CreateDebate


Debate Info

17
40
Time is only an illusion Time is real
Debate Score:57
Arguments:44
Total Votes:59
Ended:02/10/12
More Stats

Argument Ratio

side graph
 
 Time is only an illusion (17)
 
 Time is real (27)

Debate Creator

russelluk(28) pic



This debate has ended. You can no longer add arguments or vote in this debate.

Time is nothing more than movement - it is an illusion

Think about it - when you move through time it is just things moving - a football match is just how the ball moves around the moving players. Take a snapshop of time and let things run for 5 minutes. If you could put everything back into that position again then you would have 5 minutes ago. See time does not exist - it is just a representation of how one object or particle is placed against another

 

Time is only an illusion

Side Score: 17
VS.

Time is real

Side Score: 40
Winning Side!
1 point

There is nothing in time - forget the scientists - go with your gut feeling - everyong tries to overcomplicate things. time travel will never happen simply because time is just movement and nothing else

Side: Time is only an illusion
iamdavidh(4856) Disputed
2 points

Um, time travel happens all the time.

Time slows down at very fast speeds and when next to very large objects.

Almost undetectable on earth, but just spending a few hours on a plane is enough to actually "time travel" hundreds and hundreds of a second into the future.

Apparently your gut is not the best measure of fact. Perhaps you should try, I don't know, looking stuff up instead.

Side: Time is real
imrigone(761) Disputed
1 point

There is nothing in time

Exceeeepppptttt...all of space.

forget the scientists

Thankfully, most people don't share this ideology. Because if we forgot scientists, our life expectancy would be around half of what it is, we wouldn't have most medicine, or cell phones, or any transportation aside from feet and horses. AND you wouldn't be able to post this argument....although that last one might be fore the best.

everyong tries to overcomplicate things.

Life isn't simple just because you are. Some people actually ENJOY figuring out how things work. These people have a higher chance of making life better for all of us, including people like you who cling to the apron strings of advancement while spitting in the face of intellectuals.

time travel will never happen simply because time is just movement and nothing else

Do you realize what you just said? "time TRAVEL"...."just movement"...Travel IS movement, you ignoramus! If it won't happen, it is because time can flow only in one specific direction. But even that concept isn't unanimously accepted.

Side: Time is real
russelluk(28) Disputed
1 point

As expected you cant argue this with any degree of logic so you resort to insults by calling me an ignoramus. What a shame - you are really missing the point. Every time one object moves with respect to another object you have time - i.e that is movement. - if a scambled egg were to suddenly unscrable itself in a isolated universe then in a way the egg has gone back in time - why dont you try to relax and think about things and understand

Side: Time is only an illusion

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." Albert Einstein

Time cannot be real since reality doesn't exist.

Side: Time is only an illusion
ChuckHades(3197) Disputed
2 points

Time cannot be real since reality doesn't exist

Really? Care to justify that claim?

Side: Time is real
iamdavidh(4856) Disputed
2 points

Einstein was referring to large concepts of relativity compared to humans' observance of the Universe... not some Matrix dreamworld.

Side: Time is real
Thewayitis(4071) Disputed
1 point

An atheist that knows the thoughts of people, amazing. What's next, one that walks on water?

Side: Time is only an illusion
1 point

Scientists seem to have only created something to help us understand this concept.

But really, are all scientific theories really that? Or has it got nothing to do with science and is just part of nature? The aborigines created Dreamtime stories, have scientists just created science? This is all the matter of what you believe...

Side: Time is only an illusion
imrigone(761) Disputed
1 point

Scientists seem to have only created something to help us understand this concept.

Ummm, sort of...except that this is pure observation, not creation. The conversion of observed data to language DOES help us understand, but it isn't a creation so much as a translation.

But really, are all scientific theories really that?

Really what?

Or has it got nothing to do with science and is just part of nature?

Science is the study of nature.

The aborigines created Dreamtime stories, have scientists just created science?

The Dreamtime stories and other spiritual artifacts tend to fill in blanks by supposing fanciful answers to questions, without real evidence or acute observation. Science may involve speculation, but for it to gain and retain credence within the scientific community, it should be supported by empirical data as soon as possible.

This is all the matter of what you believe...

that's the thing, science is intended to circumvent belief as much as humans are able. Things don't become scientific observations, theories, etc. without conforming to the possible and to logical inquiry and (often), experimentation. When you are a scientist, belief plays no role in your reports. You just state what you observed as accurately and subjectively as possible.

Side: Time is real
5 points

The very fact that time can and is affected by gravity, to me suggests that there is more to time than simply the perception of change.

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/41740

Side: Time is real

Nope, I'm pretty confident time exists. Time is simply a non spatial continuum in which different events occur in an irreversible order. It's as old as the Big Bang, existed before us, single celled organisms, even complex baryonic structures.

Side: Time is real
russelluk(28) Disputed
1 point

Nice use of scientific words but does not really help. The fact is time is something way beyond our control. Just think about it however - if you could put every single molecure and atom back exactly to the roman times - yes we would have the roman times - i guess what is really good about this is that maybe we could live forever if we could just control the motion of things better

Side: Time is only an illusion
ChuckHades(3197) Disputed
2 points

Nice use of scientific words but does not really help.

Well thank you for the compliment, but I do believe it is helpful. It's a basic definition of time, the article Bohemian provided was much more useful, but I see how it could confuse the layman. Nonetheless, I will try to simplify my definition so all can understand. Basically, there are 4 dimensions that we currently know of: 3 of space, and one of time. Space contains time, much like a bucket. Time exists as a result of causality, that is to say, it exists because events happen in space. Time gives these events order, which is irreversible.

So with that definition, it is clear that time does exist, as a result of things happening in space.

if you could put every single molecure and atom back exactly to the roman times - yes we would have the roman times

But what you're suggesting is absolutely impossible. Are you aware of the arrow of time, the reason why many don't believe time travel is possible? I can't be bothered to explain it now, but just look it up. The atoms required have long since been transferred to some other structure.

Using arguments that are absolutely impossible and not applicable to the current universe do not help your case. Please stay relevant and within the laws of physics for now.

I think you may be a little confused between time and the measurement of time. One could definitely argue that the measurement of time is an illusion of sorts. But not time itself.

Side: Time is real
1 point

Time is better understood as the increase in entropy in a given system. Sean Carroll (an astrophysicist at Caltech) describes the flow of time here: http://www.ted.com/talks/sean_carroll_on_the_arrow_of_time.html

Side: Time is real
1 point

Diverse thinkers from ancient times have said and believed that time is an illusion. But I personally believe and think that time is not only real but it is actually the only aspect of reality that we experience directly.

Supporting Evidence: Water Leak Detection (www.allkarepropertydryingout.co.uk)
Side: Time is real
1 point

The linear flow of time might be an illusion. Time might not be a line at all (maybe a mesh intertwined with space as both have separation abilities :) ) . So yes, the passing of time is an illusion. But time is real. If it wasn't everything would be 'now'. The fact that you are reading this word now and this word now means you are in fact at two different 'time places'. Given the current reality and the perceptive capacity of our brain, time is real.

Side: Time is real
1 point

time has to be real.

have you ever been excited for something happening the next day and lied in bed for hours thinking about it hoping it would happen NOW. no matter what, you had to wait the hours until the event happened. time holds us back. i do however think time travel can never be a reality. i think if we weren't locked in time we could travel through it. could be wrong tho. i try to research physics since i want to be a theoretical physicist but wikipedia is hard to understand!

Side: Time is real