Is time quantitized?

[Radical Edward]

Originally posted by trmulti

This is actually the essence: The meaningfullness. Who is this meaningfull for, the scientistist?

 

As I said, it is, quantum mechanically, the smallest meaningful unit of time(length). in half a planck time(length) QM no longer applies. It may be that a more elegant and complete theory describes units of time and length shorter than this.

 

I coudn't follow what you were saying about static time or whetever.

[trmulti]

Originally posted by Radical Edward

... I coudn't follow what you were saying about static time or whetever.

 

No, it isn't easy, and because you seem to be a bright person: Sorry! for going on with this. But the 'fact' that because movement actually is impossible (because every distance allways has a half) the result must be something indynamic.

 

As an illustration: A hammer kan never hit a nail! Let's say one tries to hit a nail and starts with a distance of one foot from the hammer to the nail. As the hammer gets closer with the half of each keypoint as new keypoint, the distance just gets infinitly small. There will allways be a half of the last length, so mathematically the hit will never take place.

 

Of course, even the swinging of the hammer is impossible too. Both past and future cannot exist. Or should we rather trust our experience?

 

Bitte entschuldigen Sie mein English!

[Radical Edward]

nein nein, du sprachts gutes englisch It is my German that is bad!

 

what you are describing there, is Zeno's paradox, in which each time you get closer and closer but never reach your goal... If you fire an arrow at a turtle, each time the arrow gets to where the turtle was, it has moved on a bit, in incrementally smaller and smaller amounts, by this analysis, the arrow never hits the turtle. What you have to remember though is that each time you do this, the time increment you are measuring over is also getting smaller and smaller. so of course it will never get there. however if you measure the time in equal but finite increments each time, then you will be eating turtle soup.

 

All I meant by the planck length/time is that those are the smallest meaningful units of time regarding Quantum mechanics, as I said, there may be a more elegant solution that explains the functioning and properties of spece more clearly to us. I am not saying that space and time are "pixellated" or anything like that

[trmulti]

Originally posted by Radical Edward

...what you are describing there, is Zeno's paradox...

 

OK, I'll read Zeno (sounds like some rock musician and maybe I'll find someone famous who proves the oppsite too? Any suggestions?

[Radical Edward]

oh it is a very simple paradox, and there isn'T really anything to prove the opposite, just an analysis of the error in the paradox really.

[Raider]

Entropy is based on mathematical averages, and is only a very broad generalization of current observation rather than an inherent property.

 

As best as I can tell, time always exist (but doesn't necessarily progress or regress at all....ugh, transitions between events?).

 

Therefore, trying to define time with entropy seems rather absurd to me.

[trmulti]

Originally posted by Raider

... trying to define time with entropy seems rather absurd to me.

 

Yes, it makes time really absurd. That's why this way of thinking falls under Fatalismus.

 

Do you have or have you heard about any other angle of view from wich one should try to understand/define time?

[Radical Edward]

Originally posted by Raider

Therefore, trying to define time with entropy seems rather absurd to me.

 

It isn't really a definition per se, as it is a rather circular argument since one could equally say, entropy always increases in the direction that time flows.

 

Time itself clearly has a dimensional quality, as is illustrated by Relativity. we find it easy to define space, but not time, even though they are all dimensions. however in the presence of very high gravity, space and sime start to become more mixed, until you get to the event horizon, where all you can say, is that the future is in a direction towards the singularity.