Time is a relative concept, who said. Time

Physicists have made a shocking statement - time does not exist. For humans, time definitely exists: we wake up in the morning, move forward in time during the day and at some point go to bed, and in our sleep we also continue to move forward in time.

The old adage “time is running out” seems quite true, doesn’t it?

The trouble began when Einstein's theory of general relativity, which describes the laws of physics on a large scale, collided with quantum physics, the field that tries to describe the smallest particles in the universe, and the theory of wave-particle duality, which states that light is both waves and particles. was tested for the first time.

For years, physicists have tried to unite the two disparate fields by composing the Great Unifying Equation, believing that, despite scale, everything in the Universe must be connected, from particles to galaxies.

Bryce-De Witt (second from left)

A little over 40 years ago two genius physics John Wheeler and Bryce-DeWitt developed such an equation. However, their discovery immediately seemed controversial because if the equation is correct, then there is no such thing as time at all at the most fundamental level of matter.

Although the concept is confusing, it seems that it may be true, and what we subjectively perceive as “time” is actually a measurable effect of global changes in the world around us. And the more we delve into the world of atoms, protons and photons, the less relevant the concept of time becomes.

This opinion is confirmed National Institute standards and technologies. NIST is the custodian of the world's most accurate atomic clock, against which all other clocks around the world are checked. Scientists from NIST claim that their ultra-precise clocks do not measure time at all: time is determined by the marks on the clock. In fact, time allows us to create order in life: if we had not come up with such a concept as “time,” there would be complete chaos around us.

Physics seems to agree with this.

Scientists at the Bistra Research Center in Ptu, Slovenia, have theorized that Newton's idea of time as an absolute measure that moves on its own, and that time is the fourth existing dimension, are incorrect. They proposed replacing these concepts of time with a new view that better relates to physical world: Time is just a numerological order of physical changes.

But let's dig even deeper in this direction...

Modern philosophical science defines space and time as universal forms of existence and coordination of objects. Space has three dimensions: length, width and height, and time has only one - the direction from the past through the present to the future. Space and time exist objectively, outside and independent of consciousness.

By this definition, time is another form of existence of objects. Second form.

But can there be a second form of existence? Can a piece of wood exist both in the shape of a chair and at the same time in the shape of a table?

The formulation does not clarify the issue: time has only one dimension - this is the direction from the past through the present to the future.

What is the future? The future is unreal, it does not exist in reality, it is an image.

The present is also conditional, and can be located somewhere at the junction between the future and the past, with zero coordinates.

The past is something that no longer exists; it is rather a symbol, the same image. All these concepts have no idea physical meaning, which casts doubt on the very concept of time as a form of existence of matter.

In science, the main argument is experience. Who and when carried out experiments proving the existence of time in nature?

It seems that no one did this, for fear of being in the role of a person looking for a black cat in a dark room where it might not be there. We will try to clarify this problem with some examples.

Movement of the Earth in time

In nature, everything moves and constantly changes. Planet Earth, having passed a segment of the path along its orbit, not only changes its coordinates in space, but also changes itself. She becomes different.

Having mentally fixed the Earth at any point, we will not get it the same at any other point. Therefore, is it possible to say that the Earth has passed such and such a distance in such and such a time when “that” Earth no longer exists?

We cannot return to the “yesterday” Earth, not because time has one direction, but because the “yesterday” Earth no longer exists. She, like everything in nature, is constantly changing.

Day and night. Seasons.

An observer located in mid-latitudes on Earth sees day and knows that a few hours ago it was night. From his experience, he draws the logical conclusion that after a few hours, night will fall again.

From this he concludes that events occur periodically and that they exist in time. Also for him, summer and spring, winter and autumn periodically exist in time.

But if this observer is placed in spaceship, flying in orbit around the Sun, then it will not observe the change of day and night. He will always have day on the side of the ship facing the Sun, and night on the opposite side. In this case, the frequency disappears.

Being at the Earth's equator, an observer will not be able to determine the changing seasons. There are none at the equator.

It follows that the frequency of day and night, as well as the seasons, cannot serve as confirmation of objectively existing time.

Sound

A very convincing confirmation of the existence of absolute time is sound. It exists for a long time, from its origin to its extinction. From which it is concluded that sound exists in time.

Sound appears when a substance vibrates (strings, etc.) and spreads in wave vibrations of the air.

Sound exists in a gaseous medium, water and solids in the form of weak mechanical disturbances. Subjectively assessing the duration of the sounding process, we identify it with time.

There is no air on the Earth's closest neighbor, the Moon, and there is no sound there. There is no sound anywhere in the Universe. Therefore, having heard a sound in the air while on Earth, it is logical, but subjective, to conclude that sound exists in time.

Live nature

It is well known that all life on Earth lives and develops in time. Everything has its beginning and end. A grain planted in the ground sprouts and develops. How long did it take for the sprout to reach maturity?

Nature does not pose the question this way. All living things grow and develop in accordance with the laws of living nature. You cannot separate the period from the moment the grain is planted to its ripening from the general process of life and believe that this period is time.

This period is part of the general process of the development of the Earth, the ripening of the soil, the planting of grain, its ripening. The grain will then fall into the ground and give new life, and so on endlessly.

And here the concept of time looks subjective. The misconception is that the development process is isolated and identified with time.

Watch

Richard Feynman (1918-1988), an American theoretical physicist, one of the founders of quantum electrodynamics, adhered to the definition: time is just a clock.

“Moscow time is 12 o’clock,” we hear on the radio, “in Novosibirsk it is 16 o’clock, in Vladivostok it is 19.” The Japanese in Tokyo have a difference of only five hours from Moscow. It's more convenient for them.

What is this absolute concept of Time, which can be handled so freely? Let's look for the answer to this question. To do this, let's do an experiment. Mentally.

Let's imagine that we are at the stadium and see how an athlete runs a hundred meters in 11 seconds. In the second race he improved his result to 10.5 seconds. What happened?

What happened was that the second time the athlete ran faster, his race time was reduced. Time is a secondary value; time depends on how fast the athlete ran and the distance.

Let us leave the concept of absolute time alone for now, and return to everyday time that is convenient for understanding. Its appearance in the human consciousness goes back centuries, it is convenient with it, and humanity has always tried to keep it under control.

They invented and built all kinds of instruments: solar, water and hourglasses, pendulum clocks with weights. They invented spring clocks, chronometers, stopwatches and, finally, electronic and atomic clocks. And they all replace us with something that does not exist in nature.

In Rus' there was no concept of time. They said this: we’ll meet two feet apart. This is when your shadow will be equal to the length of your two bast shoes. Moreover, people of different heights have different bast shoes, but they are proportional to their height. It turned out quite accurately, but only in sunny weather.

From past to future

Speaking about time, it’s good to remember the words from the song: “...There is only a moment, between the past and the future...” - a moment is nothing. Strictly speaking, the present does not exist, it does not exist. The future constantly flows into the past. In the present, in this moment, in this nothingness, is time, or rather the illusion of the existence of time.

If we define time as a concept that covers the past and the future, then it consists of a past that no longer exists and a future that does not yet exist. In this case, time consists of two quantities that do not exist. Therefore, there is no whole.

Is time near?

Time exists always and everywhere. Time created by the human mind surrounds us from all sides: in Everyday life, in science, art, philosophy.

In a philosophical understanding of the existence of matter, we agree that one of the smallest particles of matter - an atom - moves slowly in space and that movement and space, speed and distance determine time.

But then a counterargument arises from the subconscious: everything exists in time! Time always exists! And unconsciously, time becomes some kind of superspatial formation, time becomes some kind of all-consuming monster, and only because the subconscious is overflowing with time.

It is also impossible to assume that time exists in parallel with space because space is infinite. Nothing, including time, can exist “next to” space.

Airplane

An airplane flew overhead with a roar. An observer on the ground believes that while the plane was flying from one point in the sky to another, time passed. This is the normal everyday assessment of the event.

