Still Waters Posted December 31, 2019 #1 Share Posted December 31, 2019 Quote Something remarkable will happen when the clock ticks from 11:59 to 12:00 AM. In an instant, 2019, once all-encompassing, will recede into the past, and 2020, previously futuristic and far away, will step in to take its place. Take a moment to mull that over. How does now unstick itself and become the past, and when does the future morph into the present? How do these states transition, one into another, so seamlessly? How long is right now? On a holiday dedicated to celebrating the passage of time, as we enter a new year and a new now, let's take this line of questioning seriously, and literally. This year felt impossibly long, but science tells us that right now is actually much, much shorter than it feels when we're trudging through it. Neuroscientists' best estimate for "right now" is only about 2.5 to 3 seconds, or less. According to physics, right now is an illusion altogether. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qjd4yd/how-long-is-right-now 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetoroam Posted December 31, 2019 #2 Share Posted December 31, 2019 (edited) @Still Waters Sorry hun, your article is a minute old, in a few hours time in the future it will be yesterday and last years news. Edited December 31, 2019 by freetoroam 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+joc Posted December 31, 2019 #3 Share Posted December 31, 2019 2 minutes ago, freetoroam said: @Still Waters Sorry hun, your article is a minute old, in a few hours time in the future it will be yesterday and last years news. But Now isn't really 2.5 or 3 seconds...or 2 nano-seconds even...and it is not an illusion because right now...it is always right now...right? Now... Count to 5...is it still now? Okay, count to 100. Is it still now? This little experiment suffices as proof that Now is eternal and non-changing. It is the only constant in the entire universe. The only thing we have is right now. It is always now. 6 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetoroam Posted December 31, 2019 #4 Share Posted December 31, 2019 (edited) 5 minutes ago, joc said: But Now isn't really 2.5 or 3 seconds...or 2 nano-seconds even...and it is not an illusion because right now...it is always right now...right? Now... Count to 5...is it still now? Okay, count to 100. Is it still now? This little experiment suffices as proof that Now is eternal and non-changing. It is the only constant in the entire universe. The only thing we have is right now. It is always now. Right Now my head hurts. Edited December 31, 2019 by freetoroam 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlookerofmayhem Posted December 31, 2019 #5 Share Posted December 31, 2019 I agree with @joc. It's always right now. 3 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Commander Travis Posted December 31, 2019 #6 Share Posted December 31, 2019 How long is just be a minute? It's almost always longer than a minute as measured by the clock. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zep73 Posted December 31, 2019 #7 Share Posted December 31, 2019 Jesus made a song about it 1 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+and-then Posted December 31, 2019 #8 Share Posted December 31, 2019 I'd imagine "right now" is as long as it takes a person to focus on what made it notable enough to be set aside by someone. It reminds me of telling a couple of younger co-workers on the morning of 9-11 that we were living in a historic moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+joc Posted December 31, 2019 #9 Share Posted December 31, 2019 1 minute ago, and then said: I'd imagine "right now" is as long as it takes a person to focus on what made it notable enough to be set aside by someone. It reminds me of telling a couple of younger co-workers on the morning of 9-11 that we were living in a historic moment. Yes..but...in reality...whatever we experience through our 5 senses is...by default...past tense by the time those sensory pulses are registered in our brain as sight, or sound, or touch, or taste, or smell. So, in reality...there is no 'present'. And all past is represented as a memory in our brains. And all future is represented as anticipation in our brains. So there is no past, there is no present, there is no future. If the past, the present, and the future do not actually exist...then what does? Right Now! The eternal never changing Now. Before the world was...Now is! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightly Posted December 31, 2019 #10 Share Posted December 31, 2019 (edited) 6 hours ago, joc said: Yes..but...in reality...whatever we experience through our 5 senses is...by default...past tense by the time those sensory pulses are registered in our brain as sight, or sound, or touch, or taste, or smell. So, in reality...there is no 'present'. And all past is represented as a memory in our brains. And all future is represented as anticipation in our brains. So there is no past, there is no present, there is no future. If the past, the present, and the future do not actually exist...then what does? Right Now! The eternal never changing Now. Before the world was...Now is! Yes...I sort of agree ...except I would change the "never changing" to Ever changing. I don't believe in "time" (or now) at all. There is only CHANGE. .no change?....everything stops. .. . Existence is Change. No motion or change?...I think existence ....doesn't ! Edited December 31, 2019 by lightly 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+joc Posted January 1, 2020 #11 Share Posted January 1, 2020 38 minutes ago, lightly said: Yes...I sort of agree ...except I would change the "never changing" to Ever changing. I don't believe in "time" (or now) at all. There is only CHANGE. .no change?....everything stops. .. . Existence is Change. No motion or change?...I think existence ....doesn't ! From my perspective...Atomic structures change...electrons are constantly moving.... So...what doesn't change? There is something ..........now........that remains the same....no matter what....one trillion years ago...now..is still a constant...if you can explain how Now changes, I would be interested in hearing it. As I see it...now is an ocean of constant in which time moves through, like a ship on the ocean...with Now being the ocean and time a ship upon it. It really makes my head spin...Now seems to be the only thing that never changes. Is Now, God? Or what we refer to as the eternal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoFish Posted January 1, 2020 #12 Share Posted January 1, 2020 There is no now, nor past and the future is unknown to a degree. There is only a constant momentum in one direction. Now doesn't exist. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Walt' E. Kurtz Posted January 1, 2020 #13 Share Posted January 1, 2020 15 hours ago, Still Waters said: We're in the matrix :-p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+joc Posted January 1, 2020 #14 Share Posted January 1, 2020 14 hours ago, XenoFish said: There is no now, nor past and the future is unknown to a degree. There is only a constant momentum in one direction. Now doesn't exist. Now is the only thing that exists! Now doesn't exist. Dual at dawn at 20 paces... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoFish Posted January 1, 2020 #15 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Every single letter of this sentience was wrote now, though now isn't now, but then. What I write later will be, but not now and when I type each letter it would have been the past. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+joc Posted January 1, 2020 #16 Share Posted January 1, 2020 15 hours ago, XenoFish said: There is only a constant momentum in one direction. Rethinking Now is unchanging..... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... Ah ha! Constant Momentum ...in one direction? What direction sir? Forward is the future...which doesn't exist. Backward is the past...which doesn't exist. And yet...there is constant momentum... Is Constant Momentum a thing? Or...is it two things? Constant being Now. Momentum being Change. Continuous momentum in a medium of Constant Non-Movement. 2 minutes ago, XenoFish said: Every single letter of this sentience was wrote now, though now isn't now, but then. What I write later will be, but not now and when I type each letter it would have been the past. If every single letter is written Now...if Now doesn't exist, when is it written? Earlier, later? If we could slow motion down to a total pause...when would the pause in motion be occurring? Or... Is it just a human anomaly that we play such mind games with ourselves? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyche101 Posted January 1, 2020 #17 Share Posted January 1, 2020 (edited) Wow. Ambiguous title! I really wasn't sure what to expect in this thread... Edited January 1, 2020 by psyche101 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoFish Posted January 1, 2020 #18 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Now would need to be a static moment in time. Perpetually frozen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+joc Posted January 1, 2020 #19 Share Posted January 1, 2020 If now were in the timeline at all...how could it be perpetually frozen without the entire timeline being frozen. A river.....moving through the river bed. The river bed doesn't move...the water and everything in it flows... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoFish Posted January 1, 2020 #20 Share Posted January 1, 2020 6 minutes ago, joc said: If now were in the timeline at all...how could it be perpetually frozen without the entire timeline being frozen. A river.....moving through the river bed. The river bed doesn't move...the water and everything in it flows... Now doesn't exist. We are trapped in an arrow of awareness that's constantly moving forward. As soon as you define something as being right now, it's in the past. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightly Posted January 1, 2020 #21 Share Posted January 1, 2020 15 hours ago, joc said: From my perspective...Atomic structures change...electrons are constantly moving.... So...what doesn't change? There is something ..........now........that remains the same....no matter what....one trillion years ago...now..is still a constant...if you can explain how Now changes, I would be interested in hearing it. As I see it...now is an ocean of constant in which time moves through, like a ship on the ocean...with Now being the ocean and time a ship upon it. It really makes my head spin...Now seems to be the only thing that never changes. Is Now, God? Or what we refer to as the eternal? Ya, i can understand your perspective ... I think Now Changes by motion. ..?..the movement and interactions of Everything. Like I said, I see 'it' as Existence is Change/Motion/Energy. ?? Sort of like...As Dark is the Absence of Light.... Non- Existence is the Absence of Motion/Energy. ?? see what I'm trying to say? Existence is Motion/Changes/Energy. ? ? THE singularity existed in NOTHING. There was NOTHING outside 'it'. there is Still NOTHING outside the Universe which 'it' Became. AS Light cannot be seen in Light, but only in darkness. SOMETHING (physics) cannot exist/be seen without NOTHING (non-physical). ??? Think about it...I have ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightly Posted January 1, 2020 #22 Share Posted January 1, 2020 29 minutes ago, joc said: Momentum being Change. Continuous momentum in a medium of Constant Non-Movement. ya,. Sorta like that ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susanc241 Posted January 1, 2020 #23 Share Posted January 1, 2020 NOW has to be subjective, if it can be pinpointed at all? All I know is all my nows are whizzing by so fast a week seems like a day and a month like a week! One of the downsides of getting (a lot) older! I read somewhere a lot of nows ago that something in the brain changes as you age to give the illusion of time speeding up. But this again has to be subjective, IMO. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+joc Posted January 1, 2020 #24 Share Posted January 1, 2020 4 minutes ago, lightly said: see what I'm trying to say? I see what you're saying! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+joc Posted January 1, 2020 #25 Share Posted January 1, 2020 6 minutes ago, lightly said: 39 minutes ago, joc said: Momentum being Change. Continuous momentum in a medium of Constant Non-Movement. ya,. Sorta like that ! Now is very illusory because electrons move so fast that they create solidity in matter. One cannot really put one's finger on Now.... ...and so, for me...Now becomes more of a philosophical thing than a physics thing. Right Now...everything is okay. Tomorrow things might go to hell but right now. It's the eternal moment. One moment. Do it now. Or ...don't do it now. There is no later. Because if you do it later...when you are doing it ...it will be that you are doing it now. Like...everyone is born Today! And everyone dies Today! Everyone is born and everyone dies Right Now. Because, where ever that time line is...it is right now. It's always right now. Okay, I'm done...i think... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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