[Beowulf9]

While general relativity (in the classical physics model) lets time be a variable—like the perception-dependent difference between time on Earth and time in space in stories like Interstellar—quantum physics requires it to be nailed down. That means instead of a dependent variable (something defined by an external property, like local gravity or an object’s distance from Earth), time must be independent, and there must be some way to measure it as such.

This may seem counterintuitive. After all, quantum mechanics is considered the newer version of things—the one that destabilizes the foundation of physics in order to be reconciled with the classical model. But time has a unique role in quantum systems. After all, everything in a particular time, defined in some objective way, is knitted together through quantum interactions until it forms a capture of the entire universe (if you zoom out enough).

In their paper, Coppo and his coauthors turn the Page and Wootters approach into a real concept for a clock. Within quantum physics, a clock isn’t much like the one you wear on your wrist or hang in your office—it’s anything that has a predictable and uniform behavior that can be used as a measurement. (For example, this 2021 Quanta article lists increasingly stinky garbage as a kind of clock!)

New Scientist explains that Page and Wootters wondered if our world is so quantumly entangled within itself that any visible passing of time is a symptom of entanglement. They also suggested that we ourselves are implicated in that entanglement just by seeing the passage of time—because someone outside of the entangled system would see it standing still. The “clock,” therefore, is the item within the entangled system that shows time passing.

It’s easy to see why this theory has stayed mostly abstract for over 40 years. To turn it into something with measurements based in real life observation, scientists took iconic physics equations and restricted them to conditions that match the Page and Wootters scenario. They considered two systems that are entangled but do not interact, where one system is a harmonic oscillator—like a quartz timing in a watch, or a pendulum.

Their solution may prove to be consistent within classical and quantum mechanics, because when enough particles are placed into each quantum system—when it reaches the threshold called “macroscopic,” based on mass—the systems align with classical physics as well.

That‘s a big deal—if our entire, very macroscopic world fits into this definition of time based on entanglement, it means everything around us is entangled. Things would need to be entangled almost by definition in order to be part of our observable world. And it would mean that anything we see where time passes (no matter how far away it is) is linked with us in a vital way.

[Red Badger]

Timeless Ping.......

[Bob434]

Time flies like an arrow- Fruit flies like a banana

[Bob434]

In the time it took me to read through that- i am 10 minutes older now, and no closer to an explanation of time

[vpintheak]

A bunch of weirdo naval-starers. They can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about this, but probably have an extremely difficult time living in tue real world.

[Chainmail]

Time is just part of the bars on our cage.

[mmichaels1970]

I think I need Michio Kaku to dumb this one down for me.

[Candor7]

I abgree with this idea.

[Olog-hai]

“… Do you realize that the past, starting from yesterday, has been actually abolished? If it survives anywhere, it’s in a few solid objects with no words attached to them, like that lump of glass there. Already we know almost literally nothing about the Revolution and the years before the Revolution. Every record has been destroyed or falsified; every book has been rewritten; every picture has been repainted; every statue and street and building has been renamed; every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right. …”

— 1984, p. 103: Winston to Julia

Looks like the “scientists” engaged in the screed in the OP think like the Party does, i.e. to devolve measuring time (which God ordained, per Genesis 1:14:15) into the “never-ending present” that allows the people in power to control the “masses”.

[DesertRhino]

You aren’t supposed to drink the bong water. Time is not an illusion. It does not speed up or slow down, and despite several hit TV shows and movies, you cannot travel into the past or future.

[Chode]

time is just something that keeps everything from happening all at once...

[libh8er]

Time is just a label attached to a configuration of matter in space. The labels are sequenced so it creates the impression time is flowing. But time doesn’t flow. Only matter does.

[grey_whiskers]

Phil Keaggy "Time"

[griffin]

Cool post! Thanks!
Bttt

[Ikeon]

“All we are is dust in the wind” - SOCRATES

[Gaffer]

Something tells me the primary investigation mechanism for this study is marijuana or the like.

[MayflowerMadam]

Maybe it’s an illusion, but apparently God has bought into it. The concept of time is strewn throughout the Bible.

Maybe scientists should do something worthwhile like gazing and evaluating their belly buttons.

[alexander_busek]

"Time is the fire in which we burn."

Regards,

[Wuli]

Time is not a thing, it’s an observation.

[dfwgator]

Time isn’t holding up, time isn’t after us
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was

[Colorado Doug]

I already read this story next year.