Closer To Truth is broadcast on PBS stations. You can also watch Closer To Truth online at CloserToTruth.com or on our KZfaq channel. This is Episode 2 of Season 11, first aired on PBS stations in 2013.

I love this show.. so rare these days.

I love this series SO much! The best part of it is that Kuhn is respectful of a wide variety of opinions while being sharp enough to hold the feet of those espousing the opinions to the fire. So much of what we can say authoritatively about a subject like time really resolves into vagueness not unlike the "waveform" of Quantum Mechanics. There is an idea. It has a mathematical expression. But that is all but untranslatable into human experience.

The host of this channel has the best job on earth. And does it so well.

Amazing to watch - Thank you Mr. Kuhn for making this fantastic series of videos - You really are a star !

"Time is the moving image of eternity"-Plato

"There was a young man called Bright who could travel faster than light. He set off one day, in a relative way, and returned the previous night". I'm off for a lie-down!

Children today are so lucky! All these great science programs they can explore just a click away. So I guess it’s possible to actually get clever using these shows

Kuhn’s favorite word has to be “fundamental”.

I am so grateful for this series. Magnificent production values from the beautiful settings, to the wonderful narration by Mr Kuhn. It offers an introduction to some of the most brilliant minds in science today.

"You never bathe twice in the same river"...... I absolutely love that. That's beautiful.

This may simultaneously be your most challenging subject matter episode - and your finest to date. Kudos. More please!

This is my third episode to watch and it seems he never gets closer to the truth.

Best show. Don't ever stop. ❤

I like the way Mr. Kuhn says, "I go to Cambridge, LA etc to pose this question..."

I could listen to Julian Barbour all day!

Such a well done video. I don’t think that I understood time, but is an interesting concept.

God I love this subject!!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!

Absolutely outstanding Mr Robert! Congratulations again for the great job you are doing! Best regards

The show is called Closer To Truth but every episode is about some unanswerable questions and ends on "heck if I know".

Thank you! 😊 👍✨ GOD Bless you all! 🙌

To be more accurate, time is fundamental to human minds. I think that's the whole difficulty in thinking of it in novel ways.

I always thought of time as the measure of change. The fact that quantum physics doesn't make a distinction between present and past, I'm not sure how relevant that is to the macro experience of time. Just as physics doesn't support the idea that matter is solid but rather the product of charges and nuclear forces, you best move is to get out of the way of a runaway truck rather than take a chance that it's charges or atoms will pass through you. In other words, I think that when people get too wrapped up in abstractions, they lose sight of practical outcomes or realities. The past may be fixed and have bearing on the future, but we can't change the past even if at the quantum level it's not different from the present or future. You can't make choices in the present that will change the past but you can make choices in the present that will change the future. I don't think that this is subjective. If it isn't true, then all choice is meaningless since the future is predetermined.

Love the process of the human brain evolving in a lifetime gaining wisdom, insight, expanding it's understanding of life. Realizing things that only time could provide. To the mind time is a sort of vehicle that slowly changes perspective.

I am a bit surprised that nobody brought up entropy. Seems like it might be important. 🤷🏼‍♀️

As part of a project I have taken on, I had to unscramble this very question. To my astonishment one fact was made crystal clear. People, *especially scientists* are very *_confused_* about how they use the word "Time". Those trying to explain a nature , feature or characteristic of Time have actually weaved in and out of different understandings of the word, most often without even recognizing their segue.This I realize, has had a crippling effect on the pedagogy of the subject. I have since recognized 14 different definitions, meanings or uses of the word 'time'. Just some food for thought.

I have learned so much by watching closer to the truth. Mr Kuhn attempts to find answers to many unknowns that we all have probably thought and wondered about.

Refreshing and enlightening as always.

The present holds a special place in the Universe. It is the edge of the Universe. Every where else we look is the past.

I love listening to these people who speak like musicians. My simple mind only sees time as a second way to measure the space between two events. I like the idea of it being measurable both ways when quantum mechanics is considered. The double split experiment seems to show that a futur event affects the present and that’s probably an example of where it applies. Much to learn with these videos. Thank you.

Time and space are real but intangible. Our minds construct a model that help us to make sense of these. Our model of space helps us to explain things like position, size and distance. Our model of time helps us to explain things like change, motion and causality. For now, I believe it is impossible to say "what is" time or space without these mental constructs.

Thank u so much for the video. Always feeding my knowledge with all the interesting conversations.🙏❤

What is time? Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.

It’s about time I watched this.

“Time” is a human construct. All we have is the present and changes of position in space.

The most incredible opening music 🎶 just as outstanding as RLK himself and this wonderful endeavor of the truth 👍 👌

Bravo! Great show! I like the block universe, myself.

Time is what passes when you watch lots of videos about it, and learn nothing.