The root cause of this event was the Mind, which created the aircraft, airfields and ground services. The plane was created for transportation. While he is standing on the ground, there is no time for him.

When the plane picks up speed and takes off, the so-called flight time will depend on the speed and distance traveled by the plane. Time is a derivative quantity. First there was speed, speed.

Big Bang

If we consider the hypothesis of the Big Bang, as a result of which the Universe appeared, the question arises: when did time appear? Before the explosion, at the moment of the explosion, or when homo sapiens appeared, a thinking person? The creators of the hypothesis do not give an answer.

A thinking person asks the question: if Time once appeared, then in the form of what? And with what properties?

We may be told that Time is the interval between two events. But this gap appears only as a result of a person’s comprehension of it. If we do not fix them in our consciousness, then objectively the events are separated in space with the irreversible movement of matter.

Time appears in our consciousness. And our consciousness replaces the irreversibility of the movement of matter with the flow of time, believing that this is the property of Time.

No less interesting is the theory of an anisotropic Universe, according to which matter contracts and expands in different parts Universe.

Confirmation of shrinking matter can be found in black holes, in which space and time are compressed. As a consequence, a thesis appears about a change in the direction of time: in a black hole it becomes reversed.

In time with a changed direction, the subsequent event must occur before the previous one. Figuratively speaking, under the influence of time in a black hole, you can see how a dead person comes to life, how he becomes younger and returns to where he was born.

Thus, one can cast doubt on the entire harmonious theory of the anisotropic Universe, if one does not take into account the illusory nature of the existence of time.

Foucault pendulum

The pendulum, making oscillatory movements, very clearly illustrates the presence of objectively existing time. Being at the extreme point, it seems to freeze, and then moves to its other extreme point.

Foucault pendulum
If the Foucault pendulum hangs motionless there, we will see that time has stopped (photo from spauda.lt).
He moves in space and time. To pass from one extreme point the pendulum needs time to reach the other.

Moreover, if we look at the Foucault pendulum, we will see graphic image time in the form of stripes left on the sand by a metal rod mounted on a pendulum ball.

Each subsequent stripe is slightly rotated in relation to the previous stripe. The ends of these strips are located at some distance from each other. This is clearly visible to any observer.

If the pendulum is placed on any cosmic body, the effect will be the same: the pendulum will stop, and not only because there is air resistance on Earth, but also because there is friction, gravity and a perpetual motion machine cannot exist.

At the household level

The man sat down on the sofa, watched TV and got up from the sofa. Time passed between “sat down” and “got up,” the person believes. He went outside and crossed to the other side. While he was crossing the street, time passed, the man reasons.

A person unconsciously splits the continuous process of life into separate events and perceives the interval between them as time.

All processes, from the smallest ones occurring in human life to global ones, such as solar flares, exist regardless of time. Having detected two flares on the Sun, we perceive the interval between them as time.

Unconsciously highlighting the interval between flares from the entire process of the existence of the Sun, we fall into the illusion of the existence of time.

From part to whole

Our thought processes involuntarily set milestones and landmarks. A person cannot comprehend everything at once. We see a large building, and our gaze begins to glide over its details. By these details we judge the building as a whole. And here lies the possibility of error.

Upon closer inspection, the building may turn out to be a prop made at a film factory. You can't live in this layout. Generalizing from details can lead to erroneous conclusions about the whole.

Contracting and diverging Galaxies have been discovered in outer space. After compression, an explosion probably occurs and a new star appears, and the process of expansion occurs. Another one appears elsewhere, and we conclude that one star appeared earlier and the other later in time.

In fact, the processes of compression and expansion occur constantly. They are numerous and do not coincide in amplitude. Otherwise the Universe would be homogeneous.

Having set milestones at the moments of discovery of new stars, we succumb to the illusion of time in which their appearance is spaced and, generalizing, we say that the stars and Galaxies themselves exist in time.

Pipe

An oil pipeline several hundred kilometers long was built in Siberia. Oil began to be pumped into it. There will be oil at the other end of the pipeline for a long time. We say that it will take time before oil becomes available to consumers. Here is an argument in favor of the existence of time. But let's not rush.

Time in our case is characterized by the delay between the moment the pump is turned on and the appearance of oil at the other end of the pipe. What caused this delay?

First, let's answer the question of what caused the oil pumping. The root cause was Intelligence, which created the transfer pump, pipes and related equipment. When the pump started working, oil, due to its viscosity, could not immediately appear at the other end of the pipe.

If gas were pumped into the same pipe, it would travel the same distance faster. In a fiberglass cable, light would travel this distance almost instantly. Oil retention is caused by viscosity, friction in the pipe, turbulence and similar objective reasons.

All other things being equal, the travel time for different substances through our pipe is different, but we add that the time is measured, not absolute.

The process of pumping oil exists objectively, but if you mentally remove the pipe from this process, the motivation to wait will disappear, and with it time.

Newton on time

Isaac Newton, in his 1687 Principia Mathematical, distinguishes:

1. Absolute, true, mathematical time, otherwise called duration.

2. Relative, apparent or ordinary time is a measure of duration used in everyday life: hour, day, month, year.

Let us emphasize: absolute mathematical time does not exist in nature. Mathematics created by the human mind is only a reflection of nature in scalar, numerical quantities. When comprehending Newton's first definition, one must avoid falling into a logical trap: time is absolute and...Newton's second definition of time eludes attention. In fact, the second definition absorbs the first.

In theoretical developments, we always fall into the “Newtonian trap” and talk about time as something that really exists.

The movement of matter is characterized by speed. If it is necessary to compare the speed of movement of two bodies, it is necessary to determine the same sections of the path for them and introduce some common conventional value comparable to rhythmic natural processes.

Usually the daily rotation of the Earth is used. One 1440th part is a minute. This is the conventional quantity (time) with which we can compare the speed of movement of our bodies under study.

For convenience, we divide the path by time and get the speed. But dividing the journey by time is as absurd from a mathematical point of view as dividing okroshka not into portions, but into bicycles.

The philosopher Emmanuel Kant (1724-1804) argued that time as such does not exist at all, that it represents only one of the forms of human perception of the surrounding world, the so-called relation.

Bees in the Universe

Einstein's theory of relativity reveals the fact that the simultaneity of events is not absolute, but relative. A given moment cannot encompass the entire Universe. There cannot be one and the same moment for the whole world. There is no single “now” in the world that separates all past events and future events. Each system has its own “now”, its own past and future.

There should be an infinite number of such systems in the world. But it is enough to take two systems to understand that between them there must be a boundary between the existence of time. The entire world space in this case will resemble a honeycomb, each with its own time and space. The illusion of the existence of time leads us to this conclusion.

Einstein's general theory of relativity states that space and time are curved as a result of gravity. It is difficult to challenge the great maestro, but we are obliged to point out the inaccuracy.

Space is by definition infinite, and infinity, which has no boundaries, cannot be curved. The structure of space can, under the influence of gravity, become denser in some parts and, as a result, be discharged in neighboring areas. The trajectories of moving bodies can be bent, but not space itself.

Time cannot be bent because it simply does not exist in nature.

Who discovered time in nature and where did they register their discovery? What properties does time have? Defining time as duration, the duration of a process requires a tool to measure it.

If we begin to measure the time between any phases of the state of matter using a rhythmically operating mechanism, say, a clock, then the time will always differ with different measurements.

Because the next measurement will occur at a “different” time. The experiment will have its own time, we ourselves will also be in our own time, and those who do not participate in the experiment will also live in their own time.

We can only hope for some Universal Time, which, based on special theory relativity, it cannot be. There cannot be a single “now” due to the fact that no information can be transmitted at a speed greater than the speed of light. Each reference system will have its own time (conditional), Einstein said.

What does the textbook teach

In any school physics textbook we find a diagram of a moving body. In the diagram within the framework of Euclidean geometry, due to the impossibility of depicting three-dimensional space on a plane, the applicate is discarded, and the time coordinate is depicted in its place.

