Listen to this article4TH DIMENSION
TIME ON PLANET EARTH
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ABSOLUTE TIME
What is time? More importantly, what are you going to do with the time that you have on Earth during your relatively brief span of life? Perhaps one of the most discomforting aspect of time is the fact that eventually time stops for all living things. All living things on Earth eventually must die. Life on Earth is so grand until it is downright sad to contemplate that everyone's life must come to an end one day. Why must there be death? For starters, Earth quickly would become overcrowded and uninhabitable if nothing ever died as new life forms were born.
The Tree of Life
Almost everyone wants to live forever. Sadly to say, as the following videos illustrate, there is a limit to the amount of time that each life form has to exist. Life on Earth does not continue forever. That is to say, based on the different life spans of living things, some life forms have a little more and a little less time on Earth than others. The human span of life (in the developed world) presently stands at roughly 75 to 80 years of animate being.
Many religious faiths believe that death is only temporary. Many religious faiths believe that immortality exists in life after death or in the afterlife. For instance, the pharaohs of ancient Egypt made elaborate burial preparations for entry into the afterlife.
TIMESCALE
What is time? Most would agree that time is one of those things in life that nobody ever seems to have quite enough of it. Humans typically view time as a unit of measurement. These measurement units include seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, decades, centuries, and millennia. One of the most basic ways humans keep track of time is with a watch or clock. The following video and table illustrate the basic components of time as measurement units.
| Time | Equivalent |
|---|---|
| Base Unit | 1 second |
| 60 seconds | 1 minute |
| 60 minutes | 1 hour |
| 24 hours | 1 day |
| 7 days | 1 week |
| 52 weeks | 1 year |
| 10 years | 1 decade |
| 10 decades | 1 century |
| 10 centuries | 1 millennium |
| megaannum | 1 million years |
| epoch | millions of years |
| period | a number of epochs |
| era | a number of periods |
| eon | a number of eras |
| gigaanum | 1 billion years |
| teraanum | 1 trillion years |
| petaanum | 1 quadrillion years |
| exaanum | 1 quintillion years |
| zettaanum | 1 sextillion years |
| yottaanum | 1 septillion years |
Another important measure of time is its relation to speed and distance. In two dimensions, the relationship between time, distance, and (rate of) speed is represented as follows:
- t = d ÷ r, or Time (Hours) = Distance (Total Miles or Kilometers) ÷ Rate of Speed (Miles or Kilometers Per Hour)
- r = d ÷ t, or Rate of Speed = Distance ÷ Time
- d = r × t, or Distance = Rate of Speed × Time
The following link provides a video illustration of the relationship between time, distance, and speed.
The website calculator.net, among other online calculations, provides a time calculator for performing time-related computations. For those who are sticklers for time, perhaps web applications such as web2Project, Evernote, Chandler, Toodledo, and PBworks would be helpful in assisting you to keep track of time and to stay organized.
THE MEANING OF TIME
Scientists, among other interests, also have a unique perspective on the meaning of time. The following video represents the scientific view of time:
One of the more interesting views of time is the view presented by Albert Einstein. On the one hand, Sir Isaac Newton devoted most of his life to the study of inertia, motion, force, momentum, mass, velocity, acceleration, gravity, and the properties of light. On the other hand, Albert Einstein devoted most of his life to the study of motion, matter, energy, space, time, gravity, and the properties of light. At the dawn of the 21st century, physicists now have turned their attention to the study of things such as worm holes, strings, alternate Universes, multi-dimensional Universes, and so forth. The point, however, is this: Albert Einstein improved upon Sir Isaac Newton's work. Through particle physics, for instance, today's scientists are endeavoring to improve upon Albert Einstein's work.
Many humans do not realize that Albert Einstein's famous formula, E = mc², provided the basis for explaining how the Universe could have come into being without any Intelligent Design by God. When Albert Einstein demonstrated how matter and energy are interchangeable, it became easier for humans to understand how the known and observable Universe of today could have begun from nothing except pure energy. In other words, the primordial energy of Existence simply transformed itself into matter. This beginning-of-time theory is also known as the Big Bang. Again, Albert Einstein's famous equation does not explain precisely what banged or what caused it to bang nor does it explain the origins of the primordial energy that banged.
