2 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Does time really exist?
Existence of anything, including time, is entirely predicated on your perception. Do you perceive time? Then it exists. What it actually **is** is a different story: our perception of it is likely highly limited. Great authors have speculated about the nature of time for many years. One of my favorite stories about time is “The Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang — the movie “Arrival” is based on it, but the story is better. I highly recommend it. That book brought me a great deal of peace of mind.
Scientists think about the nature of time as well, of course. For a popularly accessible overview of what science currently understands about time, check out Sean Carroll’s “From Eternity to Here”.
I often think of time as “already” existing in its entirety — just like space. We are just traveling through it and observing, but all that happened, happening, and will happen is already in place — for us to leave behind, stumble upon, or look forward to. It helps me to think of myself as an intrepid explorer — even if I don’t have much choice about going along with the current :)
Does any of that help answer your question? :)
Comment by pro_nait at 24/02/2025 at 06:23 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Yeah, I get what you mean. It reminds me of Einstein’s idea that time is like a book that’s already written, and we’re just reading it page by page. If that’s the case, maybe that’s why people say thoughts shape reality—because everything we dream of already exists, and we’re just moving toward it. And maybe time is structured this way so we have the chance to reflect on whether we truly want those dreams. I’ll definitely check out the books you recommended. Thanks for your response!