Typical space-time diagram
If Time exists in nature, then the coordinate of time cannot be depicted this way, because on the diagram time at the zero coordinate point falls inside matter, or vice versa - matter is inside time.

But if we understand that Time is a conditional concept, then the conditional time coordinate has the right to exist!

In this example, we are once again convinced of how great the illusion of the existence of Time is.

Let's summarize the preliminary results

At the everyday level, the existence of time is obvious and beyond doubt. Based on the evidence, a logical conclusion is drawn, which takes root in the mass consciousness: Time was, is and will be.

This conclusion, in which the psychological factor dominates, is not based on objective data or experiment, which is why it gives a distorted picture of understanding the essence of time, which looks reliable. Here lies the illusion of the existence of time.

In this regard, one cannot help but recall our compatriot, Russian philosopher Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov (1853-1900).

He defined time as the basic condition of all finite existence and said that time does not allow for either an empirical (experience-based) explanation of origin or a rational (rational) definition of its essence.

And when they say that time is the order of phenomena in their sequence (read - in time), then the definition turns out to be an obvious tautology: time is determined by time.

All philosophical explanations of time that do not represent an empty identity are of a metaphysical nature and will be considered under the names of philosophers.

Phase Theory, or how to prove the absence of a non-existent?

In the movement of matter, our mind usually identifies its individual states, and a person perceives the gap between them as time. Successive states of matter in human consciousness merge into a single “river of time.”

An analogue of this movement can be film, which captures individual moments of body movement. At a projection speed of 25 frames per second (more correctly, one 86,400th part of the Earth’s revolution around its axis), in our brain the movement of the body becomes continuous, constant.

In individual frames we see an image of a no longer existing past in its phases. It is impossible to fix the future, since it does not exist in nature.

Any movement can be considered as consisting of separate phases. Therefore, we can say that matter is in constant phase motion.

Most a clear example are the phases of the Moon, which appears before us every night in its new phase. The process of plant growth consists of seed germination, stem growth, appearance of leaves, and so on. It clearly illustrates the phase development of biological objects. In the animal world we also observe the phase development of an individual.

Moon phases

The phases of the Moon most clearly illustrate the phase development of biological objects (illustration from sanford.com).
The concept of “phase” is so natural that it is not customary to talk about it. But in this case, it focuses on the fact that any movement that seems continuous actually consists of separate segments called phases.

Now it becomes clear that the interval between the phases of the state of objects should be considered as the distance between them, and not as time.

Matter is constantly moving at a certain speed, and speed is the distance over an artificially created rhythmic period.

Of particular importance is the concept of phase existence (motion) of matter in quantum theory.

Introducing the concept of “phase” into the definition of the properties of matter removes the constantly emerging illusion of the existence of time. It becomes clear that time is not a natural phenomenon, but a phenomenon of the human mind.

The phenomenon of time spontaneously arises in a person’s mind whenever he comprehends the duration of any phenomenon or event.

Matter exists in three-dimensional infinite space in constant relative phase motion.

And finally

A person comes into the world, into a society with established traditions and postulates. From childhood, a person absorbs the concepts that exist in society. It is psychologically difficult for him to question seemingly obvious truths. But between the “apparent” and the truth there is a huge distance.

The great illusion of time lies in the everyday consciousness and extends to the greatest minds of science.

Sayings about time:

Alberti L:

Three things belong to man: soul, body and time (... e se pure alcuna si pateva chiamare nostra queste erana le sole tre -... anima, corpo e tempo).

Antiphon:

Time is a thought or measure, not an essence.

Aristotle:

Among the unknowns in the nature around us, the most unknown is time, because no one knows what time is and how to control it.

Zeno of Citium:

Time is the distance of movement.

Tsiolkovsky K.:

Time may exist, but we don't know where to look for it.

Cicero:

And it is not even possible in my thoughts that there was ever a time when there was no time.

Shakespeare W.:

Time passes differently for different people.

V. Istarkhov:

In fact, no time, as a really existing entity in itself not connected with anything external, exists. What exists? And it is precisely this external thing that exists—real processes exist. And time is just a means of measuring them. Time is a “centimeter” and nothing more. Without this externality, time not only does not exist, it loses all meaning.

Just as length does not exist as a primary entity. Length is a means of measuring something external, something that actually exists. Just as weight does not exist as a primary entity. Weight is a means of measuring something external, something that actually exists.

If this really exists, there will be no need for the concepts of “weight”, “length”, “area”, “volume”, “time”. All these dimensional categories do not exist in themselves; they are secondary and tied to something external. Weight of what? Volume of what? Area of what? What time?

No time by itself flows anywhere, neither absolutely, like Newton, nor relatively, like Einstein. Real processes of the manifested world flow (move). There will be no processes, there will be no need for the concept of “time”.

sources

http://nepoznannoe.org/HTM/illuziy.htm - A. N. Vasilevsky
Literature:
A. G. Spirkin, Philosophy, 2001, pp. 253-254.
V. S. Solovyov, “Time”, Article.
I. Newton “Mathematical principles”, Teachings, 1687
A. Einstein, Theory of Relativity, 1905-1916
A. N. Vasilevsky, 1996. Theory of illusionary art, p. 211.

What is time? At first glance, the question is very simple. And if you ask it to an ordinary person, he will answer without hesitation: time is the duration, the interval between some events that occur in our lives. And he will also say that it is customary to measure time in specific system units. Everything is easy and simple.

So I started preparing for this lecture by first looking at simple literature - from children's encyclopedias, school textbooks... A lot useful information: seasons and phases of the Moon, how time is measured and how time is measured (water, sand, solar, pendulum, candle clocks, mechanical and electronic), time zones and the relationship between time and space, what happened before the beginning of time, Gregorian and others calendars, how important the concept of time is for scientists... Only this concept itself does not exist!

I turned to more serious sources. So what does science say? There are several approaches in science:

The first one is very simple, but for some reason it’s not clear:

“Time is a measure of the existence of material living beings, inanimate matter and the relationships between them” - what measure? “Measure” can be different, so can time be different?

“Time is a set of effects produced by the Law of Causality, which objectively operates in our world. The essence of these effects is to change the Future (effect) relative to the Past (cause),” - it seems that the words are all in Russian, but so clumsily.

“Time is one of the basic concepts of physics and philosophy, one of the coordinates of space-time, along which the world lines of physical bodies, as well as consciousness, are stretched” - A beautiful definition, Clever words, only, indeed, they contain more philosophy than physics.

The second approach is also not difficult, but there is a tautology at every step:

“In everyday life, time is usually called the time of day” - What does everyday life have to do with it, if we are talking about time from the point of view of science, and how “time” can be called “time”.

"In classical physics: time - continuous quantity, an a priori characteristic of the world, not determined by anything. As a basis for measurement, a certain sequence of events is simply taken, about which it is considered undoubtedly true that it occurs at equal intervals of time, that is, periodic. It is on this principle that the watch is based.

In quantum mechanics: despite the quantization of almost all quantities, time remains an external, non-quantized parameter.

In both cases, the “speed of time” cannot depend on anything, and therefore is tautologically equal to a constant.

In mathematical physics there are still unresolved questions about the nature of time. These questions are “not solvable, but important,” just read the text - there is a tautology at every step.

There is also a third approach:

“In the special theory of relativity the situation changes radically. Time is considered as part of a single space-time, and, therefore, can change during its transformations. We can say that time becomes the fourth coordinate. “The speed of time” becomes a “subjective” concept, depending on the frame of reference. The situation becomes more complicated in general theory relativity, where “the speed of the flow of time” also depends on proximity to gravitating bodies” - And, it seems, the words are familiar and, if you think about it, the meaning is clear, and we are talking about time. But there remains a feeling that you have been deceived in some way. There is no deception. It’s just that behind this sophistry, behind the pompous words, there is a misunderstanding of the authors of the essence of TIME.

