6.4 Phenomenology of Time
Is time an occult phenomenon? Does it have an active principle? For Newton, time
determined phenomena (Ch. 3, 6: p. 33): Newton was trapped in his own equations
by the effects of field models. I. Prigogine was convinced that time must necessarily
play an active role in physical laws [4: Ch. I]: they both thought that time was a
phenomenon. The phenomenology of time is denied by the fact that it cannot be
detected, it is powerless, and it has no source.
6.4.1 Time Cannot Be Detected
Time has never been detected: no physical indication of a manifestation has ever
been identified. Clocks are neither time detectors nor time emitters. Clocks are more
precise than Nile floods, but they are only passive human-made devices, in so far as
their functioning requires energy. Moreover, their accuracy depends on their level
of technology, and it also depends on their environment, including gravity. The
error is common: gravity disrupts the clock mechanism, not time; this is confirmed
by all experiments with gravity (Ch. 8, 4).
6.4.2 Time Is Powerless
No mark caused by any kind of physical time has ever been brought to light. The
rust that gradually corrupts scrap iron is caused by oxygen, not by time: the aging
process is interrupted as soon as oxygen is removed.
Clocks are not activated by time. Neither the Earth/Sun configuration, nor clocks
are chrono-generative. It has been shown that one Earth revolution, which makes us
one year older, is the cause of the increase in our chronological age, as recorded in
our personal records; but the Earth revolution is not the cause of the increase in our
biological age, i.e., our aging.
6.4.3 Time Has No Source
No source of physical time has ever been detected in any place in the Universe,
wherever it may be. No physical phenomenon can be identified as producing
physical time. Locally, movements of the Earth relative to the Sun produce days,
nights, and seasons, but these physical events are not time.
A quartz crystal does not generate any more time than the spring of a watch: their
oscillations just indicate that they are both seeking a state of physical equilibrium;
furthermore, the time displayed on clocks depends inherently on laborious con-
ventions, regardless of the technology they use.
Therefore time is not a physical phenomenon. An additional confirmation is
provided by the aging process
FROM
Hope these book extracts explain, better than I have, my position and views about time
Cheers
