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Does the present actually exist?

Dittohead not!

Dittohead not!

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We live in the present time, or do we? What is the present? Think about it: One nanosecond ago is the past. A nanosecond from now is still the future. The present actually has no time dimension at all.

So, all of time is actually either past or future.

The present, then, doesn't really exist except as an intellectual construct, right?
 
No. Even if the present is just this moment it still exists.
 
Dittohead not! said:
We live in the present time, or do we? What is the present? Think about it: One nanosecond ago is the past. A nanosecond from now is still the future. The present actually has no time dimension at all.

So, all of time is actually either past or future.

The present, then, doesn't really exist except as an intellectual construct, right?
Click to expand...

I get where you are going with this, but on a practical level I think most of us think of the present as a period of time where any contiguous activity were involved in happens. If I'm in an hour long meeting, I think of the entire event, abstractly, to be in my present. When I leave and get lunch, conceptually it's in the past.

Having said that, without trying to sound snarky, besides just musing over the idea, is there any relevant reason why it matters?
 
Dittohead not! said:
We live in the present time, or do we? What is the present? Think about it: One nanosecond ago is the past. A nanosecond from now is still the future. The present actually has no time dimension at all.

So, all of time is actually either past or future.

The present, then, doesn't really exist except as an intellectual construct, right?
Click to expand...

You could make the same argument for any integer number. One fraction above and below 1 is not 1. But that does not mean that 1 does not exist. Observation can demonstrate to us what 1 as a number is.
(And never mind that 0.9999... is equal to 1.)

I'd also add that we perceive life with a delay. It takes 10 milliseconds to process auditory stimuli and 30-40 milliseconds to process visual stimuli. Meaning that a nanosecond in the past is still milliseconds away from our brain's awareness, and a few tenths of a second from the reaction to the stimuli.
 
Dittohead not! said:
We live in the present time, or do we? What is the present? Think about it: One nanosecond ago is the past. A nanosecond from now is still the future. The present actually has no time dimension at all.

So, all of time is actually either past or future.

The present, then, doesn't really exist except as an intellectual construct, right?
Click to expand...

I will discuss this with you tomorrow.
 
 
Dittohead not! said:
We live in the present time, or do we? What is the present? Think about it: One nanosecond ago is the past. A nanosecond from now is still the future. The present actually has no time dimension at all.

So, all of time is actually either past or future.

The present, then, doesn't really exist except as an intellectual construct, right?
Click to expand...

Well, you are right that we don't make our perceptions in the present. Our consciousness does not live in the present, it is delayed by the speed of incoming information and the speed in which that information is finally understood by your brain.

Our body lives in the "present", but our mind does not.

Also since time is relative, it's really difficult to really determine what "present" actually means.... each and every atom is living in it's own timeline, different from every other atoms timeline, unless the atoms are occupying the same space and speed relative to each other. The speed of light governs the "Present", it means that no two timelines from any individual atom, or a human for that matter, can communicate to each other faster than it.
Essentially, we all have our own individual present, and no two presents are the same unless it occupies the same space and speed

so finally, yes the "present" exists, but it is not a universal present... but just your own
 
csbrown28 said:
I get where you are going with this, but on a practical level I think most of us think of the present as a period of time where any contiguous activity were involved in happens. If I'm in an hour long meeting, I think of the entire event, abstractly, to be in my present. When I leave and get lunch, conceptually it's in the past.

Having said that, without trying to sound snarky, besides just musing over the idea, is there any relevant reason why it matters?
Click to expand...

Of course there is a relevant reason... if you want to understand the fundamentals of our universe, and then, as a result, exploiting those Known realities for our own well being and convenience.
 
Dittohead not! said:
We live in the present time, or do we? What is the present? Think about it: One nanosecond ago is the past. A nanosecond from now is still the future. The present actually has no time dimension at all.

So, all of time is actually either past or future.

The present, then, doesn't really exist except as an intellectual construct, right?
Click to expand...

The present is, when the oxygen reacts with the carbon, I guess.
 
Does the present actually exist?
Click to expand...

in a way, the present is the only time that exists, even though it exists for an almost immeasurably short amount of time.
 
celticwar17 said:
Of course there is a relevant reason... if you want to understand the fundamentals of our universe, and then, as a result, exploiting those Known realities for our own well being and convenience.
Click to expand...

