Time Explained to Dummies and the Others

The use of « time » and « duration » is still prohibited as long as these words are not defined. Two examples:
a) « The month is the duration of a lunation »: « duration » is crossed because its signification is unknown.
b) « The month is the time done by the moon for ... »: It’s an offence for the same reason.

Definition of the month

Figure 5: Month » in Sumerian cuneiform writing.

A clay tablet uncovered in Sumer and dated between 2800 and 2500BCE, bears a cuneiform character (Figure 5) which signifies « month »; « raho » in Sumerian language [11]. How did Sumerian scholars get to such a cultural upheaval?
A. Observing the movements of the moon,
B. They noticed that it returned regularly to the same state (same shape and same place).
C. They are called « raho » what separates two similar successive states of the moon

«The month is a concept corresponding to what separates two similar successive states of the moon»

Figure 6: The invention of the month (arhu).

The movements of the moon, the repetition of its states, are observable and measurable. On the other side, « raho », in other word the month, is neither observable, nor measurable, because it is a mental construction (Figure 6). This discovery is prominent and unprecedented because it identifies the appearance of temporality in human history. The Sumerians have gradually introduced and used « raho » in the organization of their life. Example: «The boat will return within six raho»; « raho » is the lunar month which lasts about twenty-nine and a half days. Since Pope Gregory XIII (1502-1585), our Gregorian month has between twenty-eight and thirty-one days. This major cuneiform sign does not appear in any theoretical study on time; we have introduced it in 2012.

Definition of the year

Plutarch reminds the erratic (from the Latin erratic us: irregular) values of the year, between one and ten months depending on the countries [12, Life of Noma, 18, 6]. Hence the fanciful age of the biblical patriarchs. It also proves the non-existence of the year in the nature. We see the return of the earth at the same position relative to the Sun (configuration) and which is called « year », but we don’t see the year. SAME CONFIGURATION (phenomenon observed)- -->YEAR (concept not observable). The terrestrial revolution is what separates two identical and successive states of the Earth-Sun configuration: « The year is a concept which corresponds to two successive and identical configurations »

Definition of the second

The new definition of the second decided by CGPM [13], that came into force in 2019, has two formal defects: « The value of the second is defined by setting the value of the number of periods of the radiation … at 9,192,631,770 when it is expressed in s-1 ». (« s-1 » means « 1/s »).
a) The « period » is the « duration of a cycle »; therefore « number of periods » is « number of durations of a cycle »; what is senseless.
b) « ... when it is expressed in s-1 »; well, s-1 is the inverse of the second, so that the second is defined in relation of the inverse of the second; it’s a sophism.

In fact, the value of the second is defined by 9,192,631,770 cycles of radiation .... 9,192,631,770 CYCLES (measured)--->SECOND (concept). Hence a coherent definition: « The second is a concept which correspond to 9,192,631,770 cycles ... »

Definition of time

The word « system » designates any object, such as an atom, a bacterium, a runner, the couple Earth-Moon, etc. A system is described by its state, which changes permanently. The Latin philosopher Lucretius (c.96-55) expresses it brilliantly: « a state after another concerns all things, and nothing remains the same: everything passes » [3, Song V, 826]. Month, year and second being defined from the state of a system, time can also be defined from the state of any system: TRANSITION FROM ONE STATE TO ANOTHER (observed) ---> TIME (concept). It leads to a definition: « Time is a concept corresponding to what separates two states of any system » This definition looks quite basic, but as far as I know, there is no other; despite that, it’s going to lead to numerous theoretical extensions, among which some are described later. For the same reasons as for the units, time is not observable, not measurable and without physical existence: it’s not a phenomenon, instead, it’s a concept. Four thousand five hundred years after the feat of the Sumerians, Einstein invents the concept of space-time.

A short inventory of some consequences among numerous results, emphasizes the importance of defining the subjects we are talking about.

The time felt

Everyone is convinced that time is a phenomenon: it passes, it flows, it flies. In addition, everyone has the feeling that time passes more or less quickly, depending on where we are, what we do, etc. The disorder resulting from this conviction and this feeling, goes away thanks to the introduction of the more precise concepts of « felt time » and « felt duration » [20]:
A. Heterochrony (from the Greek haters: other): The Latin poet Horace (65-5 EC) writes: « Fug aces launder anni ! » (years pass quickly) [1, Book II, XIII ]. In « As you like it » the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) writes: « Time travels in diverse paces with diverse persons » [4, Act III, Scene II, 321]. Affirmed that time passes slowly or quickly, supposes that time has speed. Well, by definition, speed is always expressed compared to time; obviously, the speed of time compared to time is a sophism. We have introduced the concept of « time felt » to explain exactly what is happening.
B. Time felt: These are the events that pass, instead of time or duration. An unpleasant event seems to pass slower than a pleasant event of the same duration, in reason of physical pain or moral suffering. Circumstances are felt more or less pleasant, or more or less unpleasant; so that « felt time » and « felt duration » are from the field of psychology.