Most of those who are of a theological persuasion make a good argument. They argue that the known Universe is simply too amazing for it not to have been the result of Intelligent Design by God. They point to things such as the orderly operation of the Solar System, the complexity and miracle of life on Earth, the miracle of procreation, and so forth, and argue that nothing except Intelligent Design by God can explain these finely tuned realities.
It is not my intent here to engage in a debate over creation versus evolution. The subject of science versus religion is a very controversial one. Will this science-versus-religion controversy be resolved with the passage of time? Suffice it to say that Albert Einstein never said that God does not exist. Nobody on Earth really knows whether or not God exists, which is why the organized religions often are referred to as the great religious "faiths". The worshippers of religious faiths do not have any concrete or solid proof that God exists. They simply are resolute and unshakable in their "faith" or belief that God exists.
There is a fairly good chance that something exists out there in the vast Universe that would be equivalent to human conceptions of the mystical Entity known as God. But, much like the heretofore unseen space aliens on Earth, as far as I can tell, the appearance of God on Earth is yet to materialize. That is to say, as far as I can tell, God has not appeared on Earth in any type of indisputable, unmistakable, completely transparent or wide-open form for all humans of this day and age to witness together. For, as the saying goes, seeing is believing.
Up to this point in human existence, based on human accounts, God seems to have decided to appear on Earth only in secret and only in the presence of a select few humans. The faithful find these reportedly rare and secret appearances by God to be sufficient enough to sustain their faith in God's existence.
Speaking of science versus religion, it is deeply regrettable and very disturbing when humans begin to take their religious (and political) beliefs to the extreme by proceeding to harm and murder others with whom they disagree. Earth is a philosophical sphere. Earth is a planet of ideas. So long as humans exist, there always will be differences of opinions and beliefs. When it comes to devising solutions to societal problems or addressing societal issues, even the smartest humans often disagree with one another about the best way to proceed.
The challenge for humans is to voice their differences without recourse to violence. The essence of civilized living is to live in peace with all members of society. The rule of law is the glue that binds civilized society together. Government is the caretaker, legislator, moderator, and enforcer of the rule of law, which is why good government is crucial as opposed to, say, corrupt government or government preoccupied with greed for personal and selfish gain at society's expense. Members of civilized society normally petition the government for redress of various societal grievances. The main source of petitioning is through the process of holding peaceful, orderly, and fair elections.
THE FOURTH DIMENSION
Albert Einstein introduced humans to a new conception of time. It was a fourth dimension he called spacetime. Humans are very familiar with the three dimension of length, width, and height (or depth). Albert Einstein explained that a fourth dimension exists known as spacetime.
In addition to his most famous observation about the nature of gravity, Albert Einstein made three other important scientific observations. They were these:
- Nothing in the known Universe can travel faster than the speed of light.
- Much like water can be represented in many forms, for instance, in solid form (glaciers), in liquid form (oceans), and in gaseous form (clouds) but remains water (H2O), matter and energy are the same things, too.
- Space and time are relative phenomena. Albert Einstein revealed two properties to hold true throughout the Universe when an object with mass moves through space at the speed of light: (a) the property of Lorentz contraction, whereby, for a stationary observer of an object in motion, the object's length contracts as it approaches the speed of light; the object would contract to zero length at the speed of light and (b) the property of Time dilation, whereby, for an object with mass in motion, time slows down as the object approaches the speed of light; time would come to a complete stop for the object in motion if it reached the speed of light.
In other words, time is not the same thing everywhere but is relative to your frame of reference. As the following video illustrates, scientists often refer to the relativity of time as the twin paradox.
At the speed of light, time and space appear to converge.
THE ORIGINS OF TIME
Nobody can truly explain the origins of time. The scientific Big Bang theory offers one explanation for the origins of time. Religious doctrine about Divine creation of the Universe offers another explanation for the origins of time.
