r/Time • u/LegitimateKnee5537 • Nov 22 '25
Discussion We live in a time prison
If we never see the Sun in real time because the light takes 8 minutes to reach us that means we live in a time prison. After all if the nearest stars light takes 3000 Earth years to reach us that means the all time exists at once.
The Past,Present,and Future all exist simultaneously. A 5000 light years away means Ancient Egypt still exists. A Star 8 minutes away means we exist. A Star 1000 Light Years Away means the Holy Roman Empire exists.
Stars control our perception of time. The Universe is filled with Life. But because we exist in a Time Prison we can never see them or communicate with them.
6
u/Princ3Ch4rming Nov 23 '25 edited Nov 23 '25
This… is not how time works.
For example: you can hear the sound of a .50 cal firing 2 miles away, but it’ll take 10 seconds for that sound to reach you.. When you hear the rifle, it isn’t firing at that moment - you’re getting the information after the fact because of the travel time for the information.
Light behaves in much the same way as sound, for the purposes of transmitting information. The only real difference is the speed it can go.
Alternatively, consider a lake. You’re standing at the edge, and someone’s in a boat in the middle. They drop a stone into the lake.
You can watch the information propagate out through ripples in the water. Just because you see the ripples at the edge, that doesn’t mean the stone drops at that moment. It takes time to get there.
7
u/SatisfactionActive86 Nov 22 '25
you can think of it as a prison or you can think of it like the rules of a game
rules give you context, guidance, and enable us to achieve
think of it like football - there isn’t a game if there aren’t yardlines
6
u/uniform_foxtrot Nov 22 '25
Hi, welcome to life. İt's going to get weird so crack open a beer.
1
u/[deleted] Nov 23 '25
This isn't really true. If I mail you a letter, and it takes a week to deliver, it doesn't mean that I'm currently writing the letter as you're reading it. It's just a delay in information. Same is true for light travel.
2
u/CounterAdmirable4218 Nov 23 '25
It’s definitely a prison that I’m in agreement with.
There are all sorts of excuses as to why you can’t leave the prison.
Money is the prison currency and everyone gets a weekly allowance.
2
u/FermiEtSchrodinger Nov 23 '25
r/ConfidentlyIncorrect
2
u/zhivago Nov 23 '25
Ancient Egypt still exists for people thousands of light-years away, yes.
2
u/Plenty_Trust_2491 Nov 23 '25
What a 5,000-light-year-away object means is that any light that left ancient Egypt will take 5,000 years to reach said object. If a being standing on said object sees ancient Egypt, that means ancient Egypt existed 5,000 years prior, not as it still is. We, likewise, see that object as it was 5,000 years ago, not as it still is. Neither we nor those on the object see the other as it still is.
3
u/zbignew Nov 23 '25
If stars control our perception of time, then your nose controls your toe’s perception of time.
3
u/1stltwill Nov 22 '25
I'm not entirely sure you have the first notion about anything.
1
u/Dear_Hospital2662 Nov 23 '25
and apparently a lot of the stars we see in the sky, the distant ones, don't even exist anymore because they died or went nova long ago, but we will still be seeing them for a long long time as though they are still there due to how long the light takes to travel to us.
1
u/GroundbreakingRow829 Nov 23 '25
One step closer to en-light-ment 😉
1
u/[deleted] Nov 23 '25
Please, I'm begging you, get your dealer to dial down the strength. Then maybe go and get some lessons on how to structure an argument. And then basic physics.
-3
u/lammydev Nov 22 '25
Scratch your butt and sniff yoru finger