My dad used to say if you want a serious problem to solve, find one that no one has yet solved. Knowing now that the best minds work on the hardest problems, these unsolved or open problems must be difficult. In this short piece, we talk about time, its elusive meaning, and its close cousin of order.
The God Problem. Is there or isn't there? Those that believe do believe on faith, an inner sense of knowing. Those that don't mostly believe it is only a matter of time and the endeavors of science to solve there is no God. But suppose such a solution is offered? The universe is this way or that... But who made the universe is the next level. But suppose the universe is this way or that? Then how were the laws created? And when this is resolved, how did the laws come into place? In short, what ever is resolved, the next question is "Why's that? Who did that?" The God Problem is one of infinite regression for the scientist, but solvable by act of faith alone. And this at both extremes.
Well then...
What is the Universe? The answer seems simple. Everything that is. But if we ask what is a dog, the answer will be incomplete until we know how it comes to be and how it ends. For the universe, there is a current compelling theory about the origin. Big Bang. Prior to this there was mass, maybe there were forces (gravity is essential) but no time. Before time, then boom. The universe is; time is. Again, the "instant-before-boom" if that has any meaning has no meaning or understanding. It is difficult to consider the existence of anything without time. So, we accept the boom on the basis of faith and the predictability of events following it, though accepted information ebbs and flows.
Well then...
What is time? What can one say except that we live by faith that time is. No one explains it, mostly because the alternative is beyond anyone's comprehension - at least mine. It is often mentioned that prior to the "big-bang" there was no time. The infinite or infinitesimal entity, which became the universe or multi-verse simply existed without time. But existence without a time dimension is inconceivable. So much of our thinking involves the concept of origin, and this is concomitant with time. This gives a new foundational question resulting in a paradox. "How did the clock begin?" Every argument or proof you know or believe involves steps of progression. This implies a sequence and its expression involves time.
Yet, even the theorems of Euclid exist without time while proving them does. Regressing further back, we note that postulates and axioms must precede theorems. So, if one claims the proof requires no time element, there is the necessity that the axioms precede it, and this implies a type of time. Please note that geometry exists without the universe, yet with order, but paradoxically not without time. You cannot establish even the first proposition in Euclid without priors!
Dependency is another of the foundational properties of our world. Dependency implies a regression of reason, and this in turn implies time. Another is the concept of the "Unmoved Mover" which implies an origin of motion and this implies a type of time. In fact, four of the five "proofs" of God's existence according to Thomas Aquinas involve order and hence time.
Well then...
Can you define order without time? Or is the default option that order creates time but without a clock? This is shaky ground, to use order to define time - and then without a clock.
Well then...
This brings the discussion back to faith and that is what you believe without clear understanding. What is faith? Or... Why is faith? This is something of a capacity of the mind. Perhaps it is a channel to a deeper connection with the Universe - in the large. It seems to be a human capacity. Books are written on why or why not. Lots of books. A popular topic, and one that many believe to understand.
Well then,
What is the mind and how does it function in the brain? Or is it the brain? Or are they dual entities? Or are the multiple minds and brains all inside the same person? Again, there are theories, and good ones, but there is still nothing close to making any of the ideas into a predictable science.
As long as there are mixed, conflicting answers to a question, with no sign of convergence, the problem is unsolved. The longer it has been about, the more difficult it becomes. All of these problems have been about from the beginning of history. All have remained intractable. All are open. In these cases the problem may be impossible.
The God Problem. Is there or isn't there? Those that believe do believe on faith, an inner sense of knowing. Those that don't mostly believe it is only a matter of time and the endeavors of science to solve there is no God. But suppose such a solution is offered? The universe is this way or that... But who made the universe is the next level. But suppose the universe is this way or that? Then how were the laws created? And when this is resolved, how did the laws come into place? In short, what ever is resolved, the next question is "Why's that? Who did that?" The God Problem is one of infinite regression for the scientist, but solvable by act of faith alone. And this at both extremes.
Well then...
What is the Universe? The answer seems simple. Everything that is. But if we ask what is a dog, the answer will be incomplete until we know how it comes to be and how it ends. For the universe, there is a current compelling theory about the origin. Big Bang. Prior to this there was mass, maybe there were forces (gravity is essential) but no time. Before time, then boom. The universe is; time is. Again, the "instant-before-boom" if that has any meaning has no meaning or understanding. It is difficult to consider the existence of anything without time. So, we accept the boom on the basis of faith and the predictability of events following it, though accepted information ebbs and flows.
Well then...
What is time? What can one say except that we live by faith that time is. No one explains it, mostly because the alternative is beyond anyone's comprehension - at least mine. It is often mentioned that prior to the "big-bang" there was no time. The infinite or infinitesimal entity, which became the universe or multi-verse simply existed without time. But existence without a time dimension is inconceivable. So much of our thinking involves the concept of origin, and this is concomitant with time. This gives a new foundational question resulting in a paradox. "How did the clock begin?" Every argument or proof you know or believe involves steps of progression. This implies a sequence and its expression involves time.
Yet, even the theorems of Euclid exist without time while proving them does. Regressing further back, we note that postulates and axioms must precede theorems. So, if one claims the proof requires no time element, there is the necessity that the axioms precede it, and this implies a type of time. Please note that geometry exists without the universe, yet with order, but paradoxically not without time. You cannot establish even the first proposition in Euclid without priors!
Dependency is another of the foundational properties of our world. Dependency implies a regression of reason, and this in turn implies time. Another is the concept of the "Unmoved Mover" which implies an origin of motion and this implies a type of time. In fact, four of the five "proofs" of God's existence according to Thomas Aquinas involve order and hence time.
Well then...
Can you define order without time? Or is the default option that order creates time but without a clock? This is shaky ground, to use order to define time - and then without a clock.
Well then...
This brings the discussion back to faith and that is what you believe without clear understanding. What is faith? Or... Why is faith? This is something of a capacity of the mind. Perhaps it is a channel to a deeper connection with the Universe - in the large. It seems to be a human capacity. Books are written on why or why not. Lots of books. A popular topic, and one that many believe to understand.
Well then,
What is the mind and how does it function in the brain? Or is it the brain? Or are they dual entities? Or are the multiple minds and brains all inside the same person? Again, there are theories, and good ones, but there is still nothing close to making any of the ideas into a predictable science.
As long as there are mixed, conflicting answers to a question, with no sign of convergence, the problem is unsolved. The longer it has been about, the more difficult it becomes. All of these problems have been about from the beginning of history. All have remained intractable. All are open. In these cases the problem may be impossible.
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