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General Science / The Start of Time?
« on: 26/06/2020 12:24:49 »
The Big Bang seems like it could be the start of time. I thought of another way to look at the same problem:
1) Assume no start of time, then the length of the past must be greater than any finite number of days (if its finite, time has a start)
2) But finite numbers increase forever without bound - it is not possible for the length of the past to be greater than all finite numbers (nothing can be greater than something unbounded)
3) So the length of the past must be finite
4) So time must have a start
5) Also, you can say time passing is just adding one to the day count - so its impossible for the past to be non-finite.
Just for completeness, I'll give my definition of 'time':
Motion requires a degree of freedom in which to express itself - if the universe was composed of 3 spacial dimensions only then there would be no motion at all - everything would be statuesque. So there must be something else in addition to the 3 spacial dimensions that allows motion and this degree of freedom is called time. So time cannot possibly be motion but we do measure time by measuring motion.
1) Assume no start of time, then the length of the past must be greater than any finite number of days (if its finite, time has a start)
2) But finite numbers increase forever without bound - it is not possible for the length of the past to be greater than all finite numbers (nothing can be greater than something unbounded)
3) So the length of the past must be finite
4) So time must have a start
5) Also, you can say time passing is just adding one to the day count - so its impossible for the past to be non-finite.
Just for completeness, I'll give my definition of 'time':
Motion requires a degree of freedom in which to express itself - if the universe was composed of 3 spacial dimensions only then there would be no motion at all - everything would be statuesque. So there must be something else in addition to the 3 spacial dimensions that allows motion and this degree of freedom is called time. So time cannot possibly be motion but we do measure time by measuring motion.