I would like to summarize all of the above with the words of one of the philosophers who lived in the 4th - 5th centuries AD, St. Augustine (354 - 430): “I know for sure that such a time is, I don’t think about it yet, but when I think about it, and now, I no longer know what it is.” (“What is time? If no one asks me about it, I know what time is. If I wanted to explain to the questioner, no, I don’t know”)

Is everything really so deplorable - you ask - then why are we reading this article? NO.

Many works by ancient philosophers, medieval scholastics and modern scientists are devoted to the topic “Time”. The physical essence of time for orthodox science remains sealed to this day... And yet modern science distributes most known ideas about time into two fundamentally different concepts - relative and material (relational and substantial). According to the relational concept, there is no time in nature in itself; time is just a relationship or a system of relationships between physical events, in other words, time is a specific manifestation of the properties of physical bodies and the changes occurring with them. To put it another way: “Time is actually as static as space. The passage of time is felt only when the film is spinning and the frames follow each other. Unroll the film and look at all the frames together. Where did the time go? All frames exist simultaneously” (W. Zeland). Another concept - substantial (material) - on the contrary, assumes that time is an independent phenomenon of nature, like a special kind of substance, existing alongside with space, matter and physical fields. The relational concept of time is usually associated with the names of Aristotle, G.W. Leibniz, A. Einstein. The most prominent exponents of the substantial concept of time are Democritus, I. Newton and among modern scientists - N.A. Kozyrev, A.I. Veinik.

Today we will take a closer look at the substantial concept of time. So: Democritus... Democritus of Abdera (ancient Greek: Δημόκριτος; approximate years of life: 460 BC - 370 BC) - ancient Greek materialist philosopher, student of Leucippus, one of the founders of atomism. Possessing encyclopedic knowledge during a period of weak division of sciences, Democritus was one of the pioneers of mathematics and geometry.

In the “world” of Democritus, the only event is a change in the position of atoms in the void. The change in the position of atoms relative to each other is called motion. However, movement and time are different things. Time passes, even when atoms are at rest (otherwise judgments like “nothing has changed for the third hour” would be impossible). Time is something more fundamental than movement. In the “world” of Democritus, time is the result of the movement of atoms not relative to each other, but relative to the infinite void.

It is not yet very clear, but the separation of the concept of “time” from the process of interaction of material objects with each other can already be traced.

Then there were the works of Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727), in which he wrote:

Relative (or ordinary) time is a measure of duration comprehended by our senses and “performed through any movement... such as: hour, day, month, year.” Relative time is an empirical category. It is comprehended by the senses, used in everyday life and in observations.

Absolute time is a flow of pure duration, which does not depend on the movement of bodies. This flow is unlimited, homogeneous, continuous, one-dimensional and always directed in one direction - to the future. Therefore, time is determined by one parameter t (- ∞< t < ∞). Однородность времени означает, что все законы движения не изменяются с течением времени. Время протекает одинаково во всех точках абсолютного пространства и во всех используемых системах отсчета, так что промежуток времени dt между любыми двумя близкими событиями является инвариантным относительно преобразований систем отсчета (dt = Const).

So "flow". A stream with PROPERTIES. But the flow necessarily consists of particles... Did Isaac Newton hint about the existence of PARTICLES of time?..

But let's turn to more modern scientists. I would like to introduce you to the works of 2 outstanding physicists who lived and worked in the last (XX) century. And the first of them is the theory of time of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kozyrev (Leningrad astrophysicist (1908 - 1983), who worked at the Pulkovo Observatory).

What is Kozyrev’s merit? Probably because he built his ability to observe into a theory. And he observed the stars and the Moon, and his two discoveries are very interconnected. Everyone knows that there are flows inside stars. nuclear reactions where so much energy is generated. However, back in 1947, Kozyrev theoretically showed that intrastellar nuclear reactions cannot ensure the energy consumption of stars for the billions of years of their existence - not enough!

The decisive objection, if not refutation, of the idea of nuclear sources of stellar energy came from the experiments of R. Davis, which did not show the expected neutrino flux from the depths of the Sun. In abandoned mines in South Dakota, tanks with carbon tetrachloride were laid at a depth of about two kilometers. It was supposed to register atoms of radioactive argon, which could arise from atoms of the corresponding isotope of chlorine under the influence of solar neutrinos. One could hope that in this way it would be possible to begin a direct study of the interior of the Sun, and thus lay the foundation for “neutrino astronomy.” Even the negative result of the experiments, and this result was precisely negative, in a sense justified the scientist’s hopes. Indeed, the weak neutrino flux indicates that the temperature inside the Sun is lower than expected and that the intensity of nuclear transformations occurring there cannot provide the energy of the Sun.

Stars exist everywhere in the Universe. Therefore, the reason for their viability must have such a generality that only space and time have. But this possibility cannot be seen in the properties of space because space is a passive arena where the events of the World are played out. It remains to conclude that time, in addition to the passive, geometric property measured by a clock, also has active, physical properties, thanks to which time can interact with material systems and prevent them from transitioning to an equilibrium state. Thus, time turns out to be a phenomenon of Nature, and not just a fourth dimension complementing three-dimensional space.

But these are stars, the Moon is not a star. Nuclear reactions cannot occur in the depths of the Moon (and planets). This conclusion is not disputed by anyone. However, any reserves internal energy, formed during the formation of a body such as the Moon (including reserves of radioactive elements), should dry out within 4-5 billion years of its existence. This is why the Moon must be dead, which Kozyrev did not want to admit, because he proved the presence of tectonic activity on the Moon. According to his theory, celestial bodies (both planets and stars) are machines that generate energy, and the “raw material for processing” is time. It is, due to special physical properties, can prolong the activity and viability of an object: the longer an object exists, the more it acquires the ability to continue existing.

At first, the word “time” appeared in speeches and articles timidly, extremely tentatively. Then it was introduced more and more persistently, reliably, firmly. I said that Kozyrev knew how to observe and that he was a physicist, and like every physicist, he is familiar with the second law of thermodynamics and the conclusion from it: “the entropy of the Universe as closed system tends to a maximum, and, eventually, all macroscopic processes in the Universe will end. This state of the Universe is called “heat death”.

If it’s not clear, I’ll explain: entropy is an indicator of the internal disorder of a system, “the desire for chaos.” Everything that surrounds us in the physical world can be represented as a system or structure consisting of its components, an atom consists of a nucleus and electrons, a molecule of atoms, etc. So, over time, any system or structure tends to disintegrate into its components (decompose, collapse), there is also such a formulation - “transition to an equilibrium state.” Outwardly, this looks like aging, withering and death of the system. A striking example an example would be paper. If paper is stored for a long time (for example in an archive), it turns to dust, i.e. into nothing. Is it really just a matter of rotted paper, a worn-out dress, the ruins of a house? Based on entropy, OUR WORLD should have long ago looked like a devastated desert, i.e. everything should have broken down into its components long ago. But we look around and see that the beautiful world continues to exist. So: there is entropy in the world, and the world exists, as has been known for a very, very long time.

Kozyrev draws the following conclusion: in the physical world there is additional view energy, which suspends the action of entropy. What kind of energy is this? Nikolai Alexandrovich's assumption turned into a statement, an axiom. This is the energy of time.

Kozyrev reasoned further: if time exists objectively, then it should be detected in action on material systems and, therefore, actively influence matter, i.e. have an active property. One of these properties may be the directional passage of time, i.e., the difference between the future and the past. And, in general, Kozyrev was a physicist, if you haven’t forgotten. And as an ordinary physicist, he looked at the world through the prism of the postulate of cause-and-effect relationships, which states:

1. the cause always precedes the effect,
2. in order for the cause to be transformed into an effect, an arbitrarily small amount of time must pass, but not equal to zero time interval,

3. In order for a cause to develop into a consequence, some force must act.

It was this force that Kozyrev called the energy of time. Like this: the cause develops into a consequence not only over time, but also with the help of the energy of time. This is the number of times we come across the phrase “energy of time”. Nikolai Aleksandrovich, knowing full well that any type of energy moves in a forward and reverse direction, in his reasoning focused on the word “energy” - and as a conclusion: the passage of time, the flow of time can have both a forward and reverse direction. But the condition must be met: The Cause always comes before the Effect. This is the law of our world.