As Immanuel Kant said, time is the inner mode of perception built into us humans. And space is the outer mode of perception, also built into us. Both of them define our reality.

Best video on time! At long last, I can concretely apply this to my real-life knowledge.

Thankyou so much , so many esteemed people . For me time = matter over space as without matter time doesn't exist.

Most comments are hilarious. "A: I just had an awesome idea. Suppose time is not real. B: OKAY. What would that imply? A: I dunno"

I just had a thought- Perhaps the present is a timeless stationary point which we experience as the now and the future flows to us from one point then flows out the other end giving us the illusion of time flowing, like sitting in a stationary train whist the train next to you is moving making you feel like you're the one that's moving.

This is a good channel. I don't come here for answers but just to ponder those big questions with learned people who have garnered particular insights.

Very interesting topics. RLK offers these wonderful programs that only serve the purpose of posing very smart questions that are basically unanswerable by any human being. To put it bluntly, we don't know shit about anything, however, it's entertaining to just listen what these 'luminaries' have to say about the rhetorical questions Robert asks. Never a dull moment watching Closer to Truth shows.

The reason why we need (to perceive) Time is the result of that we have a memory and we are not immortal

Nice video. Philochrony is the theory that describes the nature of time and demonstrates its existence. Time is magnitive: objective, Imperceptible (intervals) and measurable (duration).

That was just amazing!!!!

Fascinating! I love this stuff!

Time is a storm in which we are all lost. William Carlos Williams

Time is just there to make you believe in the aging process, everything else is just visual and memories

Time is............... a spatial dimension. Much love!

I have this playing in the background while I cook dinner. My self-conversation was, "Basil...Check. Oregano...Check. Thyme...uh-oh. I'm not sure that I even know what it is anymore!

It is really much simpler than these experts think. First time is not a thing, not substance. Second time is only the measurement of motion. Since atoms are always in motion there is always time. The past is over. The future hasn’t happened yet and the present moment is all that exists, but it is infinitely small.

You must understand what is happening in the Mechanics of Einstein's Time Dilation work for starts to understand Time !

TIME IS THE MEASUREMENT OF MOVEMENT THAT MAKES DAYS AND YEARS

Kant proved centuries ago that time is not a fundamental aspect of the universe but rather a fundamental aspect of the way humans perceive the universe

There is no time. Just one moment being different.

Time is just there to keep everything from happening all at once

I’d love to know where that room with the surround monitors is - looks very cool.

Recently I was running late (thanks to a rainstorm and sluggish traffic) for a dinner meeting with a friend. When I finally arrived and approached the table where he was already seated, he remarked, "Well, it's about time! That got my head spinning, and later on that night (after I'd returned home), the comment took on a Machiavellian persona, so to speak. What exactly is it “about time” that is so fascinating to us? We talk about having the time of our lives, about running out of time, about how fast (or slowly) time passes, about time getting away from us, about where did the time go, and the real kicker-how we spend our time-as if it’s some kind of commodity to be bought and sold. In fact, sometimes it’s impossible to talk about time without using time words like timely, timeless, time to go, time on our hands, and taking time out. That last one is one of my favorites because I often wonder where exactly that “out” is that I should take the time. The reality is that, prior to that night, I’d never really given any thought to the expression “it’s about time, ” and it gave rise to a whole chain of thought for me. What does it really mean, for example, to “spend” time? We spend money. Is it like that? When we spend money, we can do that because we got it from somewhere else (usually our work or in payment for some service we’ve performed), and we either bank it for future use or (and I would suggest this is the more common behavior) use it to purchase something we suddenly decide we really must have. Then we hand over that money, giving it to the store, business, restaurant, theater, church, or sporting event we’ve decided to spend it at. And (I would again suggest) we never see that particular money again. (At least I don’t keep a list of the serial numbers of every item of currency I’ve ever had and then check any of the new currency I get against that list to see if I’ve gotten it again. Sorry, but I have more important things to “spend my time” on than that!) So is it the same with time? If we truly do “spend” time doing this or that, what happens to it after we’ve spent it? Does it go into some ethereal “bank” and get stored up? Does it simply disappear into some unknown void? Or does it become available for someone else to use at some point in the future? Curious thing about time, too. We often think of it as totally linear with the seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years going by like beads on a necklace. But maybe it’s not always so. Perhaps “our” particular time sometimes bends back upon itself. I mean, have you ever had that feeling of being in a place you just “know” you’ve been to before-a feeling known as déjà vu-or have a dream that seems so real that you’re sure you’ve just lived whatever occurred in it? Perhaps it intertwines with the time of other people, like the guy you passed on the street you’d never seen before-and aren't likely to see again-or the woman you spoke with while waiting in the line at the supermarket, talked about “kids these days,” and then left the store after you’d checked out, the likely result being that you’d never see her again. For just those moments in time your lives crossed, and your “times” merged. The end result is that time remains one of life’s great mysteries. We all experience it, it frequently governs our lives and decides when we need to do (or should do) certain activities or be at certain locations, it comes and goes with no effort on our part, and yet none of us truly understands it. We all have time to live (some more and some less), but when our “time is up,” then we experience what we so blithely call death. What happens then? Does time truly end for us-or do we, as many believe, enter into another “time” that is somehow different (or as some profess-eternal)? And what happens to all the time that we have now passed? Or, perhaps, more to the question, where does the time come from that we call the future? Excerpted from my copyrighted book "Up into the Beyond" (on Amazon).