Ok, I understand that, I guess what I'm asking is, how does the question he's posing actually accomplish that? For example, what f there is no present, only past and future, how does knowing that change anything? Again, not trying to be snarky, I'm genuinely interested is there is something specific he was asking, or if this was just a conversation starter?
 
We are aware that the present exists right now. There are various short term and working memory theories that support this claim.
 
Dittohead not! said:
We live in the present time, or do we? What is the present? Think about it: One nanosecond ago is the past. A nanosecond from now is still the future. The present actually has no time dimension at all.

So, all of time is actually either past or future.

The present, then, doesn't really exist except as an intellectual construct, right?
Click to expand...

Ah, my dear man....relativity....

First, "time" is an invention of man because someone figured out we die.

So, if you forget time, throw it out? Everything is the present.

Now where's mine?
 
Helix said:
in a way, the present is the only time that exists, even though it exists for an almost immeasurably short amount of time.
Click to expand...

If the present is the only time that exists then you are speaking of working memory theory. But then it may be a short amount of time in the present, but the content brought to working memory from long term memory could be infinite.
 
csbrown28 said:
Ok, I understand that, I guess what I'm asking is, how does the question he's posing actually accomplish that? For example, what f there is no present, only past and future, how does knowing that change anything? Again, not trying to be snarky, I'm genuinely interested is there is something specific he was asking, or if this was just a conversation starter?
Click to expand...

Pretty much just a conversation starter. It's an interesting theoretical question to me: Is there such a thing as the present time? Is there really even such a thing as time? Brothern brought up the fact that numbers, like the present time, have no dimensions, but then numbers, like time, are simply an abstract concept.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Pretty much just a conversation starter. It's an interesting theoretical question to me: Is there such a thing as the present time? Is there really even such a thing as time? Brothern brought up the fact that numbers, like the present time, have no dimensions, but then numbers, like time, are simply an abstract concept.
Click to expand...

Well, they say time and space are just the same thing, much like electricity and magnetism...
 
celticwar17 said:
Well, they say time and space are just the same thing, much like electricity and magnetism...
Click to expand...

Yes, just another dimension along with the three of space.

But, then, there are other dimensions as well of which we're only dimly aware.
 
It did.

So briefly that by the time we realized it, it was already in the past.

Yet time is a man made construct of measuring perception and structuring within that frame of measure.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Yes, just another dimension along with the three of space.

But, then, there are other dimensions as well of which we're only dimly aware.
Click to expand...
And perhaps dimensions beyond our capability to comprehend.
 
Taylor said:
And perhaps dimensions beyond our capability to comprehend.
Click to expand...

No doubt. And, for all we know, somewhere in those dimensions dinosaurs still roam, somewhere the civil war is still being fought. All that ever was or will be might be, in the present moment.
 
Chagos said:
It did.

So briefly that by the time we realized it, it was already in the past.

Yet time is a man made construct of measuring perception and structuring within that frame of measure.
Click to expand...

I disagree. The measurement of time is a man made construction.. but as long as things change in relationship to each other, time exists.
 
Fearandloathing said:
Ah, my dear man....relativity....

First, "time" is an invention of man because someone figured out we die.

So, if you forget time, throw it out? Everything is the present.

Now where's mine?
Click to expand...

The fact that we die (or that net entropy in the universe always increases, or whatever) depends on "passage of time," which makes time more than just an arbitrary construct.
 
According to the best scientific models of the universe that we currently have, the present doesn't objectively exist (neither does the past or the future).

The present is an entirely subjective phenomenon. Each one of us has our own clock, and so each one of us has our own past, future and present. Things that happen in someones past can happen in someone elses present or future. Time is a dimension like left and right and up and down, so an absolute reference is meaningless.

Asking if the present exists is like saying does 'here' exist. Well, it does, but it's different for me or for you or for any particle you care to name. The only way to define 'here' is by comparing it to other objects that are 'there'. But both 'here' and 'there' are arbitrarily defined. Likewise with time, you can only define the present by comparing it to other moments in time. So the idea of an absolute time, a singular present, is meaningless.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativity_of_simultaneity

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rietdijk–Putnam_argument
 
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