PLEASANT EVENT ---> FELT DURATION SHORTER
UNPLEASANT EVENT ---> FELT DURATION LONGER

Aging and time

Medicine makes a distinction between the chronological age of a patient and its biological age:
a) Chronological age: The chronological age of a person is « what separates his birth from today »; the information, limited to a simple number, is very poor. The chronological age can’t be observed, and it increases at the same speed for everyone. Someone whose age is high is considered an old person
whatever its state of health; it does not provide any health data. b) The verb « age » has a double meaning: become aged (age increase) and become old (deterioration of the state of health).
c) Biological age: The biological age is about the physical state of a person; it is observable, measurable in a way, but quite difficult to appreciate and synthesize, given the large number of data and evaluation criteria.
d) In Figure 7, the chronological age curve of a person is a bisector line, while its estimated biological age has an erratically shaped curve. In this simulation, at a date « t », the biological age of the patient is higher than its chronological age: he looks older than his age. Shortly before we see an era in which he looked younger than his age.
e) Biological aging: In 2017, we have introduced the concept of biological aging, which results from the degradation of health. It’s a consequence instead of a cause. Three examples of biological aging:
i. The gradual coloring of teeth is not caused by aging; instead, it’s caused by food, smoking, lack of hygiene. SMOKING ---> TEETH COLORING ---> BIOLOGICAL AGING
ii. Wrinkles don’t come from biological aging; they are caused by the Sun and lack of care, when the cells have exhausted their capacity for duplication. Wrinkles lead to biological aging. SUN ---> WRINKLES ---> BIOLOGICAL AGING
iii. Arthrosis doesn’t result from biological aging; instead, it’s caused by antecedent factors. ANTECEDENT FACTORS ---> ARTHROSIS ---> BIOLOGICAL AGING.

The gradual reduction in the gap in lifespan between men and women that is observed during these last decades is explained by the increase in consumption of tobacco and alcohol by women. Data collected in India at the end of the 1980s, show a reversal of average lifespan: 45 for men, 43 for women [19]; it comes from men eating first, women and children sharing the leftovers, in addition to heavy female smoking.

Biorhythms and chronobiology

There is a rhythm when a phenomenon, an event, or the state of a system repeats. Lunar and solar alternations, as well as Cesium oscillations, have regular rhythms. On the other side, rhythms produced by living systems, such as heartbeats, sleep, need to eat, are irregular and inaccurate. They can’t be considered biological clocks, because the biological rhythms do not meet the regularity and accuracy requirements of a clock: instead, it comes to biorhythms, not chronobiology [21].

Experiments about time

Experiments on clocks

a) Gravity on the moon’s surface is about 6 times weaker than on the earth’s surface. A quartz watch is not altered, a pendulum clock moves 2.45 times slower, an atomic clock is almost unmodified, except for increasing its accuracy [23, Ch. 6].
b) Gravity on the sun’s surface is 28 times more intense than on the earth’s surface. A pendulum clock would go ahead 4.6 times faster. An atomic clock would go ahead about one minute per year [23, Ch. 6].
c) In microgravity, such as inside a vehicle in orbit around the earth, the clepsydra, the hourglass and the pendulum clock stop working, while the accuracy of an atomic clock increases.

Gravity alters the functioning of clocks according to their technology; therefore, experiments on clocks are in no way experiments about time; they are but experiments on technologies of these clocks

We watch the Eve’s navel, but our eye does not see the anachronism of its representation.

Langerin’s experiment

The fictitious experiment (1911) of the French physicist Paul Langevin (1872-1946) belongs to the false flag tactic: according to calculation, a twin returning from an accelerated relativistic travel would become less aged than his brother waiting for him in the lab [15]. This paradox results from the ignorance between chronological aging and biological aging: indeed, chronological data can be subjected to relativistic calculations, but not to physiological experiments; beside that, biological data resist calculations, but not relativistic stresses. Less aged (number of years) does not mean younger (better health condition): the relativistic stresses would lead to an additional biological aging that calculations are unable to evaluate.

The Langerin’s experiment confirms the impossibility of making experiments about time.

Demography and aging of a population

Demographers lament about the high average chronological age in rich countries, and they praise the demographic dynamics in poor countries. In rich countries, the rise in the standards of living leads to a higher average chronological age. In poor countries, the alleged dynamics (low average chronological age) results from an important biological aging related to three main factors: high birth rate, infant mortality between the ages of 0 and 6 close to 50%, high mortality rate among adults because malnutrition, lack of hygiene and under-medicalization. For example, a 70-year-old European is in better health than a 35-year-old Yemeni. It suggests the theorem: a low average chronological age suspects under-development. Given that time is a failing demographic indicator (including chronological age and chronological aging), these parsing errors could be avoided by taking into account two much more accurate concepts: the biological age and the biological aging.

The way temporality appears, demonstrates that time is not a phenomenon. Semantic rigor is necessary to write the essential definitions of units, then of time. The definition of time leads to unprecedented consequences among which some have been shortly described: the time felt; the biological aging; time is not the cause of aging; chronobiology is a wrong idea; no experiment about time; demography and aging.

Philosophers, most scientists and people at large, are not yet ready to hear such a statement, which they consider scandalous, unacceptable, impossible, false. But the facts must be faced, even if they don’t conform to our personal convictions.

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