What time is it? (Documentary)

sjastro · #1 10-01-2011, 11:28 AM

What time is it?

SBS2 Monday 10th Jan 7.30pm

Quote:

Today on Discovery Enterprise we explore the mystery of time with particle physicist, BBC television popularizer of science and former keyboard player in the UK pop band D:Ream – Brian Cox.

Today’s documentary explorers an aspect of our lives that we all take for granted. It is something so familiar you usually do not even give it a second thought. One of the key elements of being a human being is that we can tell the time. It allows us to make sense of the world. The past, present and the future but it is no where near straight forward as you might think. Professor Brian Cox is going to find out what makes time tick. Did Time have a beginning? Why does time tick and does our future already exist? Professor Brian Cox is going to try and answer one of the simplest questions you can ask, What Time is it?

A documentary that includes interviews with some of the most brilliant minds in physics such as Neil Turok and Irwin Shapiro is worth a look.

Regards

Steven

CraigS · #2 10-01-2011, 12:11 PM

Hmm .. looks interesting … I can do without Brian Cox, though ... (I'm not a fan of his … although, the topics they put him in front of, are usually interesting).

I'm all setup to record it.

Thanks for the 'heads-up'.

Cheers

Suzy · #3 10-01-2011, 12:38 PM

Thanks for the heads up Stephen.

I didn't know Brian cox was in a rock group-

makes sense now why he has that dreamy rock star look.

I agree with Craig tho, I think others do a better job (or is it that I'm distracted with his looks

) I don't think he compares to the likes of Neil De Grassi Tyson, Miko, Phil Plait, Michelle Thaller, Amy Meiser and the like. Perhaps because these guys are so animated and excited with their presentations and Brian isn't so much

.
Anyway, I'll watch it, but I can't guarantee I'll learn much as I'll be too distracted.

sjastro · #4 10-01-2011, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Anyway, I'll watch it, but I can't guarantee I'll learn much as I'll be too distracted.

Suzy,

Some womenfolk I know prefer to watch Brian Cox without listening to a word he says.....

Help the environment, turn the brightness all the way down and listen.

Regards

Steven

sjastro · #5 10-01-2011, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CraigS

Hmm .. looks interesting … I can do without Brian Cox, though ... (I'm not a fan of his … although, the topics they put him in front of, are usually interesting).

I'm all setup to record it.

Thanks for the 'heads-up'.

Cheers

Craig,

Ed the All Mighty might not be on but Turok and Shapiro are not exactly dummies.

Shapiro being on the program is particularly relevant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapiro_delay

Regards

Steven

CraigS · #6 10-01-2011, 09:27 PM

Hmm …
Interesting approach to the age old question about time.

Shapiro seems like a nice bloke !

Neil Turok is one of those String guys !! He's into branes and the idea that time existed prior to the Big Bang (brane collision).

Still don't like Cox .. he needs to improve his grooming .. and he seems to not be able to pronounce his "g"s properly when they occur at the end of a word. Like Big Bang. (Just a minor point, mind you ..

)

Good content though … I was waiting to see if there was another part to the doco .. it seems not although, it seemed like they kind of left the viewer 'up in the air' about it all.

Thanks for the heads-up Steven .. overall, a good doco.

Cheers

Suzy · #7 10-01-2011, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CraigS

Still don't like Cox .. he needs to improve his grooming .. and he seems to not be able to pronounce his "g"s properly when they occur at the end of a word. Like Big Bang. (Just a minor point, mind you .. http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/..../winking70.gif )
Cheers

Craig, note my quote..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suzy

(or is it that I'm distracted with his looks

).

Anyway, I'll watch it, but I can't guarantee I'll learn much as I'll be too distracted.

Then, note Steven's quote..

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjastro

Suzy,
Some womenfolk I know prefer to watch Brian Cox without listening to a word he says.....
Steven

See.. really doesn't matter if he can pronounce the letter "g".

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

I have this programme recorded, so I will endeavor to watch this intelligently

without "watching" him.

I mean for pete sakes, really, just how many young hot guys are particle theorist presenters so you have to allow me a moment of weakness.

I hope his hair still looks good

.

sjastro · #8 11-01-2011, 08:01 AM

Quote:

I have this programme recorded, so I will endeavor to watch this intelligently

without "watching" him.

I mean for pete sakes, really, just how many young hot guys are particle theorist presenters so you have to allow me a moment of weakness.

I hope his hair still looks good

.

Suzy,

Just wait till you see the close up high speed imaging of his face.

It might change your opinion.

Regards

Steven

CraigS · #9 11-01-2011, 08:28 AM

An issue/question of slightly more significance … the disruption of the rotation period of the Earth caused by atmospheric movements ?

Hmm .. I could picture a few other effects which I would have thought, would be more likely to impact the rotation period (like ocean/tidal flows, molten core flows, etc) ?

Interesting.

Cheers

renormalised (Carl) · #10 11-01-2011, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjastro

What time is it?

