Theory of time

[SNP1]

Which theory of time do you follow?

Presentism?
Possibilism?
A-theory eternalism?
B-theory eternalism?
Other?

[Solitary]

Whatever a clock tells me, which is circular: one movement of an object  based on the movement of another object a clock. Time is an invention to make sense of objects moving faster or slower. Time is part of space which is spacetime which is eternal with no beginning, or end, in my opinion.  There is only now, because yesterday is a thought, and tomorrow is a thought, both being a process of the brainbody.  Now, define time! Time to go. 

[SNP1]

Time is part of space which is spacetime which is eternal with no beginning, or end, in my opinion.  There is only now, because yesterday is a thought, and tomorrow is a thought

So, a form of presentism. Okay.

[Jason78]

I think it's like a funnel you fall through.  Or more like one of those really early pinball machines where there really were pins and balls, and you'd drop the ball down from the top and it has to land somewhere.   I'm not sure which way up the funnel is though.

[Solitary]

http://youtu.be/4BjGWLJNPcA    Solitary

[the_antithesis]

For what is time? Who can easily and briefly explain it? Who can even comprehend it in thought or put the answer into words? Yet is it not true that in conversation we refer to nothing more familiarly or knowingly than time? And surely we understand it when we speak of it; we understand it also when we hear another speak of it. What, then, is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks me, I do not know. (Confessions, 11, XIV, 17)

    Thus it is not properly said that there are three times, past, present, and future. Perhaps it might be said rightly that there are three times: a time present of things past; a time present of things present; and a time present of things future. ...The time present of things past is memory; the time present of things present is direct experience; the time present of things future is expectation. (Confessions, 11, XX)

    ...see that all time past is forced to move on by the incoming future; that all the future follows from the past; and that all, past and future, is created and issues out of that which is forever present. Who will hold the heart of man that it may stand still and see how the eternity which always stands still is itself neither future nor past but expresses itself in the times that are future and past? (Confessions, 11, XI)

    Suppose now that a bodily voice begins to sound, and continues to soundâ€"on and onâ€"and then ceases. Now there is silence. The voice is past, and there is no longer a sound. It was future before it sounded, and could not be measured because it was not yet; and now it cannot be measured because it is no longer. (Confessions, 11, XXVII)

    It is in you, O mind of mine, that I measure the periods of time. ...I measure as time present the impression that things make on you as they pass by and what remains after they have passed byâ€"I do not measure the things themselves which have passed by and left their impression on you. This is what I measure when I measure periods of time. (Confessions, 11, XXVII)

In short, the future does not exist yet, the past no longer exists, and the present has no length so it goes immediately from being the future to being past (not yet existing to no longer existing) and so has no length. Therefore, when measuring time, we are measuring the impressions in has on the mind. Our minds.

[Mike Cl]

Time is simply a measurement of how fast our (the Earth) rotation is.  Our perception of it fluctuates depending on what we are doing.  Playing a computer game makes time speed up.  Doing my taxes makes time drag by.  The past is gone, with only our fragile memories to give it body.  The future is not here.  The now is all there really is.  Yet I know that the now is the future of my past.  And the future is unknown and mostly unknowable.  Yet, that does not mean I don't want to plan for the future; for in awhile I will be there, when the future is what my now used to be.  I want to give it some form--even if is planning on what I want for lunch.  Time is basically a useful social construct, so that I can meet my wonderful wife for that great movie tomorrow; so that we can arrive at the same place at the same 'time'.  But it is also a useful scientific construct, as well.  And it is a useful philosophical construct, so that the philosophers can have 'time' to discuss what time really is. 

[Sal1981]

I'm not familiar with those terms, but I'm aligned towards the idea that time is an emergent property.

[Hakurei Reimu]

Time is the generalized phenomenon where, when you look once, the world is a certain way, and then when you look again, it's a little different. Regardless of why this is true, it is true that you have a memory of what happened before to compare to the present state of the world, compare it with other such memories, and even against the various way that the world itself records that history. This could either be a faked contrivance, or that time really is a thing and that it has a real impact on the universe.

[Solitary]

Is time a measure of change, or change a measure of time? Time to go practice. 

[Hakurei Reimu]

They're wrapped up in each other. It's impossible to observe a change (or even observe) without time. The fact that there is change is contingent upon there being a time.