Any reasoning remains just philosophy until it is coupled with a mathematical apparatus. So Kozyrev tried to graphically depict his conclusion, he went through everything possible options, which would meet the requirement: if we consider the cause from the point of effect, in any direction the course of Time must be directed in our direction. Under these conditions, geometry provides a unique solution.

The passage of time is the linear speed at rotational movement. This means: if the flow of time moves clockwise, then the linear speed is directed from cause to effect, if the flow of time rotates counterclockwise, then the linear speed is again directed from cause to effect. But we look at the diagram and see the final version, a ready-made solution, and Kozyrev (I repeat) had to reconsider a huge number of options. As a result, he found that the energy of time moves rotationally.

Nikolai Aleksandrovich expressed all these reasonings in the following words: “The passage of time is inextricably linked with causality, which is the most important property The world, at least in its macroscopic aspect. Indeed, the cause is always in the past in relation to the effect, and the effect is always in the future in relation to the cause. The ability to distinguish cause from effect is the basis of scientific natural science. The initial push, which brings the system out of equilibrium, is a cause, which, according to the properties of causality, causes numerous consequences. If the flow of time, i.e. its direction, exists independently of our perception, as some physical reality, then, acting on material systems, it will prevent them from transitioning to an equilibrium state. Therefore, the equilibrium state is an abstraction that does not exist in the World. In a real system, the difference between the future and the past can always be detected. Stars do not cool to equilibrium with the surrounding space because current time prevents this. This means that huge masses of stellar matter process time and turn it into radiation. When we observe the stars in the sky, we see not a manifestation destructive forces Nature, but a manifestation of creative forces coming into the World through time. Therefore, the energy that is given by the wind, the flow of water or even the internal heat of the Earth is brought to us by time through the Sun or Earth. It is also necessary to extract from the known properties of causality, perhaps, more specific ideas about what the passage of time is and how it can be measured.

The passage of time must be measured by a quantity that has a certain sign, corresponding to its direction existing in the World. By changing the sign, we will be able to define the passage of time with its opposite direction, which is logically absolutely necessary. In addition to the sign, there must also be a measure of the passage of time, which determines the pace at which time flows. Since the passage of time manifests itself in causal relationships, its measure should be sought in the properties of causality. The effect always occurs with a delay in relation to the cause. Therefore, there is always a time difference between them. But there is another important circumstance: the reason always comes from outside. Therefore, there must be a spatial difference between cause and effect. Therefore, taking for them the ratio of the differences between space and time, we obtain a value that has the dimension of speed, which can serve as a measure of the passage of time. Indeed, according to this definition, the passage of time turns out to be infinitely large when causes instantly give effects, that is, when they coincide in time with a spatial difference. This is precisely how Newtonian mechanics represents the transmission of action in a system of material points. This results in a completely reasonable definition of the passage of time as the rate of transformation of cause into effect. This speed can be an absolute, universal constant with a direction along the line of action of the cause. But in order to have a certain sign, it cannot be ordinary speed. Indeed, the choice of spatial direction is completely arbitrary, and therefore it is impossible with a definite sign to link an absolute difference in time to a difference in space. But our space has remarkable property absolute difference between the right and left propellers. Therefore, the passage of time will have a certain sign if it is measured not just by speed, but by the linear speed of rotation around an axis coinciding with the direction of action of the cause. Then, from the position of the effect, this rotation associated with the cause can occur either clockwise or counterclockwise. If we agree that one of these turns is considered positive and the other negative, then the passage of time will have a sign that no longer depends on our arbitrariness.”

Let's take a short detour and imagine what the world would look like with time going backwards. As Nikolai Aleksandrovich wrote, it is impossible to imagine a world with the reverse course of time, as a scrolled, filmed scene in the opposite direction. Firstly, the energy of time does not move rectilinearly, but rotationally, and secondly, this leads to an absolutely absurd world. Because even if we take the example of a person, everything is arranged in such a way that we must move; if we move backwards, not only will it be difficult for us to move, but also to do some basic work. And again theoretically, Kozyrev established that a world with a reverse time course is nothing more than a mirror image of our world.

This is how Nikolai Aleksandrovich first discovered the relationship between the concepts of “time” and “mirrors”. By the way, a very interesting example directly and reverse motion time is described in the work of the Strugatsky brothers “Monday begins on Saturday” (A-Janus and U-Janus).

But we talked about the rotational movement of time. In our world, in addition to the rule of the screw, there is enough evidence of this rotation. The simplest is asymmetry, which is widespread in animals and plants. The morphology of animals and plants provides numerous examples of asymmetry that distinguishes right from left and is independent of the hemisphere of the Earth in which the organism exists. For example, shells of mollusks are almost always twisted to the right; microbes form colonies of a certain spiral structure; in plants in conducting vessels, the left-handed spiral is always preferred. The asymmetry of organisms is manifested not only in their morphology. The effects of dextro- and levorotatory molecules on the body are known. For example, levorotatory glucose is almost not absorbed by the body. The chemical asymmetry of protoplasm discovered by Louis Pasteur shows that asymmetry is a fundamental property of life. Indeed, biology especially clearly shows the difference between the World and a mirror image. The persistently inherited asymmetry of organisms cannot be accidental - this is obvious. And just as obviously, it is a consequence of the laws of nature, in which asymmetry appears due to the direction of Time. But in his reasoning, Nikolai Alexandrovich went further - the asymmetry of organisms can be not only a passive consequence of these laws. Most likely, with a certain asymmetry corresponding to a given passage of time, the organism acquires additional vitality, that is, it can use it to enhance life processes.

At first it was a bare theory born in Kozyrev’s head, but later it was confirmed experimentally. Moreover, the experiment must be the simplest in order to prove the fundamental possibility of the influence of time on the material system. This means that in experience it is enough to have a system that can be considered as a system of material points, abstracting from its particular physical properties. Therefore, it is necessary and sufficient to begin with experiments in elementary mechanics.

What is the most elementary thing in mechanics that can even rotate? Spinning top (children's toy - spinning top). Only for his experiments Nikolai Alexandrovich used a GYROSCOPE - a solid rotating body. The gyroscope was mounted on a lever scale, and when it was spun counterclockwise, the weight of the gyroscope decreased by 5-10 mg. When rotating clockwise, no changes in weight were observed. Kozyrev took into account all the forces that act on the gyroscope, and artificially added one more - the force of time energy. And installed:

If the direction of rotation of the gyroscope coincides with the direction of movement of time energy, then, according to our physical laws, an additional force is generated that acts from below;

If the direction of rotation does not coincide with the direction of movement of time energy, no additional forces are generated according to our physical laws.

With such a simple experiment, and this experience was rechecked many times, Kozyrev proved the correctness of all his theoretical calculations. Well, in this example, in particular, in our world the rotational moment of the flow of time is directed counterclockwise.

