THE HUMAN MIND

The mind is the subjective entity that allows us to acquire knowledge and possess ideas, emotions, willpower, and memories. Emotions encompass both feelings and affective states. The mind is divided into the conscious, the subconscious, and the unconscious. Consciousness, willpower, and intelligence reside in the conscious mind. Affectivity, morality, and the subconscious mind reside in the subconscious. Instincts and motivation reside in the unconscious. The conscious mind is linked to reality. The subconscious is linked to our past. The unconscious is linked to our survival. Personality is the way people think and act. Generally speaking, people can be extroverted or introverted, sociable or unsociable, and cultured or uncultured. Morality is the faculty of distinguishing between good and evil. It is divided into virtues and flaws. Ideas that are not conscious—such as those that appear in dreams—are processed in the subconscious.

Elvis Sibilia, Florida, United States 

THE TIME MACHINE

Many people dream of traveling to the past or the future, but that is physically impossible. That is why our mind is our personal time machine. We relive the past through our memories, process the present with our senses, and build the future using our imagination and anticipation. The mind is the subjective entity that allows us to gain knowledge and experience ideas, feelings, and memories. The mind is not bound by space or time. We reconstruct the past through history, and we imagine the future through science fiction. A song we enjoyed in the past can evoke emotional memories; this is known as nostalgia. History is the social science that studies the past by examining the evidence left behind by each era. Physically, it is impossible to travel through time—to the past or the future. We are prisoners of time. We are born, we live, and we die. I would like to share a list of ten artists I have listened to since my youth. I am now 62 years old. 

1- Salvatore Adamo 2- Leonardo Favio 3- Manolo Galván 4- Leo Dan 5- Nino Bravo 6- Los Angeles Negros 7- Charles Aznavour 8- Ruddy Marqués 9- Joe Dassin 10- Danny Daniel 

Elvis Sibilia, Florida, United States 

TIME: MEASURE OF THE PAST

Ever since the Earth began its motion, it has served as a measure of the passage of time. The day is measured by the planet's rotation, and the year by its revolution. Currently, years are calculated from the birth of Christ—2,026 years have passed since then. The age of the universe is calculated from the Big Bang: 13.8 billion years. Days are measured in hours, spanning from one midnight to the next. A person's age begins at birth. Clocks measure time based on midnight and noon. As the examples above show, the measurement of time always involves the past. Although the past no longer exists, the sequential measurement of time remains. Time is a sequential mathematical entity. The fact that the past does not exist leads some to believe that time itself does not exist, it's an illusion.

Elvis Sibilia, Florida, United States 

TIME: THE MEASURE OF B-D DUALITY

Time is the measure of the duality between becoming and duration. Through mathematical equations, some physicists have denatured the concept of time. They have even gone so far as to assert that time does not exist and is merely an illusion. For some people, time does not flow. All of this stems from the fact that duration is subperceptible. Being subperceptible means that we first perceive the beginning, followed by a succession of instants, and finally, we perceive the end. 

An illusion is a false perception of reality resulting from the nature of the stimuli involved. Time appears to be an illusion because we cannot perceive an entire interval in its totality—for instance, we cannot perceive a full hour all at once. It requires a sequential sense. Clocks measure the time of a specific interval, spanning from a beginning to an end. 

In summary, time is the physical magnitude that measures the duration of changes (becoming).

5 QUESTIONS ABOUT TIME

By way of summary, I will answer five questions regarding time. 

1- What is time? 

Time is the physical magnitude that increases continuously due to the process of becoming. The two aspects of time are becoming and duration. 

2- Does time exist? 

Of course time exists. If time did not exist: 

1- Becoming—that is, change—would not exist. 

2- Everything would have already happened. 

3- Velocity would not exist, since velocity is equal to distance divided by time; that is: v = d/t. 

3- Is it possible to travel through time? 

No, it is not possible to travel through time, since neither the past nor the future exists. The past consists merely of memories, and the future, of imaginings. Time travel is possible only in the mind and in science fiction movies. 

4- Is time a dimension of space? 

Spacetime was a mathematical construct devised by Albert Einstein to explain gravity. Time is independent of space. 

5- Can we perceive time? 

We perceive time through changes, but not the magnitude of time itself. Duration is sub-perceptible; that is, we perceive only the beginning and the end of intervals.

Elvis Sibilia, Florida, United States 

DOES TIME EXIST

Sme theorists in science and philosophy believe that time is an illusion—that it does not exist. Since the time of Aristotle, it has been held that if no one perceives time, then it does not exist. For time to exist, there must be a consciousness to register it. 

For Immanuel Kant, time is an *a priori* concept. For Albert Einstein, time is simply another dimension of space. He believed that time and space constituted a single four-dimensional structure; in doing so, he stripped both time and space of their independence. Theoretical physicist Julian Barbour believes that time does not exist; he even goes so far as to suggest that motion itself is an illusion. However, the truth is that time *does* exist. 

If time did not exist: 

1- Change (or "becoming") would not exist. 

2- Everything would have already happened. 

3- Velocity would not exist either, since velocity is equal to distance divided by time—that is, v = d/t. 

In the equations of physics, time seems to vanish; it does not appear to flow. Yet, reality differs from what those equations predict.

TYPES OF BECOMING (CHANGES)

 Changes are classified as physical, chemical, biological, meteorological, astronomical, social, digital, and geological. 

- Physical changes include: motion, fragmentation, electricity, magnetism, and energy. 

 - Chemical changes include: combustion, fermentation, and fire. 

- Biological changes include: birth, death, growth, aging, reproduction, and disease. 

- Meteorological changes include: rain, temperature, snow, wind, thunder, and lightning. 

- Astronomical changes include: the rotation and revolution of planets, satellites and stars, as well as gravity. 

- Social changes include: the family, wars, marriage, divorce, social classes, and elections. 

- Digital changes include: hardware, software, and programming. 

- Geological changes include: volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. 

Therefore, when we think about time, we must think about changes (becoming) and duration.