities imply space outside the entities and between the entities. Therefore, existence needs space. But we have seen that time needs existence. Therefore, time needs space.

There is another way of thinking about it. Existence and space cannot be separated. They are bound together. And as time and existence are also bound together, then time and space are also bound together.

‘No space’ means ‘no existence’ means ‘no time’. ‘No time’ means ‘no existence’ means ‘no space’. And so on. Existence, space and time are inseparable.

(I can’t remember if Einstein’s argument is similar for the space-time continuum. I’ll revisit it when I am through with this book. It will be interesting.)

Time in material versus illusory existence

We would take time as something real in a material universe, with changing objects made of persistent matter. But can we say time exists in an illusory universe?

Chapter 2 defined existence as — What is; brought to our attention by our experience but can be beyond it and independent of it.

Entities in an illusory existence need the same universal properties, relationships and events (we call them Universals) for their recognition as discrete, persistent and changing entities, as in a material universe. The persistence and change of the illusory entities would have no meaning without time. There is no way to distinguish persistence and change between the two possible types of existence. We can take it that there is no essential difference regarding time between an illusory and material universe.

If existence is material — matter, space and time are inseparable.

If existence is illusory — illusory entities, illusory space and time are inseparable.

The nature of time

If time is change, we would like to know if changes are continuous or happen in tiny jumps from one state to another, for time will behave accordingly.

Is there an experiment that will determine if changes are continuous? Let us try a thought experiment. We will roll a ball from point A to B. We have noted the distance is 2 metres, and we will push the ball so it will take 3 seconds to go from A to B. We will use a video camera to record the ball’s movement as it rolls, recording image frames as rapidly as current technology allows.

Here is our hypothesis: If we get a photo of the ball at every position between A and B, we will prove that its change of position happens as a continuous movement.

At least three difficulties immediately arise.

1. The problem of infinite divisions

Saying ‘every’ position implies that the space between points A and B can be divided into parts. But how small should the parts be? The larger they are, the less certain we can be about the continuity of movement between them. So, we should try to divide it into the smallest possible parts. But going towards the smallest divisions takes the number of intervening points towards infinity. So, we will have to assume that there are infinite positions to photograph for the movement for the sake of accuracy. It leads to two issues — how does the finite distance of 2m have infinite divisions? And how will we take infinite photographs if we are ever to complete the experiment?

We also have a problem with the recording. How can we divide time into an infinite number of moments in a finite time of 3 seconds and capture infinite images?

2. The problem of movement

Let’s say the ball moves from one infinitely small position to the next, and we can get an image of the ball while it is at each position. Now, the image shows the ball at a position while it is there. It cannot be moving if it is there; it needs to be stationary there, even if for an infinitely small division of time. It is not entering from a previous position or exiting to the next, for then we couldn’t say it is wholly at the position recorded. Then, if in every image the ball is stationary at a point, it is, in effect, always stationary, so how does it move?

3. The problem of observation impact

Detecting the ball’s position requires information. That means we need to reach out to the ball somehow to see it or feel it. In this case, we will be bouncing photons of light off the ball. But what if the photons affect the position of the ball? We know that light can exert pressure on a surface. Even if it is a tiny effect, will it not change the position of the ball? If it does, the position in the images is not precise, so what was the actual position? Sure, we can estimate the photons' impact and correct for it, but it will then be an assumption that the ball was at every recorded point and not somewhere else, and our results will always be doubtful.

[Note1: We may propose covering the ball in wet paint and seeing if the track it leaves is continuous, but if the ball is jumping across infinitely small divisions, the paint print will look continuous without being proof of continuous movement.

Note2: There is yet another way of thinking about the setup and the experiment. Quantum Physics has shown that all matter behaves as a wave too, i.e. disturbances in force fields. So, if a change of state happens through the propagation of a wave transporting a change of energy (i.e. frequency and/or wavelength) through space, then by the nature of a force field being continuous, we could consider all changes, including movement, to be continuous. That, in turn, would make Time continuous too. But similar problems of recording, movement, and observer-impact also apply to this paradigm, keeping the direct proof of continuous change beyond our reach.

Note 3: Some would say that geometry and calculus have the solution, as they provide equations to calculate the positions of the ball in time, its relative distance to the endpoint, speed, etc. While geometry and mathematics are among humanity’s greatest practical inventions, they only represent reality; they do not explain it. In that sense, they are humanity’s greatest discoveries rather than inventions.

Note4: The problem in dividing space and time also applies to entities (objects), material or illusory. If space can be divided infinitesimally small, so can even the most fundamental particles theorised yet, preons. If a particle is a unit of energy, we should only keep finding more and more of lower and lower energy, infinitely tending towards zero energy.]

The three problems make it impossible to carry out the thought experiment, let alone a real one. It is as if something magical happens when the ball goes from point A to B, something mysterious. We can see it happening and experience it, but we cannot understand and explain it.

We can surmise that divisibility, motion and the sensation of time are Universals that only exist in living entities, in their sense organs and ‘minds’. They may have no existence as external entities’ Universals (see chapter 2).

We fail dismally to prove that space, change and time are continuous, or indeed discontinuous. What it does show starkly is our limitations in being able to model and grasp reality. It is hardly surprising, as we are but a product of nature, rather than the other way around. How can a miniscule, almost newborn, obviously immature and probably accidental form of existence know its vast and ancient parent? We need the humility to recognise how insignificant we are, in body and mind, while we continue to learn.

Time and life

Would there be time without conscious beings? It is not only possible but highly probable because certain changes would have been necessary for the emergence of life forms and sentient beings before they existed. So, the existence of the universe and change is not dependent on life's existence, as far as we know. A lot has happened without us — the Big Bang, the formation of gases, nebulae, stars, galaxies and planets.

The life forms that have emerged experience change and, as a consequence, the passage of time. To be alive is to persist in time. But life is not static. The very definition of life involves change. Therefore, to be a life form is to feel time intimately, internally, and innately. A rock can exist and persist in time without experiencing time. But all the living things we know change continuously over their lifetimes. In effect, they have an internal clock. It could be stopped cryogenically, but then the life form would be clinically dead. Once it is thawed and starts changing, it will once again feel the passage of time. We don’t need external observers to tell us that time is passing. It is something special about known life forms, and we will look into it further in chapters of Part II of the book.

We probably experience time differently from other creatures, such as a virus, gnat, bird or whale. Imagine our perceptual differences compared to members of an alien species with life spans of thousands of years. The changes they experience would be different in their particulars and pace. Other life forms could cease changing and resume it at will, sort of like some animals hibernate on Earth. They would experience time in yet another way. Our experience of time is, therefore, most likely unique to us.

As we will see in later explorations, life is mortal. It is part of its definition. Dying is a change of state for our bodies. When time stops, life is over. When life ceases, time is over for us, literally, not ironically.

Time operates in many contexts — individual lifetimes, generations of a family, evolutions of a species, geological time across all species, and before there were any on the planet.

What we achieve with time is doubtful. The entity called life includes a fruit fly that lives for minutes and does everything required for life in that short period. It also has humans who can live for over a hundred years to carry out the same cosmically meaningless sequence of birth, reproduction and death.

We humans can control many things on Earth and in space now, and one day we may be able to bend time to our will. Meanwhile, we can only experience its passage and make the best of it.

© 2020 Shashidhar Sastry. All rights reserved.

(As each chapter of the book is published, its link is updated in the ToC below.)

Table of Contents

Part I Metaphysics of The Life Instinct

Part II Philosophy of The Life Instinct

Part III The Life Instinct and The Future

Published By Shashidhar Sastry

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