Later Nikolai Aleksandrovich established that the energy of time has such an indicator as density. Since the phenomenon of such a generality as time is being studied, then again it is enough to take the most elementary mechanical process. For example, stretching a fixed tight rubber. The result is a system with two poles: a source of work and a receiver, that is, a cause-and-effect dipole. Using a pendulum as a sensor (which can deviate more or less when approached by the stretched or secured end of a tight rubber), Kozyrev found that at the point of cause the density always decreases, and at the point of effect, the time energy density always increases and it seems that at the point of consequence, the energy of time is radiated. This is how he describes this experience: “Apparently, in addition to the move of time, there is also a variable property. This property can be called density or intensity of time. It resembles the intensity of light, which characterizes light in addition to its constant speed of propagation. As a device, you can take that long pendulum, on which, when the suspension point vibrated, a deviation to the south was obtained due to the forces of the passage of time caused by the rotation of the Earth. The vibrations must be adjusted in such a way that there is not a full effect of deviation to the south, but only a tendency for this effect to appear. It turned out that this tendency noticeably increases and even becomes a full effect if the receiver of the exciting system is brought closer to the body of the pendulum or to the suspension point. As the other pole (the motor) approached, the appearance of the effect on the device invariably became more difficult. When the engine and receiver are located close together, there must be compensation for their influence, and indeed, then no additional effects were obtained on the device. The influence of the pole on the device turned out to be independent of the direction, that is, the position of the pole relative to the pendulum.”

Manifestation of active properties of time, i.e. Kozyrev also studied the influence of time on matter using simple experiments with a resistor and stress solids, in which a change in the electrical conductivity of the resistor and a decrease in weight were observed upon impact of bodies with irreversible deformation.

In fact, Nikolai Aleksandrovich conducted a huge number of experiments, changing not only the circuit itself, but also the accompanying conditions: temperature, shielding, insulation... He took into account both the influence of surrounding objects and the flow in the immediate vicinity various processes(for example, such as the dissolution of salt in water), and even the influence of the season and Solar activity on the result of the experiment.

But let's return to the experience with rubber. Stretching causes a tendency to compression (action is equal to reaction), i.e. the passage of time cannot cause a single force - it necessarily gives a pair of oppositely directed forces. And if we remember the properties of causality, we will invariably come to the law of conservation of momentum. In other words, time does not carry impulse. (The absence of momentum is probably the main property by which time differs from matter.)

Over time, theoretical guesses and experimental results received a solid mathematical basis, which anyone can independently familiarize themselves with in the works of N.A. Kozyrev, and I would like to dwell on another series of experiments for which an installation was created, which was called: “Kozyrev’s Mirrors " These are seven concave aluminum mirrors installed in a circle in such a way that the focus of the display is reduced to one point. They placed a person at this point (and, like Kozyrev’s true scientific colleagues, they conducted experiments on themselves) and began to observe what would happen to him? If a person was not in this system for a long time, then slight anxiety and not very good physical well-being arose; if a person was in focus for a longer time, all this developed into panic fear and very poor physical well-being. In order not to harm anyone, Kozyrev banned these experiments. They concluded that this system either suspends the natural course of time energy movement, or changes it to the opposite, which is absolutely unnatural for our body. That is, our body, as a structure, is designed for a certain course of movement of time energy. By the way, in Tibet, in nature there is a system of Kailas mountains. There is an amazing valley of stone mirrors that guides always pass by. If a person falls into this valley, he grows old and dies in an unnaturally short time. And, in general, only elders and wise men come there, people who have decided for themselves that they life path came to an end with the sole purpose of dying.

To be continued...

The old adage “time is running out” seems quite true, doesn’t it?

The problems began when Einstein's theory of general relativity, which describes the laws of physics on large scales, collided with quantum physics, a field that tries to describe the smallest particles in the universe, and the theory of wave-particle duality, which states that light is both waves and particles. was tested for the first time.

A little over 40 years ago, two brilliant physicists John Wheeler and Bryce-De Witt developed such an equation. However, their discovery immediately seemed controversial because if the equation is correct, then there is no such thing as time at all at the most fundamental level of matter.

This opinion is supported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. NIST is the keeper of the world's most accurate atomic clocks, against which all other clocks around the world are checked. Scientists from NIST claim that their ultra-precise clocks do not measure time at all: time is determined by the marks on the clock. In fact, time allows us to create order in life: if we had not come up with such a concept as “time,” there would be complete chaos around us.

Physics seems to agree with this.

Scientists at the Bistra Research Center in Ptu, Slovenia, have theorized that Newton's idea of time as an absolute measure that moves on its own, and that time is the fourth existing dimension, are incorrect. They proposed replacing these concepts of time with a new view that relates better to the physical world: time is just a numerological order of physical changes.

But let's dig even deeper in this direction...

By this definition, time is another form of existence of objects. Second form.

But can there be a second form of existence? Can a piece of wood exist both in the shape of a chair and at the same time in the shape of a table?

The formulation does not clarify the issue: time has only one dimension - this is the direction from the past through the present to the future.

What is the future? The future is unreal, it does not exist in reality, it is an image.

The present is also conditional, and can be located somewhere at the junction between the future and the past, with zero coordinates.

The past is something that no longer exists; it is rather a symbol, the same image. All these concepts have no physical meaning, which casts doubt on the very concept of time as a form of existence of matter.

In science, the main argument is experience. Who and when carried out experiments proving the existence of time in nature?

It seems that no one did this, for fear of being in the role of a person looking for a black cat in a dark room where it might not be there. We will try to clarify this problem with some examples.

Movement of the Earth in time

We cannot return to the “yesterday” Earth, not because time has one direction, but because the “yesterday” Earth no longer exists. She, like everything in nature, is constantly changing.

Day and night. Seasons.

An observer located in mid-latitudes on Earth sees day and knows that a few hours ago it was night. From his experience, he draws the logical conclusion that after a few hours, night will fall again.

From this he concludes that events occur periodically and that they exist in time. Also for him, summer and spring, winter and autumn periodically exist in time.

But if this observer is placed in a spacecraft flying in orbit around the Sun, then he will not observe the change of day and night. He will always have day on the side of the ship facing the Sun, and night on the opposite side. In this case, the frequency disappears.

Being at the Earth's equator, an observer will not be able to determine the changing seasons. There are none at the equator.

It follows that the frequency of day and night, as well as the seasons, cannot serve as confirmation of objectively existing time.

Sound

A very convincing confirmation of the existence of absolute time is sound. It exists for a long time, from its origin to its extinction. From which it is concluded that sound exists in time.

Sound appears when a substance vibrates (strings, etc.) and spreads in wave vibrations of the air.

Sound exists in a gaseous environment, water and solids in the form of weak mechanical disturbances. Subjectively assessing the duration of the sounding process, we identify it with time.

Live nature

And here the concept of time looks subjective. The misconception is that the development process is isolated and identified with time.

Watch

Richard Feynman (1918-1988), an American theoretical physicist, one of the founders of quantum electrodynamics, adhered to the definition: time is just a clock.

What is this absolute concept of Time, which can be handled so freely? Let's look for the answer to this question. To do this, let's do an experiment. Mentally.

Let's imagine that we are at the stadium and see how an athlete runs a hundred meters in 11 seconds. In the second race he improved his result to 10.5 seconds. What happened?

What happened was that the second time the athlete ran faster, his race time was reduced. Time is a secondary value; time depends on how fast the athlete ran and the distance.

From past to future

Is time near?

Time exists always and everywhere. Time created by the human mind surrounds us from all sides: in everyday life, in science, art, philosophy.

It is also impossible to assume that time exists in parallel with space because space is infinite. Nothing, including time, can exist “next to” space.

Airplane

When the plane picks up speed and takes off, the so-called flight time will depend on the speed and distance traveled by the plane. Time is a derivative quantity. First there was speed, speed.

Big Bang

A thinking person asks the question: if Time once appeared, then in the form of what? And with what properties?

Time appears in our consciousness. And our consciousness replaces the irreversibility of the movement of matter with the passage of time, believing that this is the property of Time.

No less interesting is the theory of an anisotropic Universe, according to which matter contracts and expands in different parts of the Universe.

Thus, one can cast doubt on the entire harmonious theory of the anisotropic Universe, if one does not take into account the illusory nature of the existence of time.

Foucault pendulum

If the Foucault pendulum hangs motionless there, we will see that time has stopped (photo from spauda.lt).

He moves in space and time. It takes time for a pendulum to travel from one extreme point to the other.

Moreover, if we look at the Foucault pendulum, we will see a graphic representation of time in the form of stripes left on the sand by a metal rod mounted on the pendulum ball.