To be sure, while it is nothing more than pure speculation and conjecture on my behalf, as far as humans know, it could have been none other than God that did the banging of the Big Bang. In the process of banging, God would have transformed Itself into all facets of today's observable Universe. In such a scenario, everything in the known Universe would be a manifestation of God including life on Earth. In such a scenario, perhaps the Sun would be the most immediate and dominant manifestation of God that humans can reassuredly bear witness to and experience everyday. The Sun, after all, sustains all life on Earth, and it simultaneously holds the planets in orbit. The Sun is not a secret, and the Sun never leaves. Of course, the Sun also will incinerate you if you get too close to it, and the Sun will blind you if you watch it directly with the naked eye for a sustained period of time.
Life on Earth could not exist without the Sun. Earth would drift or float through cold, dark, empty space if the Sun suddenly disappeared (assuming, of course, that floating Earth would not be captured by the gravitational attraction of another heavenly body in space). In such a Universe-as-pieces-of-God scenario, humans could be viewed as children of the Sun and as citizens of the Universe. However, putting aside all speculation and conjecture and to more practically assess the situation, the bottom-line about Existence is this: At the present point in time, about the only thing humans can be assured of regarding the origins of origins is the fact that the Universe exists.
As far as I can tell, about the only thing that humans assuredly can rely on is each other as they make preparations for 22nd century living. Humans can learn a lot from the organization (division and specialization of labor), cohesiveness, devotion, and unity of ant society as humans make preparations for entrance into the 22nd century. Are humans, as a species and on a global scale, capable of displaying the same level of organization, cohesiveness, devotion, and unity as a single colony of ants? Time will tell.
The broader point is this: While humans may never discover the answer to the origins of origins or the origins of God, humans do know that they exist in the here and now. Humans have a good thing going on right here and now on Earth. Relative to the other planets in the Solar System and relative to the known Universe, Earth remains an oasis for life to exist. Earth remains a preserve for life to thrive. Earth teems with life.
Of course, not everything about Earth is heavenly. Not everthing about Earth is like paradise. Three downsides or negative aspects to life on Earth that come to mind are these:
- As I mentioned above, one unfortunate thing about life on Earth is the fact that all life has a certain duration. Death follows. Everyone and everything living eventually will die one day. For humans (living in the developed world), death as a result of natural causes usually occurs roughly after a human has lived for 75 or 80 years.
- One life form must kill and eat another life form in order to survive. In scientific terms, this process of killing for sustenance is known as the food chain. Humans, of course, are at the top of the food chain. Humans kill and eat everything at all levels of the food chain.
- Natural disasters often visit Earth. When natural disasters occur such as storms, earthquakes, floods, droughts, and so forth, there is much destruction, suffering, and loss of life.
Some would argue that the emergence of human beings is a fourth negative to life on Earth. The impact of humans on Earth has been so far reaching until some fear that humans, one day, will destroy the Earth's ecological equilibrium. Through the use of technology such as nuclear weapons, some fear that humans, one day, will destroy themselves and all life on Earth. Due to a preoccupation with things such as hatred, violence, crime, murder, and other acts of human atrocities towards one another, some fear that humans might never rise to their greatest heights.
The challenge for humans is constantly to strive to make life on Earth as much like paradise or Heaven as possible. The challenge for humans is to live up to their self-proclaimed designation as being very wise, that is, their Homo sapiens sapiens designation. The following videos illustrate the food chain and how, for some, life on Earth sometimes can be the complete opposite of paradise or Heaven.
I encourage humans to spend their 75 or so years of life on Earth in a constructive manner rather than in a counterproductive manner. I encourage humans to devote a small part of their lives to preserving Earth as an oasis for future generations of life to enjoy. I encourage humans to embrace peace, mutual respect, unity, knowledge, and wisdom as the ways forward for human survival. How fortunate it is for humans to participate in this grand thing known as life. It would be tragic indeed if the epitaph of humans one day were to read, "They came, they saw, they subdued, and they conquered themselves into extinction—and they had the nerves to call themselves wise."
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