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Essay / The Flow of Time - 1071
The mystery of time comes from the common sense idea that the present moment, known as "now" is not fixed, but rather it is always moving toward the “future”. This concept is known as the flow of time. As humans, we describe the present as a single moment that allows time to “flow,” essentially sweeping past moments into the future. However, at the same time, humans also want time to be a sequence of moments, with all movements and changes consisting of the differences between versions of an entity at different times. This means that a particular moment cannot become the present or cease to be the present. The present is objectively not a single moment. Humans think we need both of these definitions of time. When we describe events, we say things like "when", which implies that time is not passing, but when we say "why", it implies that time is passing. Time can be thought of as a line, "so that future moments" sweep past the present moment to become past moments. But if time is a line, then what point on the line is the present? Is there a gift? To say that each point on the line can be thought of as a distinct moment is to say that we can think of our life as a set of stacked snapshots of each of those moments. If we were a triangle on the line, constantly moving some of these snapshots would show the arrow moving and pointing in different directions because, as we all know, life doesn't always move in the same direction. If our arrow were currently pointing in one direction, in an instant the snapshot of that arrow would be a thing of the past. But the indication that time is a constantly moving line indicates that time flows, and time does not flow. If time does not flow, we must change...... middle of paper ...... there are events that are closer to you in time and events that are further away. But, in the block universe theory, time doesn't pass you by. This is not the case and cannot be the case, because there is no physical thing that can be defined as time. George Ellis, a cosmologist at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, believes that the bulk theory of the universe contradicts reality. Ellis says that "It does not represent the passage of time, and it is one of the most fundamental features of daily life. So it is a poor model of reality." Furthermore, he stated that by accepting the block theory of the universe, attempting to understand anything about anything no longer makes sense. According to Ellis, the entire scientific process depends on the passage of time. We form, test, and accept or reject a hypothesis in a process that evolves over time. In human life we need time to move forward as a society.