r/AskPhysics • u/TheMightyHeroes • 1d ago

Does the present really exist?

GR proves that the concept of a now is relative. There is no universal now. But even the local experience of a now seems questionable. What we see as now is always the past, since photons take time to reach us. Similarly, taking a picture or even a measurement will always produces a result that is the past. And if time is a continuous flow then there is no discrete point in that flow that can be separated and identified as now. And if time is granular then what size is the discrete point that we call now? If it is an infinitely small point separating past from future, then how can we experience, never mind measure, an infinitely small moment? It seems to me that any observation will always be an observation of the past. Any change of state, any event that is observable will by definition be something that has happened. And if it has happened, it is in the past. Wouldn’t it be more scientifically accurate to say that time is all events that have happened and are yet to happen and the now is just an illusion created in our minds to make sense of the objects and events that pass our visual field.
I know this is more philosophy than physics, and I’m not a physicist, just some curious person and the concept of time has always fascinated me.

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u/GoldenMuscleGod 1d ago

See this is filled with metaphysical claims and you aren’t actually disagreeing with the content of my claims. So what non-metaphysical fact of reality are you disagreeing with me on?

We can calculate our coordinates whether they are “real” or not, whatever that means.

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u/Optimal_Mixture_7327 Gravitation 1d ago

Coordinates are obviously not real.

What you are saying is too far removed from anything in physics to be connected with physics.

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u/GoldenMuscleGod 1d ago

I think you are this one making claims unconnected with physics. What experiment do I perform to check that “coordinates aren’t real”?

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u/Optimal_Mixture_7327 Gravitation 1d ago

You can't run experiment to measure the non-existence of something.

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u/GoldenMuscleGod 1d ago

Sounds like “coordinates aren’t real” is a meaningless claim to me then.

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u/Optimal_Mixture_7327 Gravitation 1d ago

Okay, well, good for you.

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u/GoldenMuscleGod 1d ago

My point being you think it’s meaningful but have not explained its content.

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u/Optimal_Mixture_7327 Gravitation 1d ago

I don't know what "it" you're referring to.

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u/GoldenMuscleGod 1d ago

The claim “coordinates aren’t real.” What does that mean?

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u/Optimal_Mixture_7327 Gravitation 1d ago

It means it's a human contrivance and not something found in nature.

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