"This blog brings together ideas of movement, decay, and the illusion of time into a unified theory where time is seen not as a fundamental aspect of reality, but as a human construct for scheduling and understanding the changes we observe in the world."
We experience time in every aspect of our lives. We wake up to the sun rising, we grow older with each passing day, and we measure the passage of our lives by the decay of our bodies. Yet, what if the way we perceive time is nothing more than an illusion—a construct we created to help us schedule our actions and make sense of the changes happening around us? What if, instead of time being a fundamental property of reality, it is just a pattern of movement and decay that we interpret as the progression of time?
In this blog, I propose that time as we know it—measured by clocks, days, and years—should be removed from physics as a fundamental concept. Instead, the true forces at play in the universe are the movement of matter, the decay of living organisms, and the cyclical patterns we observe in nature—such as the sunrise and sunset. These forces shape our perception of time, but time itself is not an inherent property of the universe. Rather, it’s a human-made structure for organizing and scheduling actions, created to make sense of the inevitable decay and change that surrounds us.
1. The Illusion of Time: Movement and Change
Consider this: When we look at the sky, we see the sun rise and set. We mark the beginning and the end of each day based on this predictable movement of the sun. The passage of time seems to move forward, and with it, the world seems to change in a linear fashion. However, this change—this feeling of time passing—is simply the result of movement.
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Movement of the earth around the sun.
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Movement of the air and water around us.
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Movement of particles in every material object.
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Movement of our thoughts and actions.
These movements create observable effects, like the aging of our bodies or the growth of plants. But in reality, these movements are simply patterns of change that we interpret as the passage of time. If you remove the human construct of "time," what’s left is a constant flow of motion—and the changes that result from it. Time is the schedule we impose on this process to make it more predictable, but in essence, change is happening independently of time.
2. The Decay of Matter: A Cycle of Aging and Transformation
A crucial aspect of our perception of time is aging. Humans grow older every day, and so do all living beings. The physical changes in our bodies—from the decay of our cells to the wearing down of tissues and bones—are often used to mark the passage of time.
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Our flesh decays over time, and we witness the aging process through the graying of hair, the formation of wrinkles, and the loss of flexibility in our joints.
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Parasites, like bacteria and viruses, accelerate this decay, contributing to the deterioration of our cells and systems.
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The sun itself—through radiation—accelerates the decay of living organisms by breaking down cells over long periods, adding another layer to the process of aging.
But here's the kicker: the decay is a result of biological movement—the continuous interaction of cells, molecules, and environmental factors. The idea that this decay is tied to time passing is an interpretation we’ve made to fit into a framework that defines time.
What if we removed the idea that time is the cause of decay? Instead, we could say that aging is the result of continuous biological processes—decay happens as a consequence of interaction and movement at the microscopic level. We age because our cells move, decay, and interact with the environment in a way that causes biological breakdown over time—but time itself isn’t the driving force. It’s simply a pattern we use to measure this process.
3. The Human Body: An Organism in Constant Motion
Humans, like all living organisms, are in a constant state of motion. Our heart beats, blood flows, and nerves transmit signals—all the while our cells regenerate and die off. The process of life is a cycle of movement: cells divide, grow, and eventually die. But when we see this process through the lens of time, we often think of it as aging or getting older.
In fact, we may think of time as a line stretching from birth to death, but in truth, it’s movement and change happening all the time, regardless of the label we attach to it. From the molecular level to the motion of the entire body, the changes we experience are simply interactions with the forces of the universe (gravity, chemistry, biology).
The physical decay we associate with aging is just a consequence of movement—our cells and organs continually interact with one another, and this interaction is what leads to change. Time, as we know it, is just a framework to give structure to these movements. The illusion of time happens because we can measure and track the changes.
4. The Sun: A Source of Movement, Not Time
One of the most powerful sources of change we experience is the sun. It drives the cycles of day and night, but the sun’s movement isn’t what causes time to pass. The earth’s rotation around the sun creates the day-night cycle, which is one of the fundamental movements we associate with the passage of time.
However, time itself doesn’t cause the sun to rise or set. The sun’s energy is responsible for life, growth, and decay on Earth. It’s the energy from the sun that powers photosynthesis in plants, helps the human body produce vitamin D, and ages us by breaking down our cells through radiation over time. But in the same way, the sun’s energy is simply the result of cosmic movement—the motion of particles and energy in space—not the passage of time.
5. Time as a Human Construct for Scheduling
At the heart of this idea is the fact that time is a human construct—a framework we use to organize and schedule our actions. We measure time with clocks, calendars, and watches to give structure to our lives, but time itself is not a fundamental law of the universe. It’s just a pattern we use to make sense of the inevitable movement and decay around us.
Without the construct of time, we would still experience change, but it wouldn’t be organized into neat units like hours, days, and years. Instead, change would exist in an infinite, continuous flow, where we would simply experience the interaction of matter, energy, and forces in an ongoing cycle.
Conclusion: Time as a Construct, Movement as Reality
In essence, time is not a thing—it is an illusion born from the movement and decay we experience in our lives. The rising and setting of the sun, the aging of our bodies, and the interaction of particles are all patterns of change that we measure and track with the construct of time. But the true force driving everything is movement—the continuous interaction of matter, energy, and forces.
If we were to remove the concept of time from physics and focus purely on the movement and decay of matter, we might discover a more fundamental way of understanding reality. The universe would be a dynamic flow of change, and time would no longer be the defining framework—it would simply be a human tool for organizing that flow.
In this new view of reality, time as we know it would no longer be a fundamental force; it would simply be a reflection of the movement that shapes everything we observe.