Is time a construct or a manipulable/malleable thing.
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Time is nothing more than a word that we gave to a natural phenomenon. Like physics and math, it’s just a system we’ve built to measure the universe.
So, gravity is a constant. We **could** manipulate it if we built rockets on Jupiter to collide with all the inner planets, but we are nowhere near that technology and some people might not like that decision.
Math is a constant, because math.
Time is also a constant, but our perception of it is not. Time cannot be manipulated, but our growing understanding of space time could lead to us discovering we can use what is there to our benefit.
Time’s an inseparable aspect of reality. We know this because it is measurable, and furthermore because it changes under certain circumstances, although with our current technology we don’t have the ability to manipulate it.
Time dilates (changes rate) based on two factors – velocity and gravity. As your speed approaches the speed of light, the time you perceive slows down significantly. For instance, let’s say you travel to Alpha Centauri and back at 99% of the speed of light. You perceive this trip as taking 8 years. But when you get back to Earth, you find that decades have passed.
The same happens with gravity. Higher gravity slows time down. For instance, the satellites in high earth orbit have clocks that tick just a little bit faster than the clocks on earth because they experience a little less gravity.
This is all predicted by the theories of relativity, which presents the concept of relative motion and perception.
Time is a construct in that we humans decided to measure it in a certain way. We have concepts of running out of time, managing our time, measuring time using calenders and clocks, even knowing that time always goes forward and never stops allows us to do things a certain way. All of these are social constructs, and without them, we probably wouldn’t be able to think about things that have to do with time like history for example.
If you are talking about time like in physics, yes time can be malleable. Time goes slower if you are travelling close to the speed of light, or if you are near a black hole out in space.
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