Fancy New Age
I'm 25! Sunday was my birthday and I couldn't be happier! I'm on top of the world. The sun is totally shining and I'm wearing my dancin' shoes. But seriously...
Age is such a bizarre thing to me. I've tried ever so hard to wrap my mind around it. Don't get me wrong, it's nifty to say you're a "quarter century", just like it's nifty to say, "excuse me sir, we don't allow lemurs in the restaurant." I don't equate age with anything other than a random number. I might as well be 8,305.
Why? Here's why. Allow me to preface this by saying that Robin and I got into a rather intense discussion on this topic, because it is intensly interesting to me. By the way, I am not ripping this off of any philosopher I've studied. I'm sure such arguments have occurred, but I'm not aware of them.
STATEMENT: Time does not exist.
WHA?!: The most basic definition of the word is that it is a measurement between "points"; say, now and then, always and never. However, it is impossible to say there is a now, a then, or a future. This is because when one thinks of a moment, the moment has already passed. There is no quantifiable way to find a moment in its pure form. Even if you apply seconds, nanoseconds, googleseconds, whatever, they keep getting smaller and smaller for infinity seconds. When a moment occurs, it is simultaneously becoming a moment past and reflecting what it is, and is showing what it will eventually be by said change. I cannot see any way to break apart "now" from "then", because they were and are connected. Now, this should not mean that events have occurred and that we can plainly see change throughout our lives. Change, however, is not dependent on time. Change and variance happen because they happen. The fact that we see events as separate from one another is based entirely on our desire to organize.
On the same hand, I use time on a daily basis and find it very convenient. I waited until I was 24 to apply for financial aid. I could drink when I was 21. I'll (hopefully) get to retire when I'm in my 60's. My lunch hour is from 11:30-12:30. However, I do not delude myself by thinking these arbitrary quantifications of life have anything to do with our actual situation. All "time" does is give us a useful system of organization, in order that we may have a measurement of our existence.
Age is such a bizarre thing to me. I've tried ever so hard to wrap my mind around it. Don't get me wrong, it's nifty to say you're a "quarter century", just like it's nifty to say, "excuse me sir, we don't allow lemurs in the restaurant." I don't equate age with anything other than a random number. I might as well be 8,305.
Why? Here's why. Allow me to preface this by saying that Robin and I got into a rather intense discussion on this topic, because it is intensly interesting to me. By the way, I am not ripping this off of any philosopher I've studied. I'm sure such arguments have occurred, but I'm not aware of them.
STATEMENT: Time does not exist.
WHA?!: The most basic definition of the word is that it is a measurement between "points"; say, now and then, always and never. However, it is impossible to say there is a now, a then, or a future. This is because when one thinks of a moment, the moment has already passed. There is no quantifiable way to find a moment in its pure form. Even if you apply seconds, nanoseconds, googleseconds, whatever, they keep getting smaller and smaller for infinity seconds. When a moment occurs, it is simultaneously becoming a moment past and reflecting what it is, and is showing what it will eventually be by said change. I cannot see any way to break apart "now" from "then", because they were and are connected. Now, this should not mean that events have occurred and that we can plainly see change throughout our lives. Change, however, is not dependent on time. Change and variance happen because they happen. The fact that we see events as separate from one another is based entirely on our desire to organize.
On the same hand, I use time on a daily basis and find it very convenient. I waited until I was 24 to apply for financial aid. I could drink when I was 21. I'll (hopefully) get to retire when I'm in my 60's. My lunch hour is from 11:30-12:30. However, I do not delude myself by thinking these arbitrary quantifications of life have anything to do with our actual situation. All "time" does is give us a useful system of organization, in order that we may have a measurement of our existence.
posted by Infused Confusion at
12:41 PM
7 Comments:
So if moments don't realy exist, is it therefore impossible for one to lose hisself/herself in the moment? Could we then say that one can't exist in the moment, therefore we can't exist?
I'm just kidding. We all know that God created the Earth in precisely six days, and the Earth is no more than 6,000 years old. Oh, and also, gravity doesn't exist.
By
Mr. Burns, At
12:43 AM
Not when the moment involves you. I could get lost in your moment forever... ahhhh... and I think most humans and some monkeys would agree with me.
By
Infused Confusion, At
9:03 AM
Hey, who's for metric time?
10 hours a day, 100 minutes per hour, 100 seconds per minute.
(This works out to about each hour being 2.4 of our standard hours, but each minute and second being about .6 of our regular minutes/seconds.)
I'm tired of trying to add standard time like a sucker.
By
Ben A. Johnson, At
10:45 AM
google is a specific number, not a prefix like nano - and if it were it would be bigger than one second, not less ;)
By
Anonymous, At
11:32 AM
I FORGOT ABOUT THE METRIC SYSTEM!!! Dammit. I'm fucked.
And thanks A LOT for correcting me on the google thing, Robin! I'm totally gettin' HOSED here!!
By
Infused Confusion, At
1:02 PM
Your face would be a little bit bigger than a second. BURN!
By
cmo, At
4:49 PM
HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATRICK!!!! I MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU!!
By
Anonymous, At
5:39 AM
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