[time-nuts] Time may not exist

[Tim Shoppa]

"Didier Juges" <didier at cox.net> wrote:
> I think what is proposed is that time, while real, would not be a
> fundamental dimension of the universe, it would be a dimension of
> convenience, due to our lack of understanding of the underlying principles.
>
> It is interesting considering that a lot of people in the last half century
> or so have tried to do the opposite: relate everything to time simply
> because time is what we can measure most accurately, at least at the macro
> scale.
>
> I am an engineer, so this makes no difference to me, but I find it
> fascinating. Maybe I should have been a physicist...

I was a physicist. After hearing way too many years about super-string
theory, coordinate-free notation, etc. I quit, and now my day job
consists of building/maintaining a supervisory control system
that hurtles metal subway trains 450 to 600 feet long from a stop to 60 MPH and
back again every minute or two, 40000 times a day.

To say that "I quit" is one interpretation, an equally valid interpretation
would be that I completely flamed out in my first post-doc :-).

I am so much happier now that I get to use coordinates again :-).

It is increasingly frustrating that the several thousand clocks around
the railroad are never synchronized, though!

Tim.