Posted on 09/14/2009 4:04:35 AM PDT by decimon
Remember a little thing called the space-time continuum? Well what if the time part of the equation was literally running out? New evidence is suggesting that time is slowly disappearing from our universe, and will one day vanish completely. This radical new theory may explain a cosmological mystery that has baffled scientists for years.
Scientists previously have measured the light from distant exploding stars to show that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. They assumed that these supernovae are spreading apart faster as the universe ages. Physicists also assumed that a kind of anti-gravitational force must be driving the galaxies apart, and started to call this unidentified force "dark energy".
However, to this day no one actually knows what dark energy is, or where it comes from. Professor Jose Senovilla, and his colleagues at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain, have proposed a mind-bending alternative. They propose that there is no such thing as dark energy at all, and we’re looking at things backwards. Senovilla proposes that we have been fooled into thinking the expansion of the universe is accelerating, when in reality, time itself is slowing down. At an everyday level, the change would not be perceptible. However, it would be obvious from cosmic scale measurements tracking the course of the universe over billions of years. The change would be infinitesimally slow from a human perspective, but in terms of the vast perspective of cosmology, the study of ancient light from suns that shone billions of years ago, it could easily be measured
The team's proposal, which will be published in the journal Physical Review D, dismisses dark energy as fiction. Instead, Prof Senovilla says, the appearance of acceleration is caused by time itself gradually slowing down, like a clock with a run-down battery.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailygalaxy.com ...
I know time is disappearing from the universe! It’s been disappearing from my body for a long time!
Time keeps on slipping, slipping... into the future.
:-P
Oh stop it! You are making my brain itch;(
No kidding. The older I get, the faster it passes.
I think dark matter makes more sense than vanishing time. IMO.
All these guys with their PHD’s and assumptions are as blind as the moles that dig through the roots of my lawn looking for grubs.
How’s that for some Monday morning hiku... er... or what ever that meaningless babble some call poetry is...called.
I don’t know about the universe, but if we can’t get this Congress and this Administration the hell out of Washington, time is running out for the United States.
Logopolis will save us, by opening Charged Vacuum Emboitments...
I suspect some Hebrew Prophets might be able to give a little perspective...but i guess that’s not science right?
Paging Dr. Who.
Well, as Einstein showed, time is money, so ...
The quickening!
or time is a measurement of decay
We should use our rollover minutes...
Saving minutes saves money....
[help i can’t post a pic!]
With every Obama speech we lose precious centuries.
I’m surprised no one’s said it yet ...
“Bush’s fault!”
Well, if time is slowing down and the speed of light is constant, that must mean that distance is decreasing too.
Not dark matter but dark energy. Dark matter has been hypothesized because of the action of galaxies (count the stars and even the black holes to some extent, and it does not account for the effect of gravity (speed of star orbit in the galaxy). Most likely theory for dark matter is a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP). Something like a neutrino with more mass (or more frequency).
Dark energy comes out of Einstein’s contant for General Relativity. No one has a clue about it, but speculation is that it something like a remainder for quantum energy.
Everyone thinks cosmology is in great shape, but not understanding these two points and basically making something up to fit the observed facts means we have a very long way to go. Slowing of time is just another attempt.
The problem will be is that we are reaching the point where we cannot observe what we need to observe to account for these mysteries. That is no longer science.
Like sand through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives...
“I suspect some Hebrew Prophets might be able to give a little perspective...but i guess that’s not science right?”
;-)
Very good stuff this...
Actually this makes sense, a while back I read a theory that the speed of light could be slowing down which would throw off the whole space-time continuum thingy. If the speed of light is NOT constant and it is slowing down then time itself is not constant but is slowing down. I am a Christian so I start with a presupposition that God does exist. Science must follow from this. A secular-scientist must start with the presupposition that God does not exist so that whole Bible thing is just garbage. The hard-core creationists believe that the whole earth was created in six days, and approximately 6 thousand years ago. If the speed of light has not been constant but has been slowing down then this is at least conceivable. But the question is; how do you measure time if it is slowing down? How do you measure something that no human was around to experience?
correct.
We need a Time Czar!
Oh great. Just great. NOW how are we supposed to stune our beebers?
<img src="http://www.url_of_the_pic.jpg">
If time is a measurement of decay
and Democratic Socialism is decay,
then time is a measurement of Democratic Socialism.
Since time is running out, the end of Democratic Socialism draws near.
So we just attribute it to greedy American consumption, fly some kites and switch to some new kind of grocery bag, make political hay, show movies to scare school children and voila! Solved! Let’s jump on it first!!
That is as scientific as “Is your baby racist?” and man-made global warming.
does that have anything to do with the “barrier” on the other side of the Oort Cloud?
Perhaps, but it was nevertheless proven with geometric logic and just like the dark energy, I had them with the strawberries in the locker....;^)
The Bible speaks of God as being timeless; as being in the NOW! What we call past,present and future are all the same to him. Christ calls himself ALPHA and OMEGA, the first and last.
We live in a matter universe and our physical bodies are tied to its decay yet the most spiritual Christians among us often speak of a phenomena that as they mature, they feel time speeding up while their inner man feels constant. Paul stated the outer man perishes while our inner man is renewed day by day!
Christ admonishes us to live day by day and not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow has evil sufficient stored unto itself.
Perhaps for Christian scientists studying the concepts of time, they might start with a little apriori supposition of the Nowness of God and investigate outward from there. Yes a little heretical from a science view point but I suspect they’ll find that certain unified field theory questions are answered and even practical applications might spring forth from such an approach...
That would be a real laugher...practical applications springing forth from a field of inquiry that admittedly came from an Apriori concept of God being the Timeless Constant of all knowledge. Want to know a real shocker...most of our current advances have indeed sprung from such concepts!(we currently don’t like to admit it to ouselves)
lol
Some say that there is no such thing as NOW, it is just a fiction to keep the future from slamming into the past. ;)
LOL! Perhaps the term NOW, as it relates to this discussion should replaced with the term “IS”!
Says Time is DisappearingAh ha! I thought I'd merely *misplaced* my Franklin planner...
<img SRC="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/133702/rollover_mom.jpg>
Gives you:
I’m OK. In the future I will remember that everything happens all at once.
That is why we have d’eja vu.
[oh hurrah!]
Yay! Awww, shucks. You’re welcome.
This theory reminds me of a story from the early days of personal computers. A scam company sold an expensive PC expansion card that dramatically boosted a computer’s performance. All benchmarks improved and customers were happy. The only thing was it did not really boost performance, it only slowed the system’s timer chip down. More operations completed for the same measured time creating the illusion of a faster expanded computer.
So at 75 I didn't know this for a fact already?!
Sheesh....Freedom & Liberty are disappearing too! Let's hurry up and get the revolution started....
The goal of the "new" theory has to be our goal.
Finally a cosmology that can explain why time flies.
(No time left for you) On my way to better things
(No time left for you) I found myself some wings
(No time left for you) Distant roads are callin’ me
(No time left for you) Da-un-da-un-da-un-da-un-da
In billions of years, time would cease to be time altogether.But as time slows down, we'll never actually reach the point where it stops. Our approach towards the Stoppage of Time will make an asymptotic curve.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.