Could humankind function without the concept of time or something like it?

Question

Is it necessary for men and women to have the structured and linear flow provided by the human created concept of "time" to function?

Answer 1

****Edit based on further comment by asked*****

Man is incapble of rationalizing the concept of time without any bias. Therefore, we would be unable to actually exist without such rationalizations.



To your comment about animals. Yes, animals percieve time, even insects. The difference between nocturnal and day animals. Do they percieve it with the same complexity as humans, i doubt it. There is no reason for a horse to count days and minutes, or even hours while grazing. Huamsns like to rationalize and reason that our time must be spent in the most effective way.



Because of this, animals take the passing of the sun and moon as the equality of time. Huamsns, they do something a bit more complex; we take the aspect of time to a whole new level and ensure that our time is leveraged as much as possible.



So, No, i don't think it's possible for us to ever exist without the concept of time, mainly because of the type of reasoning and logic that we use.



****End Edit*****





It is possible for man to exist without time, yes, however, the concept is what is percieved, not what is documented.



Man, even from the earlier years has recorded time simply as the passing of the moon and sun through the sky; the passing of the moon harvest cycles, and the passing of the seaons, stars, ect.



Because of this, even in the earlier years, man has documented time as a standard as to which to live by. The additions of days, months, weeks, hours, seconds, and minutes, refines the process even further, allowing humans to maintain an accurate and precise record of time.



Can we exist without, absoutly. However, would we? No. As we 'percieve', we reason. Therefore, we percieve and reason through the aspect of time even if it didn't exist.



Thanks!

Answer 2

Could we function if we didn't conceptualize the abstract rhythms of nature into a structured flow of moment to moment, second by second, minute building upon each preceding minute, etc.? Well, I am!

Answer 3

LIfe in a modern day as we have it now would be impossible; nowadays, humans have based everything around determined periods of time. At school you have english at one time of day, history at another time of day, and luch and another time of day. You wake up at a certain time because you have to be at work at a certain time. Stores open and close at certain times. Today's society is based around an intangible, purely abstract concept, set into preset intervals that are both confining and freeing. We could exist perfectly well without the concept of the "minute" or "second", simply using our surroundings to guage how late in the day it is. But a modern society, where there are planes taking off and landing and busses passing stations at certain times, those intervals are needed.

Answer 4

Maybe I'm not fully understanding your question, but as long as there is a sun and a moon, there will always be a sense of time. Our body's have circadian rhythms that we cannot ignore, which rule our sleep patterns. The whole 'minutes and hours' thing is just really darn convenient when you are trying to catch a bus, etc.

Answer 5

Your questions seems to be more about how we deal with cause and effect. Our concept of time (the sequence of events) is important because we need to know which events precede important events so that we may react or plan for our future needs (the roar of a lion means we next need to run or fight). Loss of the ability to properly sequence things would be a loss of our logical brain, and in the natural world, this means death, in the modern world, it means dependency.

Answer 6

Humans could exist without the concept of time, but what kind of existence would it be?



There would be no workforce since time is required to start and end everything.



We wouldn't know when to eat except when hunger strikes, so there would be no supplies available, and our systems would be extremely messed up without regularity.



We couldn't have social functions since no one would know when to be there....



No schools, or regular church schedules.



Worst of all, our memories would shrink since we keep track of personalities and situations by dates and ages.



Existing would be just that - nothing more.

Answer 7

what if planet earth messed up the real time, and all the other universes have the real time? what if its really year 3457 or year 1234??