Steven

Ah...just after midday

Will keep an eye out for it on video (missed the TV airing)

renormalised (Carl) · #11 11-01-2011, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suzy

Thanks for the heads up Stephen.

I didn't know Brian cox was in a rock group-

makes sense now why he has that dreamy rock star look.

Yeah, he was the keyboard player in the Irish band D:ream back in the late 80's early-mid 90's.

You could call him the "Rock n Roll" physicist

renormalised (Carl) · #12 11-01-2011, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CraigS

An issue/question of slightly more significance … the disruption of the rotation period of the Earth caused by atmospheric movements ?

Hmm .. I could picture a few other effects which I would have thought, would be more likely to impact the rotation period (like ocean/tidal flows, molten core flows, etc) ?

Interesting.

Cheers

The Earth's atmosphere can have quite an effect on its rotation. Large cyclonic storms can have as much effect on the rotation as a large earthquake because they can disturb a large fraction of the airmass. However the normal large scale circulation patterns of the atmosphere have noticeable effects on the rotation, slowing it down or speeding it up by milliseconds over the course of a year or so.

CraigS · #13 11-01-2011, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by renormalised

Yeah, he was the keyboard player in the Irish band D:ream back in the late 80's early-mid 90's.

You could call him the "Rock n Roll" physicist

Pity he can't find a good shampoo for his hair and a good scrubbing brush for his fingernails !!

Cheers

renormalised (Carl) · #14 11-01-2011, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CraigS

Pity he can't find a good shampoo for his hair and a good scrubbing brush for his fingernails !!

Cheers

He's a former rocker....gotta keep up appearances

CraigS · #15 11-01-2011, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by renormalised

He's a former rocker....gotta keep up appearances

At 42 years old ??

How long before he scrubs (errr … grows) up ?

Once a grub .. always a grub, eh ?

Cheers

renormalised (Carl) · #16 11-01-2011, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CraigS

At 42 years old ??

How long before he scrubs (errr … grows) up ?

Once a grub .. always a grub, eh ?

Cheers

He might like growing a mobile patch of potatoes under his fingernails. Just think, all that starch and carbo's if he gets lost in the bush (Shepherds Bush, London...maybe

)

GeoffW1 (Geoff) · #17 11-01-2011, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by renormalised

You could call him the "Rock n Roll" physicist

Interestingly there are 2 current astrophysicists who are former rockers. Brian May is the other. He is Chancellor of Liverpool J M Uni.

Cheers

renormalised (Carl) · #18 11-01-2011, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffW1

Interestingly there are 2 current astrophysicists who are former rockers. Brian May is the other. He is Chancellor of Liverpool J M Uni.

Cheers

That's right....lead guitarist for Queen.

GeoffW1 (Geoff) · #19 11-01-2011, 06:33 PM

Hi,

I was most interested in this doco because it looked likely to address the question: what is the basic nature of time?

We can think about minutes and seconds and so forth, which are just a convenient division of the time (the passage of "something") from sunrise to sunset, but all that is just a label related to how we think. I mean, we can count, and we want to count, and get very clever at it.

A "day" isn't even constant from place to place on earth, or within our own solar system, so there is a remaining question.... what is the cause?

If time (whatever it is) could be frozen, what would we see? Probably nothing, because we would not be functioning. No nerve impulses etc, no heartbeat. But what would be observable? ......no changes of any kind.

So is time really just change (and decay, if we are right about entropy increasing)? If change accelerates, should we say that time has altered? Of course we believe space and time are possibly a continuum, so the perceived changes ought to work the other way.

I lose the plot about there, and wanted to hear more about Planck Time. The doco did refer to the possibility that time is granular, and so, is it built from billions of Planck grains?

I must look into this more in the time I have left

Cheers

renormalised (Carl) · #20 11-01-2011, 07:01 PM

What if what we perceive of as time doesn't exist....what we see is nothing more than our perceptions of vibrating energy and our conscious mind's attempt at making sense of it. What if Einstein's notion of time being a dimension is wrong and is due to what I mentioned above. Take consciousness out of the interaction between matter (which is nothing more than a complex interaction of energies) with what we call spacetime and the whole notion of spacetime collapses like a deck of cards?? What we perceive as the past, present and future might very well be a series of possibilities that exist all at once, in an omnipresent "now". Our perception of time as flowing in a direction might just be an illusion generated by our "insertion" into the interaction between these various vibrational states of energy and matter.

The only problem is we couldn't measure it, because our working, logical minds are limited by our perceptions and our equipment is limited by our own limitations in knowledge and abilities. We maybe able to think about it on an abstract level but have no way of detecting anything concrete about it. Unless we change our minds to act, think and work differently. Then to do that, what do we do?? What technologies do we come up with??

The whole idea of a fundamental unit of time, a Planck time; of length, a Planck length etc etc, may have more to do with our imprecise knowledge of what constitutes reality than it does with our actual true understanding of any of the physics behind it all. Something which I am very sure we know very little about, despite of how far we've come in the last 100 years.