Time is an illusion

Pretty interesting that Physicists are starting to be able to reconcile the math in quantum mechanics removing the concept of time (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19726391.500-is-time-an-illusion.html?full=true). Based on my own experiences with time I've suspected it's illusory nature for a while. Funny enough for me, it started when I was thinking about the colloquialism "time flies when you're having fun" years ago. This illustrates that our own perception of time is completely flawed as we cannot measure it internally with any accuracy due to other events or activities our brains are involved with (how busy we are). This can be on the scale of seconds to years, "I can't believe your kid is 10 already!". Our body chemistry also effects this, take for instance when we're on an adrenaline rush. The opposite of that colloquialism then becomes true where a moment can seem like a lifetime. Of course this is only our perception.

However, our perception of the universe usually dictates how we decide to measure the universe both in space and time. As an extension of this perception we invented the concept of time since our brains are only capable of recalling all the correlations of events as cause and effect. Our measurement of the correlations or counting events is what we define as time. These events started with the observation of seasonal transitions, to the orbital period of the earth around the sun, and eventually evolved to breaking it down by measuring the vibrational frequencies of quartz crystal when stimulated by electricity (your digital watch), or atomic resonance frequency of cesium (atomic clocks).

How we observe time and formulate it in conventional physics is by representing it in equations a series of events measured in space. The time quantity in these equations is a simplification of the aggregation of correlated events in space assuming continuity. The continuity or glue for these correlations is what we also assume is related to time or other fundamental laws of nature. All these assumptions may not actually be correct. As brought up in the article attached, we can think of time more or less how we observe temperature. Temperature is an aggregation of the statistical probabilities of a set of particles with a random distribution of velocities. Using the concept of Temperature is much easier construct/simplification for us to deal with. Of course, although more accurate, relying on the statistical model would be far too complicated to be practical in everyday use. Similarly approaching time in a similar manner may have just been beyond our mathematical capabilities until now.

As another philosophical extension to this, it calls into question our concerns regarding the age of the universe, how it may have had a discrete start and will have a discrete ending of some kind. Our brains have a tough time reconciling the concept of infinite timelines. If the universe really has no element of time, that eliminates the entire debate. If the theory of the Big Bang still holds true, the removal of the time concept only implies that the information of the events that preceded it may be unavailable to us, not that the universe did not exist prior to the big bang. However, an exciting aspect of this could be that removing time has more potential of predicting the events that did proceed the big bang.

Master of your own destiny

Nick White got stuck in an elevator and ruined his life:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e1360a4a-0536-11de-8166-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

A little cautious optimism would have gone a long way for this guy.