The Naked Scientists
  • Login
  • Register
  • Podcasts
      • The Naked Scientists
      • eLife
      • Naked Genetics
      • Naked Astronomy
      • In short
      • Naked Neuroscience
      • Ask! The Naked Scientists
      • Question of the Week
      • Archive
      • Video
      • SUBSCRIBE to our Podcasts
  • Articles
      • Science News
      • Features
      • Interviews
      • Answers to Science Questions
  • Get Naked
      • Donate
      • Do an Experiment
      • Science Forum
      • Ask a Question
  • About
      • Meet the team
      • Our Sponsors
      • Site Map
      • Contact us

User menu

  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • Help
  • Search
  • Tags
  • Member Map
  • Recent Topics
  • Login
  • Register
  1. Naked Science Forum
  2. Non Life Sciences
  3. Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology
  4. Why is ‘NOW’ Not The Same Everywhere ?
« previous next »
  • Print
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Why is ‘NOW’ Not The Same Everywhere ?

  • 6 Replies
  • 1806 Views
  • 2 Tags

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline neilep (OP)

  • Withdrawnmist
  • Global Moderator
  • Naked Science Forum GOD!
  • ********
  • 20910
  • Activity:
    10%
  • Thanked: 75 times
    • View Profile
Why is ‘NOW’ Not The Same Everywhere ?
« on: 23/07/2020 14:30:06 »
Dearest Peeps With Degrees in Nowology,


Carpe Diem ! Doesn’t apply to another sheep at the furthermost point of the cosmos does it ?


Why doesn’t NOW, this moment , apply all over the Universe ?


What’s the point my getting next day delivery from a 98 billion light years away if it’s not going to arrive on time ?


Whajafink ?




Hugs and shmishes


Mwah mwah xxxxxx



I’m not happy that my gift for Rosie the cow
Won’t be delivered on time somehow
Logged
Men are the same as women, just inside out !
 



Offline Halc

  • Global Moderator
  • Naked Science Forum King!
  • ********
  • 2228
  • Activity:
    31.5%
  • Thanked: 604 times
    • View Profile
Re: Why is ‘NOW’ Not The Same Everywhere ?
« Reply #1 on: 23/07/2020 14:42:55 »
Well if there's a now here, there must be a now everywhere else as well.  Either that or Earth is something special in that respect.  Personally I get around the issue by not assuming there is a now here.

The problem is similar to asking why I am always 'here' and never somewhere else.  No matter where I go, I never manage not to be somewhere that isn't 'here'.  Either I'm special in that way, or there is no objective 'here', and the latter option seems more reasonable, don't ewe think?
Logged
 
The following users thanked this post: neilep

Offline neilep (OP)

  • Withdrawnmist
  • Global Moderator
  • Naked Science Forum GOD!
  • ********
  • 20910
  • Activity:
    10%
  • Thanked: 75 times
    • View Profile
Re: Why is ‘NOW’ Not The Same Everywhere ?
« Reply #2 on: 23/07/2020 14:51:06 »
Quote from: Halc on 23/07/2020 14:42:55
Well if there's a now here, there must be a now everywhere else as well.  Either that or Earth is something special in that respect.  Personally I get around the issue by not assuming there is a now here.

The problem is similar to asking why I am always 'here' and never somewhere else.  No matter where I go, I never manage not to be somewhere that isn't 'here'.  Either I'm special in that way, or there is no objective 'here', and the latter option seems more reasonable, don't ewe think?

I completely agree with you Halc and thank ewe for addressing this. I can’t recall which podcast I was listening to but they were discussing as to why NOW only exists locally.....I’m afraid I missed the relevant details. I can’t imagine why our NOW is not the same NOW everywhere.
Logged
Men are the same as women, just inside out !
 

Offline Bill S

  • Naked Science Forum King!
  • ******
  • 3633
  • Activity:
    0%
  • Thanked: 113 times
    • View Profile
Re: Why is ‘NOW’ Not The Same Everywhere ?
« Reply #3 on: 23/07/2020 21:12:55 »
If Minkowski was right, it must be meaningless to talk of “now”.  We have to consider “here and now” as a spacetime event. 
If you add to that “No man liveth more than that infinitesimal point of time that is the present”.  Marcus Aurelius. 
You have the sort of thing that Halc is saying.  Wherever I go, I’m always here now.                                                                                                         
Logged
There never was nothing.
 

