Science Fact #6289: The number of "Striker_"s tagged on a post have a negative relationship with the average satisfaction regarding the post of all who have commented, if the relationship were graphed.
Physics Question of the Day #1:
If I have two objects of equal surface area but one has greater mass and I drop them through air so that at least one of them reaches terminal velocity, which one will hit the ground first if they are dropped simultaneously?
Men and women clearly distinguish between past and future. A sense of time is, however, not unique to humans or even animals. Organisms often have a kind of "internal clock," like plants which turn one way during the day and another at night. Time is an objective expression of the changing state of matter. This is revealed even by the way we talk about it. It is common to say that time "flows."
In fact, only material fluids can flow. The very choice of metaphor shows that time is inseparable from matter. It is not only a subjective thing. It is the way we express an actual process that exists in the physical world. Time is thus just an expression of the fact that all matter exists in a state of constant change.
A sense of rhythm underlies everything: the heart-beat of a human, the rhythms of speech, the movement of the stars and planets, the rise and fall of the tides, the alternations of the seasons. These are deeply engraved upon the human consciousness, not as arbitrary imaginings, but as real phenomena expressing a profound truth about the universe. Here human intuition is not in error.
Time is a way of expressing change of state and motion which are inseparable features of matter in all its forms. In language we have tense, future, present and past. This colossal conquest of the mind enabled humankind to free itself from the slavery of the moment, to rise above the concrete situation and be "present," not just in the here and now, but in the past and the future, at least in the mind.
Time and movement are inseparable concepts. They are essential to all life and all knowledge of the world, including every manifestation of thought and imagination. Measurement, the corner-stone of all science, would be impossible without time and space. Music and dance are based upon time.
Art itself attempts to convey a sense of time and movement, which are present not just in representations of physical energy, but in design. The colours, shapes and lines of a painting guide the eye across the surface in a particular rhythm and tempo. This is what gives rise to the particular mood, idea and emotion conveyed by the work of art.
Timelessness is a word that is often used to describe works of art, but really expresses the opposite of what is intended. We cannot conceive of the absence of time, since time is present in everything.
There is a difference between time and space. Space can also express change, as change of position. Matter exists and moves through space. But the number of ways that this can occur is infinite: forward, backward, up or down, to any degree.
Movement in space is reversible. Movement in time is irreversible. They are two different (and indeed contradictory) ways of expressing the same fundamental property of matter—change. This is the only Absolute that exists.
Space is the "otherness" of matter, to use Hegel’s terminology, whereas time is the process whereby matter (and energy, which is the same thing) constantly changes into something other than what it is. Time—"the fire in which we are all consumed"—is commonly seen as a destructive agent.
But it is equally the expression of a permanent process of self-creation, whereby matter is constantly transformed into and endless number of forms. This process can be seen quite clearly in non-organic matter, above all at the subatomic level.
The notion of change, as expressed in the passing of time, deeply permeates human consciousness. It is the basis of the tragic element in literature, the feeling of sadness at the passing of life, which reaches its most beautiful expression in the sonnets of Shakespeare, like this one which vividly conveys a sense of the restless movement of time:
Like as the waves make toward the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forward do contend
The irreversibility of time does not only exist for living beings. Not only humans, but stars and galaxies are born and perish. Changes affects all, but not only in a negative way. Alongside death there is life, and order arises spontaneously out of chaos. The two sides of the contradiction are inseparable. Without death, life itself would be impossible.
Mortals understand that as finite beings their lives must end in death. As the Book of Job reminds us: "Man that is born of woman is of a few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not." (29) Animals do not fear death in the same way because they have no knowledge of it.
Human beings have attempted to escape their destiny by establishing a privileged communion with an imaginary supernatural existence after death. The idea of everlasting life is present in almost all religions in one form or another.
It is the motive-force behind the egotistical thirsting for an imaginary immortality in a non-existent Heaven, which is supposed to provide a consolation for the "Vale of Tears" on this sinful earth. Thus, for countless centuries men and women have been taught to submit meekly to suffering and privation on earth in expectation of a life of happiness—once they are dead.
@Iosif_Stalin, I hate to break your intelligent essay, but I posted 1 thing about absolutes from a philosophical point of view, not a scientific one. I was talking about moral absolutes, and was just randomly posting something, not trying to be intelligent. ;V
It is not my own essay; it is copy and paste. For me to rewrite this all into my own words, it would take a much deeper understanding of it. Also, what I am posting about is about the Theory of Relativity as well as Dialectical Materialism (which is based in both Philosophy, Science, and observation).
The search for a Moral Absolute is also, in my own view, futile, since morality is an illusion created by the mind, with each person having his own morality. With each person having a different perception of morality, it can be impossible to argue to find an Absolute in morality as well as an Absolute that there is no Absolutes, since all moralities may yet be connected by something that we have yet to discover.
As far as I know, there must be at least one Absolute in the universe (which could also be applied to an individual field that one is thinking about). An Absolute that there is no Absolutes is a very unlikely Absolute since there always seems to be one thing true of everything (in a particular area).
Besides, the universe cares not of your morality. It cares not for your deeds. When you pass away, time will pave the pathway forward without you. It will pave over whatever you have done, leaving no trace of your beliefs, deeds, and existence.
Sounds like hardcore relativism except that you said this, which I find interesting.
"it can be impossible to argue to find an Absolute in morality as well as an Absolute that there is no Absolutes, since all moralities may yet be connected by something that we have yet to discover."
So, it's futile to try to look for a moral absolute, yet it's equally futile to assume that there are no absolutes? Interesting...
But how are we going to discover whatever it is that we have yet to discover without looking for it? I know you're a science guy, and if there is something we have yet to discover, I would assume that you would be all over it. :V
Well, I believe that there is and only could be 1 Absolute in every field that is being questioned or observed. As I said before, the Absolute of Matter is quite likely well realized.
"Movement in space is reversible. Movement in time is irreversible. They are two different (and indeed contradictory) ways of expressing the same fundamental property of matter—change. This is the only Absolute that exists."
The reason why I said finding the Moral Absolute, whatever it may be, is futile is because in terms of everything else (existence, matter, etc.), morality means absolutely nothing. However, to us, this Absolute of Morality may mean everything. A meaning to life even.
As I said before: "Besides, the universe cares not of your morality. It cares not for your deeds. When you pass away, time will pave the pathway forward without you. It will pave over whatever you have done, leaving no trace of your beliefs, deeds, and existence."
I also proposed a possible Moral Absolute before as well. It goes: "For example, an Absolute within the field of morality may be the Absolute that every morality held by every person is, at least to them, correct."
However, to find a proper Absolute in every subject, I genuinely believe it needs a proper Scientific, Dialectical, and Materialist examination. For example, the Absolute in Morality may be something that determines that our Morality is just a product of our mind trying to give reason to life. Perhaps something else.
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