[freedom9]

"Our attempts to measure time are arbitrary, as a "second" is no more a universal constant than is a meter. But the flow of time is a consequence of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, as entropy would have no meaning if time was a human "invention" or simple product of human observation.

(No argument).

"Second, the motion of any body within a uniform gravitational field can be best described as that path that takes the longest proper time, or, from another perspective, an object in a gravitational field always moves from one place to another so that a clock carried on it gives a longer time than it would on any other possible trajectory. So regardless of any units you use to measure it, time does have a real existance outside of observation, because it directly effects the behavior of systems without any observation necessary (the planets falling towards an unknown sun behave differently than an object in the Earth's gravitational field, regardless of whether anyone "measures" anything.

(You describe gravitational effect upon matter, or interaction of material objects. Time is not active, it's passive.)

"Your declaration might have been true if time was a constant, but, like all physical quantities, it is variable. Electricity is not simply a "measurement," even though the units we use to measure electricity are arbitrary and our measurements usually are only of a difference in electrical potential (just like time is measured in differences). Read up on space-time theory and relativity theory and you will see that you are quite mistaken. Time is a quality all its own...

Time is nothing more than measurement of abritrary events, the movement of a second hand from 1 to 10, the duration of one event to another.
(Time is relative only to speed thereby displaying varying effects due to the speed or state of the observer.
The falling tree still makes noise if there is none to hear. And time is not affected by lack of observation.)

[kcar]

"Time is nothing more than measurement of abritrary events, the movement of a second hand from 1 to 10, the duration of one event to another."

I KNEW it. I AM due overtime! Class action to follow.

[MHGinTN]

When photons reach our receiver from a distant star, do they convey a 'moment' of the present state of the source from which they were emmitted?... Does that 'present' representation remain in stasis across the vast spatial expanse, arriving at the receiver to express the present of the source at emission?

[boris]

"Time is nothing more than measurement of abritrary events, the movement of a second hand from 1 to 10, the duration of one event to another."

How can you define time without appealing to time?

"Movement" implies change in time. In other words, the velocity of the second hand is the first derivative of position with respect to time. So defining time as a 'measurement of movement' is circular.

--Boris

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

You describe gravitational effect upon matter, or interaction of material objects. Time is not active, it's passive.

Is space "active" or "passive"? It' is a coordinate system, too. Think carefully, because space-time curves due to the presence of mass/gravity...

Besides, active or passive is a term you have invented to describe what ever it is you have in your head. Please describe the meaning of those two terms and the theoretical consequences of them. For example, how would I tell experimentally if I am dealing with an active or passive phenomenon? Is an electormagnetic field active or passive? Why?