5:25 I had exactly that same expression at exactly that same time. Spooky.

Continuous moments of NOW.

Outstanding 👌👌👌 episodes

"No matter where you go there you are." This episode makes me think of a time elapsed camera aimed at one spot. Upon review, in fast motion, you see the change, things decaying & becoming, etc, yet time isn't going anywhere. It remains the same; the sun shines then it doesn't... it rains... then it stops...etc. The snapshot of our lives does not remain still - it is simply in a constant state of change -the cause of experience. And while John Polkinghorne suggests that "God doesn't know our future"; I believe God must know "cause & effect" because HE created everything. Still so much more to learn about time though. Great video. Closer to Truth is such an epic program.

I suppose time is just a relative amount of change. F.e. If You want to visit the 1800s You theoretically just have to rearrange the atoms how they were Back then. And If quantum particles can tuunel in space and take multiple paths at once they can also appear to or actually influence their past selfes about whom dont know too much since they were entangled before

A superb presentation.

Given that the Universe is in constant change, based on our intuitive and experiential abilities, it is a short logical step to accepting that different elements of the Universe change at different speeds. It is not irrational or logically incorrect to use speed as a concept even though it implies a certain idea of time and distance which are part of this discussion. It is a sort of picking oneself up by one's bootstraps situation. It seems impossible; but that is what we are facing when we are born. We get on to the journey of life at some point in time and space, and have to choose points to describe where we fit in. Consider time here as a simple measure that our minds can handle of the amount of time that must pass for a specific change to take place, for a phenomenon to be different from one case to another case of our choosing. If one connects two different states by time, say state A and state B, we have the ability to measure by experience the distance in time that must be covered for state A to be no longer in existence to where state B is in existence. This is done regardless of whether there is any change at all, and also when a change is successfully effected. This involves a modeling within our minds that does not need to consider directionality of time. I am only considering the number of time units that must pass for the difference in state to be effected. Seen thus, it is possible for us to consider that the relationship between forward and backward in time is identical. If we move on to consider time as a medium of movement, directionality and irreversibility must be considered. It works as an exercise in observation and useful understanding for our purposes as sentient beings; but experience, analysis, and prediction tell us that there is a directional relationship between the units of time in the medium of time. At the subatomic level, the point where uncertainty and difficulty of measurement become major problems, the question of change in time is not necessarily one of direction through time. At higher levels, more complex levels of entities or any phenomena occur. The joining together of different models of states of change demonstrates a directionality which is no longer independent of direction in time. The basic fabric of the Universe that we can experience exists in a bandwidth that is compatible with our existence. This fabric underlies everything at a greater bandwidth, the bandwidth of possibility and reality, areas that we only have access to in the specific attention that we can devote to focus on them. The question of whether the entire bandwidth of reality could ever be conceptualized in our minds is one area that would require much attention. One example would be the cosmic particles and waves and forces that pass easily through us without disturbing our structure or our ability to exist. In a practical sense, they are out of our narrow bandwidth. One aspect of human existence which includes all that we do and create and experience is the concept of being able to effect change only within limited time and space constraints, and probably more than that. The farther forward in time and away in space that we attempt to effect change, the less will be our ability to achieve success. So the immediate surroundings that we must deal with are most likely in our power to make change or create difference. I sit in my own living room where I have books and furniture and other objects, I can pick up a book or get up and walk across the room, or leave the area. I have great latitude to do things within these confines. Picking up a book on another continent could eventually be done; but that would require many changes. A cosmic wave passing through the room would not be within my ability to change. It is of the wrong size and speed. Conditions far from my ability to effect change can, on the other hand, exert change on me and my immediate environment. The mind can model far beyond its ability to affect. As long as the fabric of the Universe that is compatible with our existence has a relatively consistent set of rules regarding everything that we find to be understandable here, we can create and discover toward a model of what exists in far off places. When the rules change, I think it is fair to say that we have reached Wittgenstein's limit.

