| Alistair 2006-01-11, 6:55 pm |
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Pete Dashwood wrote:
> I certainly can't close down your argument, Alastair. (It is a bit like the
> tree in the forest falling over... does it make a sound if no one is there
> to hear it? Logic tells us it must do, but it really depends what you mean
> by 'sound'. If you consider 'sound' to be the arrival of certain nerve
> impulses in a certain part of the brain, then it doesn't make a sound. If
> you consider 'sound' to be a wave motion of air, with an amplitude and
> frequency within a certain range, then it might indeed make a 'sound'. )
>
> The fact that no-one's occupying your space and cannot therefore be aware of
> time passing, does not preclude it passing :-) It depends on what your
> definition of 'time' is. And that is the nub of the discussion.
>
> I'm not persuaded by your argument, but I don't have enough authoritative
> data to refute it, so I just have to agree to disagree :-) I guess my
> concept of Time is largely based on intuition and faith... :-)
>
> Pete.
There was a recent Scientific American article discussing the time
issue. I guess that the jury will be out for some time. I accept your
position. Time is a useful concept and somewhat difficult to ignore.
As for the tree, that is a whole new argument.
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