What is time?

by Drew R | May 28, 2020 | If a person grew up in the wilderness without any human contact, how (if at all) would they be different from the rest of us, The Universe, Top Rated Theories, What is time?

“Time is a construct. I have often wondered if it is indeed necessary or not. I’m not going to get all ‘Hawking’, but rather keep this relatively simple. For the basis of this answer it is necessary to look at the two factors, which impact what we know as relative time as compared to absolute time. The two factors are the Rotation of the earth about its axis and the Revolution of the earth around the sun. The world as it now exists has the notable occurrence of the rise and fall of the sun, which occurs, in a regular pattern. This observed pattern gives us what we have named day and night. This pattern is due to the rotation of the earth about its own axis. Simultaneously, the earth is revolving around the sun. The revolution of the earth around the sun is responsible for the shift in seasons (anywhere from 2-4 seasons are experienced throughout the world). To quantify these changes time was constructed. Time as we know It uses 60 as its base. Sixty is a number with 12 factors. Now that the basics are laid out we can delve into the question of what is time? 

Returning to my belief that time is a construct.  Time as we know it is a mechanism to quantify regularly occurring effects of the rotation and revolution of the earth. However, why even quantify it? If we had no means of quantifying would the world be lost or dysfunctional? Probably not as the rotation and revolution of the earth would likely guide our actions. Or if we only had a running cumulative number would it really make any difference at all?  Although the latter would be utilizing a form of time just with a structural change to how it looks.  

Perhaps time is inescapable. The reason why it may be inescapable is that we observe the shifts in day / night and shifts in seasons or in other words we observe movement and change. These observations of movement and change, whether we care to quantify them or not, exist and will continue to exist.  Time provides us with a reference to events that occurred (past), are occurring (present) and will occur (future). 

As regular and inescapable as time may be, the experience of time does not remain regular or consistent, but rather is subjective.  Think of yourself being lost in the moment of an enjoyable experience. Time as you know it can be perceived stopped or nonexistent for those moments. Now consider moments of pain. Time as you know it is not lost, but rather intensified. During those painful moments we may be acutely aware of each and every moment that passes. 
Regardless of our subjective experience, either moments of elation or pain, the earth’s position changes. Our subjective experience or perception, of the moments we experience, does not slow down or speed up the rate of change in the earth’s position. After each moment the earth is no longer at the same universal location it was at the moment before. In an effort to explain the changed location we have constructed a unit of measure we refer to as time.”

Links:
Relative vs Absolute time:
https://www.calculator.net/time-calculator.html
Seasonal shifts:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-09-01/seasons-and-their-changes-explained/8858776