it was explained once that if a 2 dimensional being saw something in 3d it would be difficult to understand, so much so they may literally not see some of it. so is the same with time. a higher dimension than the 3rd, which we are. and so we only see time as forward movement, when in fact all of time exists all at once

"To appreciate Time is to touch the texture of reality." Hummmm. One cannot say this until 'Reality' is defined. It has become a defacto std. that ~ reality~ is what one sees in the environment, the world, the cosmos. I think I'd call it a bit differently. I'd say Absolute Reality is that which is unchanging, without break or pause, seamless would be the term I'd use. If I subscribe to that definition ( of which could also be honed a bit more) , wherever I look I see change. Constant change , transformation, peturbances; this could go by the term 'relative' reality. Science measures this ( relative reality) in frequencies, oscillations, cycles of movement, mass, quanta , galaxies moving every where. Earth ( and therefore you) is never-ever in the same place twice within the vastness of space. Where then is the 'firmness ' of an unchanging Reality vs. a casual / relative reality ? Again, based upon on the definition I offered ( Which is anchored in the knowledge offered in the veda's, upanishads. agama's , etc. ); this has been my orientation. My intent is not to convince or cajole anyone into this view, but perhaps offer a different window to look out of when viewing the landscape of epistemology .

One of the only shows from MSM that I still watch.

Indeed, quite thought provoking....” time is elusive”

There are indications that time could be infinity. Since time and space move in opposite directions, for example time slows to zero as space travel faster at speed of light; when space is zero, such as outside universe, time becomes infinite.

time is a punishment for the living, i keep on waking up day after groundhog day

Your cinematography is great!

Wow, this Julian Barbor fellow reminds me a tremendous amount of my general physics teacher from community College. They both talk about this universe of possibilities/potentials versus the actual, observable universe with regard to the relationships between these potentials and actualities.

Time ? My cat does not have the time to think of such trivial matters. But I have to find time to feed the cat and find time to clean litter box.

somethimes the sound efect is too loud to listen what their saying

Consciousness is the key to the experience of time. Time starts when you take birth in the human realms and time ends when you ceases

Thank you for this challenging video on time, following up on your previous video “Time at Sea.” My view on time is that it is “real” within our space-time matrix. The specialness of now, the sense of flow or passage of time, the directional arrow of time - all can be explained by entropy, the Second Law of TD, special and general relativity. Of course, “real” is different from fundamental or primordial. Time may just be a mental construction for us to live our lives and measure change in our local universe. “What is Time?” will depend in my view on the solution to the “problem of time” in physics. Relativity says time is malleable and relative. QM says time is eternal and absolute. One possible solution is the Wheeler-DeWitt equation, mentioned by Hugh Price. It suggests that time is relative within our local universe. But to the external observer on the outside, time does not exist - suggesting that it is itself temporal and only parochial and not fundamental to final reality. Thanks again for your video. Quotes: “Does anybody really know what time it is (I don't) Does anybody really care (care about time) If so I can't imagine why (no, no) We've all got time enough to die.” Chicago Transit Authority, 1969 (song) “If I could save time in a bottle The first thing that I'd like to do Is to save every day 'Til eternity passes away.” Jim Croce, 1973 (song)

WHAT IS TIME? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no mo'.

So, a deeply difficult notion kicked about with here. The vicar talking toward the end was the most incoherent, IMO.

Well that was spatial! Thanks. Subscribing now.

That last talk was beautiful

Time was invented So that Everything doesn’t Happen all At once.

Everything that will happen has already happened, we are just experiencing it...just kidding, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, sure sounds nice on a T shirt though, imagine the minds blown of all the pot heads that read it.

I think in this dimension, at least for a very long time, certainly beyond our current life spans, we humans are doomed to never know. That is what makes it so exciting to live. As there is so much to explore and uncover. Something humans have a penchant for.

Brilliant, simply brilliant.

Time is something alive..😉

Clocks, are not a "measurement" of time. Clocks, are a fictional measurement, and an obfuscation of time. Paradoxically, Fictional Clock Time, is in discord with time.

Amazing

Time feels like a recipe, more than an ingredient. It takes motion, dilation, space, dimension, and energy to exist. It almost seems like something which is made, which in turn, is what makes everything else.

Time is that stuff you waste when you are watching Hillary Clinton on TV.

It's so clear to me the time has no existence we have created as a tool to measure movement and decaying of things.. thinking that time is a universal law or a property in this universe. it's laughable.. time it's only a measuring tool that we have created

Humans are good to create concepts and getting fooled by their concepts.

Existence is fundamental. Information is the MOST fundamental.

this channel is near unwatchable with one ADD per minute ... jeez

Lmao this channel is literally insane

this man is straight up gangsta!!! what a god

Time can only exist when there is a collective experience of time. What better way to waste time then to speak of the end of time.