Jayshawn Pickett Gretchen Pratt English 1102 April 2, 2014

Is time real, or just an illusion?

A lot of people have things that they have always wondered about and questions that they have always wanted answered. When I was younger I frequently had these questions: Is time real? Who started time or even the development of calendars? How was time kept without clocks? Were there always 24 hours in a day? Were there always 12 months in a year, 60 minutes in a day, and 60 seconds in a minute? I often wondered if these things were factual or just made up to keep the world in order. Time is constantly passing in a nonstop nature, and we track it with clocks and calendars, yet we still cant study it or experiment with it. Time is a dimension which events can be ordered from the past, through the present and into the future. It is usually assumed that time is what clocks measure or its what keeps everything from happening at once. This has been a controversial subject for centuries and has been thoroughly studied by philosophers, scientists, and religious officials. There are two viewpoints on time that separate some philosophers from others. One view is that time is part of the fundamental structure of the universe, a dimension of independent events, in which they occur in sequence (Sir Isaac Newton). It seems as if he thought that there was a such thing as a fate, as if everything happened for a reason and that your destiny was already planned from birth. The opposing view is that time doesnt refer to any kind of event of thing, its immeasurable nor

can it be traveled. The philosophers who embody this theory also believe that the past is not real because we only know about what is happening and what is going to happen.

The Past, Present, and Future

The past is used to indicate events that occurred before a given point in time and is often contrasted with the present and future when discussing the reality of time. The concept of the past is often referred to as irrational or unreal. Some believe that the stars are evidence that point to the past being real. I believe that since time only flows in one direction, that the past is irrelevant and that there is no past. Everything you think about at that moment in time is a current even. Whatever you may dwell on as the future is actually a current event as well since time cant flow backwards. The present is used to indicate what is happening here and now. Modern physics has not been able to explain the aspect of the present that is perceived to be unreal. In the philosophy of time, presentism is the belief that only the present exists and the future and past are unreal. There is no present or future, only the past, happening over and over again, now. (Eugene ONeill). He believes that time is actually going backwards and that history is somehow repeating itself. The future is what will after the present has taken place, it is often considered unreal due to the non-existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the nature of reality, everything that has yet to exist can be categorized unreal. This is a controversy behind this topic, it is a major subject of religion, philosophy, and science. Religions consider the future to be real when addressing issues such as karma and life after death. Religious figures such as prophets have

claimed to be able to see into the future. They organize efforts to predict the future which are taken from observations of biblical objects.

Time as Unreal
In 5th century BC, Antiphon the Sophist (A Greek writer and philosopher) argued that time is not a reality, but a concept or a measure. He also believed that time, motion, and change were illusions. Later on, he argued that every event has the ability to be both present and nonpresent (future or past), and that time is a contradictory idea. I believe that time itself is only a figure of order, and that the concept of time has always existed. I cannot say if time itself has always existed or if its real but I can say that there are different aspects of time that can be measured such as seconds, minutes, hours, and days. I feel that time was acknowledged by us humans but was made by something of a higher power. Without time do you think we would age or grow old? Questions like this seem to stir up theorists and make different philosophies controversial. It can be said that the sense of time definite, and also that it has always and will always exist only because it is merely a measurement. It is a reference that we humans have labeled, I feel that is an intangible idea that is often mistaken for something else. Time can just as easily be said to be real just as it could be unreal.

Circadian Rhythm
There have been studies done on us humans which infer that we have an internal clock. Many experiments point to the fact that time itself is hard wired into us. This is called a Circadian Rhythm and it is a name given to the internal body clock that regulates the 24hour cycle of biological processes in plants and animals. There are several disorders that correlate to this rhythm. The Delayed sleep phase disorder is most common in teens and young adults. Sleep is usually delayed until about 2 a.m. or later, and if allowed to sleep in late sleep deprivation does not occur. These individuals are often referred to as night owls because they are most productive and alert late at night. They are often look upon as lazy and poor performers who are most times late to early events. (Foldvary-Shaefer) Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder is usually seen in older individuals and is identified by regular early evening bedtimes which are from 6 p.m to 9 p.m. and early mornings which are from 2 a.m to 5.am. People with this disorder are early birds and typically complain of insomnia as well as excessive sleepiness in the late afternoon or early evening. The last common disorder is Jet Lag which results from a conflict between the pattern of sleep and wakefulness between the internal clock and that of a new time zone. Eastward travel is more difficult than that of westward travel because its easier to delay sleep than advance sleep. (Robert Auckley).

Time Relativity
Have you ever wondered why turtles move slowly yet they live so long? Why bees and flys move so fast but only live for a month? According to the Relativity of time theory, the way that time is perceived depends on the perspective it is viewed. Since the turtles heart rate is a lot slower than that of a bees, the turtle most likely perceives time at a slower pace than that of a bee, therefore making the turtle have a longer lifespan than the mouse. Time is also relative to ones position in space at a specific time. Since time, gravity, and space are three dimensions of our known universe, time speeds up when near a large body of mass such as another planet or the sun. Time is our way of trying to keep track of one moment that is constantly passing which is reality, that one moment is all that really eternal. Each person has their own version of time, we dont know whether it is real or a concept. Time is useful because it offers measurability and consistency. It is useful when trying to measure the change in things around us. But whether its a real thing or just something that keeps order is something that will never really be known. Imagine if every device used to tell time on Earth had disappeared, what would happen? Yes we would be lost for a brief period of time but eventually wed all realize that we are meant to be doing a certain thing at a certain point in time. Do you all think that time is real or just a concept?