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    TIME: The Background to Reality
    TIME: The Background to Reality
    TIME: The Background to Reality
    Ebook81 pages54 minutes

    TIME: The Background to Reality

    By Christopher L Mohr

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    About this ebook

    What we call Time may not really be Time at all; it may only be a projection, or more precisely a dimensional characteristic of Time. We believe we feel Time pass us by, yet it is non-substantial; not of a tactile nature. Time is one of the least understood phenomena of the physical world. We take it for granted; we live in its embrace and indirectly observe its influence on our world through the prisms of nature - sunrise and sunset, and the man-made – clocks and time-pieces. When I was young I became interested in Time; I noticed the strangeness of Time; we live but in delay.

    There are fundamental qualities that constitute our Universe. These qualities are called constants and laws and they account for things such as the energy in a photon, the speed of light, the space bending nature of gravity and so on. Time is not described as a physical constant, yet it is constantly with us. What if Time were actually a constant? How would that change the way we understand the Universe? So it raises the question: is there an a priory structural fabric in which all forces and characteristics are one and the same but observed as different features of this fabric; Time being one of the many?

    For the majority of us we experience Time only at our scale, while others looking at the Universe at larger or smaller scales see a different Universe. At different scales Time may act differently - can we see a different Time at a different scale?

    The metaphysical question: where did our Universe come from and where is it going? - is a subject too big for this essay, but to discuss Time we will touch on some of these ideas. Nevertheless, questions beyond our current abilities to build proofs have always been left to the domain of philosophy; and yet, despite our ability to measure Time precisely, Time remains for the most part in the philosophical domain.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChristopher L Mohr
    Release dateMay 13, 2014
    ISBN9781310777684
    TIME: The Background to Reality
    Author

    Christopher L Mohr

    An economist and econometrician by profession I am a physicist on the inside screaming to get out.Lacking the formal training has never been an impediment to following my passion for physics and understanding how our universe works.A native of Australia, an inquisitive mind an a philosophical bent - a comfortable combination

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      Book preview

      TIME - Christopher L Mohr

      TIME – THE BACKGROUND TO REALITY

      A Philosophical essay

      By Christopher L Mohr

      Copyright 2014 Christopher L Mohr

      Smashwords Edition

      To Anne, Tyler & Hunter;

      Love to you all and hopefully this small token rewards your patience

      Table of Contents

      Preface

      Prologue

      My reality your reality

      How does time manifest itself to us?

      Time in our big bang universe

      Time: separate, constant & hidden

      Different universes

      A very short chapter on heat death

      Time’s scale

      Entropy

      Epilogue

      Preface

      An opening word of guidance for the reader: this essay draws on research, study and a keen interest I have developed in physics over more than forty years. However, I am not a physicist and although I have followed, as best as I could, the developments and announcements in physics over the last four decades, I bring no professional training to the subject. If my enthusiasm counts for anything it is the desire to make sense of the ‘discoveries’ by the multitude of professional academics that now inhabit our bookshelves and airways.

      We are in the era of the celebrity scientist with their championed aim of bringing complex subjects to the masses; but this is a two sided coin. Yes, the better the public at large understand the nature of the work of physicists the more likely the public is to encourage governmental and philanthropic support of such pursuits. On the other side of the coin, the celebrity scientist distorts the scientific debate by marketing their preferred theoretical bent to the detriment of alternative views. I love the access we have to these great minds but I also get confused and mostly frustrated by the competing messages.

      The underlying motivation for this small text is the passionate interest I have in understanding the nature of Time. The conclusions drawn throughout this book I have reached through my own contemplation. The ideas of others obviously have aided my comprehension and shaped my thinking, but in no way do I attempt to covert the work of others. To guide the discussion I use terms and references from physics; however, when I mention physical concepts by intention I do not provide elaborate explanations of the phenomena or the discoverers behind the subject’s conceptualisation. My sole intention is to focus on Time and not the other physics, so my apologies upfront for not providing greater details. I have made the assumption that you the reader are familiar with the terms and properties mentioned throughout the text, or that by reading this essay your interest will be piqued sufficiently to seek out more information from the myriad of reference sources now available to us. It has been both an immense intellectual challenge and a joy to put together this essay. Not only is it my first attempt at a long form philosophical discussion, it is a great relief to feel that I have finally been able to bring sufficient coherence to my thoughts on Time and its nature to publish them for wider consumption, contemplation and criticism.

      Many of us do not appreciate the fact that when we speak of Time we do so more in terms of how we measure it, especially in the context of navigating our world. What we call Time may not really be Time at all; it may only be a projection, or more precisely a dimensional characteristic. We believe we feel Time pass us by, yet it is non-substantial; not of a tactile nature. Time is one of the least understood phenomena of the physical world. We take it for granted; we live in its embrace and indirectly observe its influence on our world through the prisms of nature - sunrise and sunset, and the man-made – clocks and time-pieces.

      When I was young I became interested in Time; I noticed the strangeness of Time watching TV beamed live from the other side of the world; live but in delay. Delayed by what? Broadly events occur and a signal emitted from the event is transmitted to me, but it takes Time to reach me. The reality is that we all live in delay, yet we all live in the same Time, don't we?

      As we see and experience it there are fundamental qualities that constitute our Universe. These qualities are called physical constants and laws and they account for things such as the energy in a photon, the speed of light, the space bending nature of gravity and so on. Time is not described as a physical constant, yet it is constantly with us. What if Time were actually a constant? How would that change the way we understand the Universe? How would such a notion make us rethink our current view of Time and the Universe?

      The physical laws that describe the Universe are interpretations and narratives of the characteristics and actions that arise within the Universe. We are taught to regard these physical laws as undeniable truths because they are declared by science to be so. The reality is that the Universe existed well before any scientific declarations. Fundamental qualities like energy, spatial dimension, motion, the coalescence of energy as matter and Time as the sequencing of events, all exist without the need for scientific description or measurement. So it raises the question: is there an a priory structural fabric in which all forces and characteristics are one and the same but observed as different features of this fabric; Time being one of the many?

      Motion and gravity affect, or more precisely dilate Time; but not the Time of the first person, only the Time of an observer in motion relative to the first person. In this instance Time may not be slowed but be better described as elongated. Likewise, for the majority of us we experience Time only at our scale, while others looking at the Universe at larger or smaller scales

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