Offline CPT ArkAngel

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • 733
  • Activity:
    0%
  • Thanked: 14 times
    • View Profile
Re: Why is ‘NOW’ Not The Same Everywhere ?
« Reply #4 on: 24/07/2020 04:24:46 »
The fact that you are made of massive particles which cannot travel faster than light. And whatever you measure is in fact space and time. Whenever you measure a force, a pressure or an electric field or charge, you measure distances and/or time intervals. So, good luck to those who are trying to eliminate space and/or time to get a deeper theory.

The fact that there is or there is not a now everywhere, linking all particles together at a speed faster than light, is a matter of belief, for now... Adding gravity to special relativity in GR seems to bring problems which may require the necessity for this kind of relations. It is the simplest solution. And how the Universe could potentially be causally disconnected from itself?

See ER = EPR
« Last Edit: 24/07/2020 04:41:05 by CPT ArkAngel »
Logged
 



Offline Colin2B

  • Global Moderator
  • Naked Science Forum King!
  • ********
  • 6127
  • Activity:
    26%
  • Thanked: 643 times
    • View Profile
Re: Why is ‘NOW’ Not The Same Everywhere ?
« Reply #5 on: 28/07/2020 16:38:34 »
Quote from: neilep on 23/07/2020 14:51:06
I’m afraid I missed the relevant details. I can’t imagine why our NOW is not the same NOW everywhere.
Now can be a meaningful concept, but It depends what sort of now you are talking about. Ignoring the fact that now is a moving target, there are 2 ways we can look at now:

1. The round trip delay to your star is 196bn ly, so to get your present to Rosie is going the take a lot of forward planning. I think you are going to have to tell her it is delayed in the post. However, it would seem a reasonable question to ask what that star looks like now even though we see it as it was 98bn ly ago. We know a lot about how stars age and the stages they go through, so from their spectrum it might be possible to work out what that star looks like now, but there is a catch, the oldest things we can see are only 14bn yrs old!

2. let’s say a groundsheep (sorry, I don’t mean minced lamb) is in communication with a spacesheep, these 2 are in different gravitational potentials. It would be possible for them to synchronise their clocks to an event they could both call now1. At some later time they could synchronise their clocks again to now2, but they would find that they cannot agree on the elapsed time between now1 and now2. So, now does, in a way, exist everywhere, we just can’t agree when it is, err, was!

I suggest you look closer to home for your present for Rosie. Might I suggest:

* untangled.jpg.JPG (140.74 kB . 750x722 - viewed 1799 times)
Logged
and the misguided shall lead the gullible,
the feebleminded have inherited the earth.
 

Offline Bill S

  • Naked Science Forum King!
  • ******
  • 3633
  • Activity:
    0%
  • Thanked: 113 times
    • View Profile
Re: Why is ‘NOW’ Not The Same Everywhere ?
« Reply #6 on: 28/07/2020 18:03:19 »
Quote from: CPT ArkAngel
The fact that there is or there is not a now everywhere, linking all particles together at a speed faster than light, is a matter of belief, for now..

If there is such a “now”, and if it links all particles together, then “a speed faster than light”, or any speed, could not be involved.  The “now” would have to be static, eternally. The particles would be permanently “here” and “now”.
Logged
There never was nothing.
 



  • Print
Pages: [1]   Go Up
« previous next »
Tags: time  / now 
 
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...
  • SMF 2.0.15 | SMF © 2017, Simple Machines
    Privacy Policy
    SMFAds for Free Forums
  • Naked Science Forum ©

Page created in 0.139 seconds with 49 queries.

  • Podcasts
  • Articles
  • Get Naked
  • About
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe to newsletter
  • We love feedback

Follow us

cambridge_logo_footer.png

©The Naked Scientists® 2000–2017 | The Naked Scientists® and Naked Science® are registered trademarks created by Dr Chris Smith. Information presented on this website is the opinion of the individual contributors and does not reflect the general views of the administrators, editors, moderators, sponsors, Cambridge University or the public at large.