Each subsequent stripe is slightly rotated in relation to the previous stripe. The ends of these strips are located at some distance from each other. This is clearly visible to any observer.

If a pendulum is placed on any cosmic body, the effect will be the same: the pendulum will stop, and not only because there is air resistance on Earth, but also because there is friction, gravity and a perpetual motion machine cannot exist.

At the household level

A person unconsciously splits the continuous process of life into separate events and perceives the interval between them as time.

Unconsciously highlighting the interval between flares from the entire process of the existence of the Sun, we fall into the illusion of the existence of time.

From part to whole

Upon closer inspection, the building may turn out to be a prop made at a film factory. You can't live in this layout. Generalizing from details can lead to erroneous conclusions about the whole.

In fact, the processes of compression and expansion occur constantly. They are numerous and do not coincide in amplitude. Otherwise the Universe would be homogeneous.

Pipe

Time in our case is characterized by the delay between the moment the pump is turned on and the appearance of oil at the other end of the pipe. What caused this delay?

All other conditions being equal, the travel time for different substances through our pipe is different, but we add that time is measured, not absolute.

The process of pumping oil exists objectively, but if you mentally remove the pipe from this process, the motivation to wait will disappear, and with it time.

Newton on time

Isaac Newton, in his 1687 Principia Mathematical, distinguishes:

1. Absolute, true, mathematical time, otherwise called duration.

2. Relative, apparent or ordinary time is a measure of duration used in everyday life: hour, day, month, year.

In theoretical developments, we always fall into the “Newtonian trap” and talk about time as something that really exists.

Usually the daily rotation of the Earth is used. One 1440th part is a minute. This is the conventional quantity (time) with which we can compare the speed of movement of our bodies under study.

Bees in the Universe

Einstein's general theory of relativity states that space and time are curved as a result of gravity. It is difficult to challenge the great maestro, but we are obliged to point out the inaccuracy.

Time cannot be bent because it simply does not exist in nature.

Who discovered time in nature and where did they register their discovery? What properties does time have? Defining time as duration, the duration of a process requires a tool to measure it.

If we begin to measure the time between any phases of the state of matter using a rhythmically operating mechanism, say, a clock, then the time will always differ with different measurements.

We can only hope for some kind of Universal Time, which, based on the special theory of relativity, cannot exist. There cannot be a single “now” due to the fact that no information can be transmitted at a speed greater than the speed of light. Each reference system will have its own time (conditional), Einstein said.

What does the textbook teach

Typical space-time diagram

If Time exists in nature, then the coordinate of time cannot be depicted this way, because on the diagram time at the zero coordinate point falls inside matter, or vice versa - matter is inside time.

But if we understand that Time is a conditional concept, then the conditional time coordinate has the right to exist!

In this example, we are once again convinced of how great the illusion of the existence of Time is.

Let's summarize the preliminary results

At the everyday level, the existence of time is obvious and beyond doubt. Based on the evidence, a logical conclusion is drawn, which takes root in the mass consciousness: Time was, is and will be.

In this regard, one cannot help but recall our compatriot, Russian philosopher Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov (1853-1900).

And when they say that time is the order of phenomena in their sequence (read - in time), then the definition turns out to be an obvious tautology: time is determined by time.

All philosophical explanations of time that do not represent an empty identity are of a metaphysical nature and will be considered under the names of philosophers.

Phase Theory, or how to prove the absence of a non-existent?

In individual frames we see an image of a no longer existing past in its phases. It is impossible to fix the future, since it does not exist in nature.

Any movement can be considered as consisting of separate phases. Therefore, we can say that matter is in constant phase motion.

The most obvious example is the phases of the Moon, which appears before us every night in its new phase. The process of plant growth consists of seed germination, stem growth, appearance of leaves, and so on. It clearly illustrates the phase development of biological objects. In the animal world we also observe the phase development of an individual.

Moon phases

The phases of the Moon most clearly illustrate the phase development of biological objects.

The concept of “phase” is so natural that it is not customary to talk about it. But in this case, it focuses on the fact that any movement that seems continuous actually consists of separate segments called phases.

Now it becomes clear that the interval between the phases of the state of objects should be considered as the distance between them, and not as time.

Matter is constantly moving at a certain speed, and speed is the distance over an artificially created rhythmic period.

Of particular importance is the concept of phase existence (motion) of matter in quantum theory.

The phenomenon of time spontaneously arises in a person’s mind whenever he comprehends the duration of any phenomenon or event.

Matter exists in three-dimensional infinite space in constant relative phase motion.

And finally

The great illusion of time lies in the everyday consciousness and extends to the greatest minds of science.

Sayings about time:

Alberti L:
Three things belong to man: soul, body and time (... e se pure alcuna si pateva chiamare nostra queste erana le sole tre -... anima, corpo e tempo).

Antiphon:
Time is a thought or measure, not an essence.

Aristotle:
Among the unknowns in the nature around us, the most unknown is time, because no one knows what time is and how to control it.

Zeno of Citium:
Time is the distance of movement.

Tsiolkovsky K.:
Time may exist, but we don't know where to look for it.

Cicero:
And it is not even possible in my thoughts that there was ever a time when there was no time.

Shakespeare W.:
Time passes differently for different people.

V. Istarkhov:
In fact, no time, as a really existing entity in itself not connected with anything external, exists. What exists? And it is precisely this external thing that exists - there are real processes. And time is just a means of measuring them. Time is a “centimeter” and nothing more. Without this externality, time not only does not exist, it loses all meaning.

There are many approaches to understanding the phenomenon of time. People have been struggling with the solution to this phenomenon for many centuries.

In this article we will try to figure out whether time exists and what this definition includes.

Measuring time

How can you measure something that doesn't exist? Time is an extremely subjective matter. We are used to measuring time based on the speed of movement heavenly bodies across the sky. The simplest and one of the earliest instruments for measuring time was and remains the sundial. With their help, people since ancient times have learned to determine time based on the angle at which the sun's shadow falls and at what speed it moves across the sky. Over time, more accurate mechanical and digital watches have appeared, with the help of which it is possible to accurately measure the timing of any processes.

When we measure the speed of a car, we are simply comparing the movement of the car with the movement of our planet around the Sun. It seems to us that we are comparing the speed of a car with some abstract quantity called time. In fact, we simply compare the unknown speed of our car with known speed movement of the Sun across the sky. Time is a way to compare or describe different kinds movements such as the speed of light, heart rate, speed of rotation of the Earth around its axis. Time is not an independent quantity. It only serves to simplify and streamline the description of the processes that occur around us every day.

Imagine two objects, one of which rotates around the other in space. Now imagine that we are observing this rotation from a great distance. According to our observations, a rotating object goes through one circle of rotation in a certain time. It is not difficult to imagine that if we were directly on this object, one circle of rotation in our perception would take much more time, and it would drag on much slower for us. This once again confirms that the perception of time is subjective.

How can you track the passage of time?

The movement of time becomes obvious when we observe sunrises and sunsets, the change of day and night, seasons, and also when we observe movement celestial bodies, such as the Sun and Moon. The aging process also serves as a visible reminder that molecules in nature are found in constant movement, and the more time passes, the more pronounced the result of the molecules influencing each other becomes.

Past, present and future

We are accustomed to perceiving time from the point of view of the past, present and future. The most real perception of time, what is happening right now around us, we call the present. However, almost everything that we perceive as the present is already in the past. When our brain begins to analyze an event, it, as a rule, has already happened, and we are already dealing with its consequences. The present is just a fleeting moment. It is an infinitesimal point on the time line that separates what has already happened and what is about to happen in the future. The present resembles the tip of a recording needle or laser. It can be described as the mental awareness of the moment of recording an event in our memory, what our brain is encountering at a given second. Until we are aware of ourselves in a certain place or in a certain situation, this event will not become part of the past for us.

