Is Time Tangible?

[Turboyoshi]

Given the definition of tangible from Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Main Entry: tan·gi·ble
Pronunciation: 'tan-ji-bul
Function: adjective
Etymology: Late Latin tangibilis, from Latin tangere to touch
1 a : capable of being perceived especially by the sense of touch : PALPABLE b : substantially real : MATERIAL
2 : capable of being precisely identified or realized by the mind <her grief was tangible>
3 : capable of being appraised at an actual or approximate value <tangible assets>
synonym see PERCEPTIBLE
- tan·gi·bil·i·ty /"tan-ji-'bi-li-tE/ noun
- tan·gi·ble·ness /'tan-ji-bil-nes/ noun
- tan·gi·bly /-blE/ adverb

Discuss.

I currently believe that Time is tangible, but i will give my reasons later as the discussion progresses, (I hope :P)

[Verruckter]

Actually, no. Time does not really exist. It's just a concept invented to describe what has happened "before" and what will happen "after". Time is nothing more than a simple analogy that explains why we can't undo things that have already been done.

[Turboyoshi]

We can feel the effects of time, can we not? As we age, do we not feel that we are getting older, and also, one can sort of sense as time goes by. For Example, if one is doing something they enjoy, they feel that time has gone faster.

[slipstrike0159]

Just because you can feel the effects of something doesnt mean you can feel the thing itself. Say you had cancer, you dont FEEL it directly, you feel the things that it causes.

[ledwix]

Time isn't very tangible. It does exist, though. We see its effects and know it's there. Time is actually partially an invention and partially an observed phenomena. It's kind of a concept of continuous existence.

Clocks are able to ticket very precisely at one-second intervals. If time didn't exist, clocks would have no fixed intervals of ticking, because there would be no way to measure how precise the ticks were. There would be no purpose, either. The way in which we measure how precise or accurate something is, or how long something occurs, is called time. It does exist from this logical standpoint. That is because it is being defined as a concept.

We can sort of conclude from this that time is traveling at a constant speed. We never see it adjust under every-day conditions. This makes it hard for some people to determine whether or not it exists or is a mere description of continuum invented by us. According to Briane Greene's "The Elegant Universe" book, we would have to watch objects move at ridiculously fast speeds (about 0.9 times lightspeed) to observe any difference in the speed of time's flow. We can't do that now. eh?

[slipstrike0159]

Originally Posted by ledwix

Time isn't very tangible. It does exist, though. We see its effects and know it's there. Time is actually partially an invention and partially an observed phenomena. It's kind of a concept of continuous existence.

Clocks are able to ticket very precisely at one-second intervals. If time didn't exist, clocks would have no fixed intervals of ticking, because there would be no way to measure how precise the ticks were. There would be no purpose, either. The way in which we measure how precise or accurate something is, or how long something occurs, is called time. It does exist from this logical standpoint. That is because it is being defined as a concept.

Uhm... clocks are only percise because we say they are. They dont just tick on their own you know... Years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, etc. were concepts developed by man to explain when a specific event happened in relation to another one.
Time is relative to the spin of the planet you are on, so if you lived on say mars for your whole life you wouldnt think time is faster there because to you that is how fast things move.

[simulater10]

slipstrike, what you said sounds too right (lol!) i agree with you 100%

--simulater

[Cavernio]

Slipstrike: what you say makes sense, but with the logic you're using, I can just as easily say that matter is not tangible also, or ANYTHING isn't tangible, so unless you agree with that, (and I don't think you do), then your argument doesn't make any sense.

[Kekiz]

Originally Posted by Turboyoshi

We can feel the effects of time, can we not? As we age, do we not feel that we are getting older, and also, one can sort of sense as time goes by. For Example, if one is doing something they enjoy, they feel that time has gone faster.

You feel the effects of dieing. Not time. Time does not exist it is just a concept QQ moar.

[Reach]

It depends on how you define it.

Time is like intelligence. There has not been a universally accepted definition of it yet.

[chickendude]

you can't really use dictionary definitions and try to think of time from a scientific standpoint

defining time is something that is difficult to do
therefore, talking about the tangibility of time is something you can't do until you have defined time.

With various different definitions of time and tangibility, you will get different answers to this question.

[Varia]

Yeah, time doesn't really exist. It's more of a concept created by humans to place benchmarks in history.

[foolishwun]

if time isn't tangible then neither is empty space. because there both just dimensions