What is Time?

What is time?

When I was trying to model a time varying data, suddenly this thought came to me. What actually is time? I then googled. I found that I am not the only one confounded by this question. Since beginning of human intellect, philosophers were puzzled by time.

Is it an emergent property like color, smell, or sound? Single atom doesnot have color but aggregate of atoms can produce beautiful colors. Similarly, one atom doesnot have smell, but nasty odors can come out of aggregates of the atoms. So, is time like that? Recently, space has been shown to be an emergent property. David Gross in his 2004 Nobel lecture said that he couldn't imagine physics with time as an emergent property.

Then I rethought about the problem of time. How do we perceive time? What is the hallmark of time? Answer to both the questions is the same: change. Change makes of be aware of the passing of time. So, answer to the riddle of time lies in the origin of change. How does change happen?

In my last post, I ruminated about some fundamental rules that I thought were unbreakable. Now I say, those fundamental rules guide the mechanism of change. Those rules put the whole universe in a constant state of instability. Instability is the origin of change. So, those fundamental rules maintain the arrow of time. Stable objects on the other hand maintain status quo, hence do not experience time.

Breaking the Rules

Rules are made to be broken.

I have heard people say this, especially when disobeying the authority or law. It seems true too. It is easy to break some rules. But can we break all the rules? or are there any rule(s) that we cannot break? I have been thinking about this and I came to a conclusion that there are certain fundamental rules that cannot be broken.

Our world is build upon the rules. Right from the core of nucleus upto the whole universe, everything works according to the rule. Society runs according to rules. A person lives according to rules. Computer is built upon rules. Science is build upon rules. Mathematics is build upon rules. So, what are the rules that are fundamental?

In mathematics, any theorem is built upon some axioms that are thought be true. With that assumption in place, everything else is built upon those axioms. How to prove the axioms are valid? If something disproves the axioms, whole edifice of mathematics crumbles down. Similarly, our human society builds upon certain core principles. Those principles are like axioms in the mathematics. In case, somebody violates those principles, problem occurs. What are the axioms or core principles of the physical world? Everything thing must start on something. What sets the rules of interaction among different things?

I read some news about intelligent design and its conflict with the theory of evolution. At that time, I felt it was heretical to think intelligent design as any rational ideal. Intelligent design says that the universe was designed my some higher intelligent being. By this, the proponents of ID were trying to bring the god into the realm of science. It doesnot make sense. But it also doesnot make sense to think about the fundamental core principles of the world. In our world, when we simulate something we set the rules and let the system behave according to the rules. Who set the rules for the world?

Evolution of course can explain the 'evolution' but not the creation. How does something come into being? What are the rules for creation of life? How come the law of fundamental interaction is satisfied by everything? And my final question is, what happens if we are able to break the rule?