G+_George Kozi Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Originally shared by George Kozi Passing thought... because light has a speed, it takes time to move from paint A to point B. If the photons happen to fall on the receptive cells on the retina, they generate signals that travel to the brain, where they have to be interpreted. That also takes time. So... surprisingly... we can never see the present. We are ALWAYS looking into the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_George Kozi Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 probably... but suddenly an asymptote springs to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Dave Trautman Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 George Kozi – the entire sky is a picture of the past. You left out the speed of brain processing for interpreting and categorizing what we are seeing. Not just the speed of synapses, but the speed of associative thought. It is well known where people in a Catatonic state are actually perceiving time differently than the rest of us. For them everything appears slower because their perception of it is faster. It was a key insight into their treatment. I would also include the question of time being a byproduct of space. This was postulated by Mr. Einstein when considering the "shape" of the universe. The bending of space produces time as a byproduct. When space becomes perfectly linear then time disappears. The problem here is how mass and speed seem to coexist along a continuum and we have to lose all our mass to travel at light speed. At that speed time becomes irrelevant. The photons your eye is perceiving have no inherent structure. They are just light and colour arriving on your retina. We all construct reality out of those impressions and operate in that environment through trial & error learning associations. Whatever we think of as now is a mental construct and can be altered by our thoughts or be persuaded by other people's thoughts. Think the movie "Inception" here. Also, what we think of as solid is also a perceptual construct – but that's another diversion for another day. The universe does not yet seem to indicate any kind of now from any of the evidence science is able to gather. Even the notion of time passing is a construct and may not turn out to be the case. Just adding to your musings with a few of my own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_George Kozi Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 most people know that when they are looking at the starry sky, they see the past... I'm not sure how many realize that the same thing is true when they are looking into the bathroom mirror. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Dave Trautman Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 My past is written all over my face. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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