The concept of space and time (time)

In the notion of space and time, our self-image as an observer is involved. We represent ourselves as an observer who is aware of his position in the Absolute space and is synchronized with the Absolute time, determines the size of the objects being studied and the duration of the time intervals studied. In this case, it is considered that the spatial dimensions and time intervals that a person is able to recognize lie in rather narrow intervals, beyond which human perception is powerless to perceive anything. To step on another scale of time or space requires instruments and imagination.

Idea of ​​time

The representations described in the chapter on space want to be extended for a while. However, this will not work. The fact is that we are aware of space in one way, and time in another. And, although from the point of view of physics there is no difference between the spatial dimension and time, our awareness leaves its mark on the models that we build.

We are not fully aware of time, only a part of it that we have chosen to study. To different parts docked, we believe in the existence of the absolute time. This suggests that by studying time we study some part of the Absolute time.

If we are aware of space as a set of surfaces, considered by us from the outside or from within, then in the perception of time we do not have a similar experience. In space, you imagine yourself looking at objects from different angles. In time this will not work. Time is the line on which you are, and on which you are moving. You can not "look" at the boundary of the time interval as you can look at the boundary of space. In space, vision is used for this. In time we have no sight. Moving on time, you are inside the trailer, you can not look out of it.

What if the awareness of space would be like the realization of time?

Then it would look like this: if we chose a part of the Absolute space as the object under study and the minimum size of the object distinguishable in this representation, we would divide the entire study space into small cells. For each cell, we would define the values ​​of some attributes. To do this, we would have to visit each cell, because we have no means of remote research. A set of such cells and their properties would give us a description of the entire space.

What if our idea of ​​time would be similar to our idea of ​​space?

Imagine that you are frozen in time. You can not move in time, can not see what was and what will be. You have only flows that you can sense. These flows pass through time. You can interpret the properties of these flows, find the moments from which they are reflected, and on this basis build assumptions about events occurring in the past or in the future. I will not delve into the description of such a picture of the world, because science fiction writers can do it for me. My job is to show how much our ideas about time differ from the ideas about space.

Primitive idea of ​​time

The difference in ideas is the only thing that distinguishes space and time. The rest is 4 equal coordinates of four-dimensional space-time. But the difference in ideas leads us to create different structures for describing space and time.

To imagine our perception of time, imagine a straight line. Imagine that this line is the time in which we live. We choose a segment on this line — the interval under study and make a partition of this interval into intervals of finite duration, each of which we will call an instant. For each moment we describe the studied space. As a result, we obtain the description of the investigated time interval as a finite set of studied spaces. The investigated time interval, the ordered set of instants and the spaces studied with it forms our primitive idea of ​​what the studied space-time is. However, things are not so simple. We have now considered one way to create representations: first, arrange the space, then spatial forms, arrange in time. This is a serious limitation on the order of assembling semantic elements, which has nothing to do with the real idea of ​​space and time. Our view cannot break the link between space and time. We perceive everything as a whole: both space and time. The semantic blocks formed in this space-time are not divided into frames at different instants of time. We see volumes in space-time, not sets of frames. For simplicity's sake, we resort to the analogy with frames. In the next article I will talk about this in detail. In this article, for simplicity, I will stick with the classical approach, in which it is commonly believed that time is a way to organize frames.

Dance in time

Time allows you to stitch the investigated space in a dynamic picture of the world, for example, so you can realize the dynamics of the rotor, rotating relative to the stator. For this you need a lot of conscious subspaces associated with the rotor. This set creates the illusion of rotation relative to another set of perceived subspaces associated with the stator. This illusion allows you to say that the rotor rotates relative to the stator.

A more non-trivial example is when we observe a change in the size of an object, for example, a change in the size of an inflated balloon. In order to realize the change in the size of the ball, one set of spaces that we recognize, associated with the ball, must create the illusion of expansion relative to another set of spaces that we recognize connected with the space where we are.

In the same way, the trajectory of a moving object is built: with the help of a single set of spaces that we realize, creating the illusion of movement relative to another set.

The frame from the movie about reality is called the state of space at a given time. But in reality we see not a state, but a dance. In the next article we will talk about this in detail.

Time resolution and maximum duration

In each investigated time there is a resolution limit, intervals less than which are considered as instants, and the maximum duration, about durations of which there is no point in talking. This means that when planning for the year it makes no sense to consider the intervals to within microseconds, and it is meaningless to talk about a time interval of three years. Attempting to tie all models to a single Absolute Time can be puzzling.

In the next article we will combine the ideas of space with the idea of ​​time.