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A Peculiar Questi
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A Peculiar Questi
A Peculiar Question
So, I kind of like thinking about odd things, and I realize this is similar to Gared's statement in CaC, but I still posted this. So... time. It's a thing we all know and "love" I guess. It's a measurement of one's life, the days, how many times we rotate around the sun, history, age, music, everything. Everything revolves around time itself.
Yet, humans created time, no? Or at least, what we say, the definition of it. If we, as people, never messed with time, how would that change us today? Time would still exist, but the measurement of time would not. It would just... be.
So explain to me, how does our naming and measuring of time affect us psychologically? It must mess with our heads in a way, that's why we get so confused when thinking about something we supposedly "created". Which is why we didn't create time. Everyone has their own beliefs on how time came to be. But not bringing religion into this, humans named and measured time.
Basically, restating the question, does our naming and measuring of time affect us and our brains? Did it change the way we think and work, process information? Or did it not affect humans at all? Also, does this change our environment, possibly even create illnesses such as depression, for we created a measurement that goes down, ending our lives when we get old? If we never named time, would we be happier beings?
That's a lot to think about, so what do you say?
submitted by Ashlee G., age 15, The Future
(January 2, 2017 - 6:20 pm)
(January 2, 2017 - 6:20 pm)
That's an interesting question! My views on time is like, say... well, I'll just try to explain my views on it. Time, no matter what humans do, exists and will continue to exist. If we name it and count it, all the better for us. But it still doesn't change. To me, I think of it as like how humans name animals. Sure, what used to be some ordinary creature is now called, named, recognized as a cat, but that doesn't change it. It'll keep being what it is.
As for how the measurement and awareness of time affects us psychologically, I can say that while it has done terrible things like some forms of depression, fear, and other things, it has definitely affected lots of things for the better. For example, how would civilization exist if humans had no way of charting things? Or how would we ever develop and count things like technology, or launch rockets into space without knowing how long to hold the button, how long to fire the engines, how long to let something lie? It would certainly be hard for us to know how long to wait, or when to arrive and leave, and while it may put stress and deadliens on things, how else would we know when to make something happen? Or would we just wait around, being unaware of how much time is passing and how much we might be wasting?
(January 2, 2017 - 8:37 pm)
What you say does make perfect sense, and part of me was thinking that as well. Because time is so much more than just life, it's the essence of everything. So yes, without our measuring of time, we would be lost. Yet, as you also stated, the naming of time does not affect us. At least, not in my opinion. That part reminds me of Romeo and Juliet with the "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". Sadly, everything has a good and bad. Measuring time has created depression, fear, etc. yet we need it to survive. It's kind of ironic, if you think about it.
(January 2, 2017 - 11:41 pm)
One could say all the same things about distance. :)
I live in Rhode Island, where going across the bay - say, from Warwick to Newport - is a "long trip": read "maybe forty-five minutes." I have relatives in Virginia who treat the same length of trip as nothing.
Mostly, I think we're affected by our perception of time, which in turn is affected by how we measure it objectively... but do we have to be bound by either one?
;P
(January 3, 2017 - 11:10 am)
True, distance is the same way. I live in rural Washington where going a small town over takes 30ish minutes, a bigger town 45 minutes, and a major town over an hour. But to us, the drive is nothing.
So I agree there, it falls more into the perspective of time, not time itself. As for your question, I don't know. Some will say yes, we should be bound to it, but others not. It's odd to tink about :D
(January 3, 2017 - 12:31 pm)
I think of time not in seconds, minutes, and hours, but in passing itself, in history, and in eternity. I believe that time has always been existing. Time is so hard to put into words--it's always there, but how, I don't know. It just is. It may or may not exist. It never started, and it will never end. It twists my mind in strange directions. I like to think about it but I always reach the same, indescribable conclusions.
(January 3, 2017 - 11:32 pm)
I am the same way, that's why I have all these questions. I don't think time is meant to be dwelt on by humans. Yet we still do, why? Because humans are naturally curious beings. And I also do think time just is, and it's our dwelling on how time is that creates a problem. Like I said, time isn't to be thought of safely.
(January 4, 2017 - 1:00 am)
If we count and record time, we can celebrate it and make the most of it!
Oh, that's a really ravenclaw position to make...
(January 5, 2017 - 4:56 pm)
So true! Just curious, are you Ravenclaw? I'm Gryffindor, but when I first took the Pottermore test I swore it said I was Hufflepuff. I must have changed a lot... O.o I'm confused.
(January 5, 2017 - 10:14 pm)