

In Search of Time’s Origin - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/issue/9/time/in-search-of-times-origin

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wuliwong
This seems like rampant speculation. At least the title of the post doesn't
imply the search is over. :) The assumption that the universe is two entangled
quantum particles is a stretch, to say the least.

And maybe I'm missing a piece of the argument but it seems a terrible leap to
say that because they can observe this static-outside, dynamic-inside effect
that now time is an illusion might be an even larger stretch. Even if all
these speculations and assumptions were proven true, how does this render time
as an illusion? Isn't the proper conclusion that time is just an internal
process which essentially shielded from observing externally? It seems more
like conservation of time rather than "time is an illusion". I have always
liked the idea of a static universe that our conscious minds are zipping
though.

~~~
jerf
They aren't asserting the universe is two entangled particles, they are
asserting that they can use two entangled particles to model an effect that
may explain the universe.

"time is an illusion might be an even larger stretch"

The word "illusion" should be struck entirely from these articles. Just
because a quantity is derived and not "fundamental" doesn't make it not real.
Temperature is already known to be an "illusion" by this measure but I've sure
been burned before. There's no scenario here where one day you're just walking
along, and then _bam_ you're frozen forever because some physicist just
realized for the last time that time is an "illusion". If time isn't quite
what we may have once naively thought it is, we still clearly live in a
universe with before & after relations, just as we live in a universe in which
it is perfectly sensible and meaningful to talk about "heat", even if
"temperature" does have some behaviors our ancestors wouldn't have
anticipated, such as [http://www.nature.com/news/quantum-gas-goes-below-
absolute-z...](http://www.nature.com/news/quantum-gas-goes-below-absolute-
zero-1.12146) .

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sjclemmy
Time is one slippery concept. I have a book called "The End of Time" by Julian
Barbour
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_Time_(book)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_Time_\(book\))
, which I have read, but lack enough of a formal education to understand.

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smellf
It seems very romantic to think of entanglement as the fundamental process
that gives our universe dynamism. I hope these ideas pan out.

