(5 minute read)

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A Somewhat Deep Dive

“Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the “old one.” I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice.”

Albert Einstein, Letter to Max Born, 1926

“I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right. I do not know that I am.”

Albert Einstein, 1929

(From previous post) At this time in history Einstein believed that the universe was ordered and static. Born, on the other hand, thought it to be the opposite, random and expanding.

We know the outcome of that little argument don’t we?

Born was right and Einstein was wrong.

In 1929, three years later, Einstein finally caught up to his progressive colleagues. This happened when Edwin Hubble proved that the universe was expanding. Einstein finally had to admit that he was wrong and his ordered and static worldview was not a reality.

I know what you’re thinking. Well, if Einstein didn’t get it right, what chance have I?

But that’s the beauty of the story and makes the second quote that much more powerful.

We have a feeling that we are right. But don’t be fooled by that “feeling.” Einstein left room for his mind to change if further evidence became available.

Readily admit that you may be knowledgeable about some things, but leave some wiggle room for some change. None of us really know everything.

I use this as a way of introducing some ideas about time. If you’ve spent the time reading so far, you may as well go on.

Depending on who you ask, time has several meanings.

Ask someone on the street and they will read some numbers off an instrument strapped to their wrist. Ask a religious zealot and they’ll tell you that we’re out of time, the end is near. Ask an astrophysicist and they’ll want to measure the universe for you. Ask a geologist and they will split open a rock. They will tell you how old the rock is compared to our existence.

So, there is no one real cookie-cutter definition of time. Besides the noun, no definition ticks off all the boxes for everyone. We use a metric with a clock. It informs us where the planet is regarding its daily rotation. Based on that, we decide when and where we need to go for a productive day. They are handy and we certainly use them as a tool for time management, for example.

And, yet, a clock still can’t tell us what time “is.”

Time (as the noun) is usually what we think of when we read or hear the word. It’s the one we use in time management. If we have a meeting at noon on a Monday, we enter it into our calendar or a phone app. We need it. It’s useful.

So what in the world does …there is no such thing as time. It’s only a tool. Time is not our enemy. It’s neither good nor bad. It is neutral. It is nothing and it is infinite …mean?

Theorists say that time is a man made construct. It has little meaning outside of counting. It should be defined only within those confines. Others have argued that time only has meaning when defined within particular space (spacetime). Einstein, et.al., argued for this definition.

Within that context we use terms like past, present, and future to demarcate specific periods of time. When defining life events, for example, it helps to know the timing of these events. We need to understand if the events have happened, are happening, or will happen. In terms of linguistics they are a tremendous help.

But again, it is argued, do those meanings really exist? Do they really matter, or should they be used only in the strictest sense as a linguistic tool? Some argue that the past is gone, it does not exist, the future is not here, it does not exist. What only matters is (the) now, the present.

Quantum physics has changed all that. Princeton university professor, Kurt Godel, colleague of Einstein, proved time travel is theoretically possible. Even in the confines of the laws of nature, past, present, and future are one and the same.

It is in this sense that the phrase …there is no such thing as time. It’s only a tool. Time is not our enemy. It’s neither good nor bad. It is neutral. It is nothing and it is infinite …means.

If this is philosophically true, whoever and whatever we are now is the result of whoever and whatever we were. And whoever and whatever we are about to become, we already are.

We are rational animals, as Aristotle noted. Except for certain conditions, all of us have the ability and capacity to conceptualize abstract thought and ideas. Nearly a universal part of the human condition is the idea that we can rationally evaluate ourselves. We look at where we once were. We analyze our progress to what we are today. We also consider what and how we perceive ourselves in the future.

“Where do you see yourself in five years,” used to be an interview trope when applying for a job.

It’s that rationality that allows most of us to conceive where we would like to be.

Angst as part of the human condition and time is its largest contributor. Many of us feel this angst knowing where we are right now compared to where we want to be. For some, it’s a daunting cavernous valley from where we are now to what we want to be then.

Keep reading. See Pt. 3.