Unlike present time, past and future times are measurable. Past historical events, meetings and celebrations can be measured in time, both in terms of their total duration and in terms of how long ago they occurred in relation to the present moment.

The past is simply the memory of some events in your head.

The future is a projection of our previous experiences stored in memory onto current events and an attempt to predict how events will develop in the future.

The fact that the present, which gives the most real and, as it seems to us, objective perception of reality, cannot be captured in time, while the duration of events can only be measured in the past and future time, which we cannot influence in any way, suggests that our perception of time is, in principle, an illusion.

Religious point of view

In most world religions, the concept of time as such does not exist. In religions that recognize the existence of one God, it is customary to say that God exists outside of time. That he has always existed and will exist forever. In polytheistic religions, time is often controlled by one or more divine beings.

The concept of time in religion is closely related to the concept of eschatology - a system of religious views at the moment when the usual existing way of life in the Universe will radically change. Within the framework of eschatology, it is customary to talk about such issues as cyclical historical development humanity and the end of the world.

These ideas were most clearly reflected in the Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam), which to one degree or another rely on the doctrines Holy Scripture Old Testament. Since in Old Testament The events of the last days and the Last Judgment are often mentioned; debates about when these events will finally come have not subsided for many centuries.

Be that as it may, neither science, nor religion or philosophy has yet been able to derive a single, universally accepted definition of what time is and how it should be measured. However, developments in this area are still ongoing. Nobody denies the fact of the existence of time. It remains only to find out what this concept means.

In this section of the site you can get answers to other age-old questions.

What if there is no time, everything exists in the present moment, and this is the fundamental principle of the Universe that our scientists are still trying to understand? Time does not exist, and quantum theory only confirms this? Some things are closer to you in time, some are further away, just like in space. But the idea that time flows around us can be as absurd as the fluidity of space.

The problem of time appeared a hundred years ago, when Einstein's special and general theories of relativity destroyed the idea of time as a universal constant. One of the consequences was that the past, present and future are not absolute. Einstein's theories also created a schism in physics because the rules of general relativity (which describe gravity and the large-scale structure of the cosmos) seem incompatible with the rules of quantum physics (which operate on the smallest scales).

According to Einstein's theory of special relativity, there is no way to define events so that they can be designated as occurring simultaneously. Two events that are happening “now” for you will occur in different time for everyone who moves at a different speed. Other people will see different “nows,” which may or may not contain elements of your “now.”

The result is a picture of the so-called block universe: the universe appears as a static, unchanging "block" as opposed to the traditional worldview. You can mark in all possible ways what you consider “now,” but this place will be no different from any other place, except that you are nearby. The past and the future are no more physically different than left and right.

The equations of physics don't tell us what events are happening right now - it's like a map without the "you are here" symbol. The moment of the present simply does not exist in them, as well as the passage of time. Moreover, Einstein's theories of relativity suggest that not only is there no common present, but all moments are equally real.

Almost forty years ago famous physicist John Wheeler of Princeton and Bryce de Witt of the University of North Carolina developed an extraordinary equation that provided a possible framework for unifying relativity and quantum mechanics. But the Wheeler-DeWitt equation has always been controversial, in part because it adds another puzzling twist to our understanding of time.

“You could say that time has simply disappeared from the Wheeler-DeWitt equation,” says Carlo Rovelli, a physicist at the University of the Mediterranean in Marseille, France. - This is a question that puzzles many theorists. Perhaps a better way of thinking about quantum reality- to abandon the concept of time so that the fundamental description of the universe is timeless."

One could say that the better we understand consciousness, the better we understand time. Consciousness is a formless invisible field of energy of endless dimensions and possibilities, the substrate of all things, independent of time, space, place. It embraces the entire existence without the limitations of time and dimension, registering all events, no matter how small, right down to the instantaneous thought. The relationship between time and consciousness is limited by a person's point of view, although in fact it is limitless.

No time
The solution to the problem of time in physics and cosmology according to Julian Barbour is simple: there is no such thing as time.

“If you try to take control of time, it always slips through your fingers,” Barbour says. - People are sure that they have time, but they cannot access it. I think they can’t access it because it doesn’t exist at all.”

Barbour's radicalism stems from years of searching for answers to questions in classical and quantum physics. Isaac Newton thought that time is like a river, flowing at the same speed everywhere. Einstein changed this picture by unifying space and time into a single four-dimensional space-time. But even Einstein could not define time as a measure of change. According to Barbour, the issue needs to be turned on its head. Evoking the ghost of Parmenides, Barbour sees each individual moment as whole, complete, and existing in itself. He calls these moments “nows.”

“As we live our lives, we move through a series of nows,” says Barbour. “The question is, what are they?” For Barbour, each "now" is the location of everything in the universe. “I have a strong feeling that things have certain positions in relation to each other. I'm trying to abstract away from everything we can't see (directly or indirectly) and just keep this idea of many things coexisting at the same time. These are just “nows”, nothing more or less.”

Nowadays, Barbour can be imagined as the pages of a novel, torn from the spine and scattered randomly on the floor. Each page is a separate unit, existing outside of time and without time. Arranging pages in a specific order and moving them step by step creates a story. But regardless of the order, each page will be complete and independent. As Barbour says, "a jumping cat is not the same as a falling cat." Barbour is trying to return the concept of time to Platonic ideas, when time will be unshakable, integral and absolute.

Our illusion of the past arises because each "now" contains objects that act as "records" in Barbour's language. “The only proof of the past week is your memories. But memories come from a stable structure of neurons in your actual brain. The only evidence we have of Earth's past is rocks and fossils. But these are stable structures arranged in the form of minerals that we are currently studying. The point is that we only have these records and they all exist “now.”

Time, from this point of view, does not exist separately from the universe. There are no clocks ticking outside of space. Many of us perceive time like Newton: “Absolute, true and mathematical time, by its very essence, flows uniformly, regardless of anything external.” But Einstein proved that time is part of the fabric of the universe. Contrary to what Newton thought, our ordinary clocks do not measure something independent of the universe.

The word "mechanics" in the term "quantum mechanics" means a machine, a predictable, workable, knowable thing. The Quantum Universe in which we live, whether we like it or not, on the surface appears mechanical and linear, but it is not. It is better described as an infinite number of possible linear actions. This science could be called "quantum ecology" instead of "quantum mechanics" because it is created from within. Everything that emerges from invisibility does so like a living organism.

In quantum mechanics, all particles of matter and energy can be described as waves. Waves have an unusual property: an infinite number of them can exist in one place. If one day it is proven that time and space consist of quanta, these quanta will exist all together in one dimensionless point.

The current prevailing paradigm in the world is that if a thing cannot be explained, detailed, analyzed and documented by linear scientific thought processes, then it is nonsense. If you have a spiritual explanation for human existence, then you are crazy from a scientific point of view, living in your own little world. Scientific thinking tells us that everything in the universe can be explained either now or in the future using analytical scientific methods. Science says: in the absence scientific proof this subject is not worth discussing. If it can’t be put in a box with a tag, forget about it.” Obviously, many see limitations in human development in this approach. But this issue is too controversial.

The behavior of a quantum particle cannot be explained by science alone, nor can it be explained in terminology that our minds can understand, because our minds, by their natural functions, believe that reality consists of things, things can be broken down into small components and explained in a linear mechanical style. To understand how wrong this view is, it is enough to remember that we live in a relative world and interact with other conscious beings and the universe in a linear manner. This is the nature of the mind. You need to go beyond it to find answers.

According to physicists, life is described by a series of slices: here you are a child, now you had breakfast today, here you are reading this article, and each slice exists motionlessly in its own time. We generate a flow of time because we believe that the same self who had breakfast this morning is reading the actual article.

So why do we need time? Einstein, for example, presented the timeless universe he helped create with this obituary, like a consolation for the untimely death of a friend: “Now he [the friend] left this strange world a little before me. This means nothing. People like us who believe in physics know that the difference between past, present and future is just a persistent illusion.”