[time-nuts] Beginner's time reference

[GandalfG8 at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/12/2009 05:08:39 GMT Standard Time,  
john.foege at gmail.com writes:

Time  does not just exist. That is correct. It is a human construct, like 
all other  things. We define it, as all other things, and then make useful 
empirical  comparative observations with it.


---------------------------
It isn't quite as straightforward as that, in the sense that is of time  
being just a human construct, and not all other things are human constructs  
either.
 
It's not too unreasonable to accept that events, in conventional  physics 
at least, do generally occur in a sequential fashion, hence the  intervals 
between them that we strive to measure, and that would occur without  any 
human intervention or existence.
 
It's when one attempts to quantify time itself as a measurable quantity in  
itself that problems arise.
There are measurable quantities such as mass, length, potential difference  
etc, that again aren't human constructs but exist anyway, and would  
continue to do so even if we and our definitions all disappeared  tomorrow.
 
But with time there is no absolute quantity, just those intervals again, so 
 when you say "we define it", just how would you attempt to define it as an 
 absolute quantity?
 
Although it's reasonable to accept that we live in a universe where  things 
occur sequentially, even if not necessarilly causually related, and  hence 
the existence of intervals between events can be accepted also, and  can be 
measured in terms of whatever units we choose to define, that still does  
not demonstrate that "time" itself actually exists.
 
regards
 
Nigel
GM8PZR