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The Myth of Time
When you tell me a story I will believe you, at least when the story is not told in jest and there is no evidence
available to me to doubt your words. To repay the trust, when I tell you a story, you believe me. Truth is the
default value attached to the words we exchange. Without this social contract our personal and social life
would become very complicated, to say the least. Countless hours would be lost in checking the truth of simple lines like “Yes, I was working late.” The social contract not only specifies that your words be truthful, but
also that they are to the point, clear and as brief as possible. TEXT: HENK ELLERMANN
A long time ago the English born philosopher Paul Grice summarized this
a deep truth if one interprets them metaphorically. The book of Genesis
contract in what was later the called “the conversational maxims of Grice”.
depicts the creation of our world in a way that is clearly wrong, given the
When engaged in communication people tend to follow these rules,
facts our scientists have found, but the idea that the world was created
mostly without an awareness of them, and assume that others follow
by a God does give a meaning to our existence that many still value,
them too. Needless to say that there are many occasions at which these
even when the only meaning of it is a test bed for our morality. Oedipus
rules are broken. No novelist is assumed to tell the truth and nothing but
may have killed his father in the story, but interpreted as a kind of battle
the truth and even clearness and briefness are not in general the hallmark
between father and son with the mother as the cause it may still confer
of a good fiction writer. There are many forms of communication that just
some meaning on the complicated relationships between the members
aim to please, or enrich, or to stimulate, but these are exceptions to the
of one household. The talent of our brains to find meaning and truth in
rules that have been so clearly laid down by Paul Grice and a few others.
almost anything is a mixed blessing.
The contract does not imply that anything that can be said will be
AND THAT SOMEONE, OR SOMETHING, HAS
TO BE HELD RESPONSIBLE WHEN BAD LUCK
STRIKES TOO OFTEN, IS A NOTION THAT
IS VERY HARD TO SUPPRESS
believed. What is said needs a certain degree of plausibility. If I tell you
that I went to the moon yesterday, chances are that you will not believe
me. It is not plausible to visit the moon without a decent rocket and since
I am not a billionaire there is no way I could have paid for or rented such
a machine. Things get a little trickier when someone tells me that he has
The story of Oedipus may be a case in point. It may lead to the “observa-
a tendency to panic because he is Scorpio. The plausibility of this claim
tion of a battle” when there in fact is none, with possible negative influ-
depends on shared believes. If you, like me, don’t think astrology makes
ences on the well being of the household members. Science has uncov-
any sense, then this claim will be rejected. On the other hand, being a
ered many areas where our disposition to find meaning and truth goes
rational person, I think it is possible that what one believes determines to
astray. It has, for instance, clearly been shown that humans can’t cope well
some degree what one does and that therefore the believe that being
with randomness, that is, with luck and bad luck. The gamblers fallacy,
a Scorpio may make him the panicky sort of guy. A believe like that may
that is the idea that some gamblers have that after several throws of a
work like a self-fulfilling prophecy and for that simple reason I may nod
dice in which, say, a six didn’t show up the odds that the next throw will
in agreement. His and my believe systems do not match particularly, but
reveal a six has increased, is one prime example. And that someone, or
there still is a weird sort of overlap so that, in a sense, I can believe him.
something, has to be held responsible when bad luck strikes too often,
is a notion that is very hard to suppress. Perhaps more relevant is the fact
These two elements, our inborn talent to attach truth to words and the
that considerable money can be earned by predicting the stock market
necessity of a set of share believes and convictions determine and con-
although it has clearly been shown that there is very little to predict. The
strain what can be said without being ridiculed. What is believed to be
randomness of the stock market is not widely accepted. Also, the fact that
possible (and worthy of assigning it the qualification “the truth”) is by and
so many people think they are on this earth for a purpose or reason, with-
large determined by the public discourse. In our modern times this sim-
out any hard evidence to back up this claim, is probably another example.
ply means that the media determine what is possible and not.
It is not our brains by itself that form an antidote for the tendency to see
The first element, the ease with which we attach truth to words, is, I think,
truth and meaning everywhere. Science can offer such an antidote, but,
the reason that myths and legends came into existence and still exist.
as we will see later on, it can also offer riddles that would tax our ability
Many of the older myths are true if one is willing to find truth in them.
to find meaning in the world to the highest degree. Referring back to the
Biblical stories, for instance, are often found to have a deep meaning or
maxims of Grice we note one important difference between scientists
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and, say, normal people. Nor scientists, nor normal people are allowed
to lie and be needlessly ambiguous or long winding, but unlike a normal
person, a scientist is not supposed to accept the truth of words uttered
BUT NOW IS THE TIME THAT THIS DOES NOT
HAPPEN. NOW IS THE TIME THAT OUR BELIEVE
SYSTEMS ARE HELD TO BE ROCK SOLID
by others. Words should be checked at all times. It is not an easy job and
it surely is not a reflex to systematically doubt and test the words uttered
be in two states at the same time and in many places at all times. Time
by another person. It sometimes even feels a bit like cheating and it can
in physics doesn’t seem to have a real past and a real future. Science, in
be truly awkward to discover that your truths are not what seem to be.
short, breaks down a few conceptions that are the core of our existence,
The history of science is replete with examples to prove this point. When
that determine to a large degree the way we work, live and judge. Now
Newton declared the universe to be infinite, something he had to do
would be the time to put our talent to find meaning in the world around
or otherwise his theory would predict that the universe should collapse
us to work and let it run at maximum speed. But now is the time that this
in a jiffy, theologians rejected that idea immediately because infinity
does not happen. Now is the time that our believe systems are held to
belonged to God.
be rock solid and at which those old believes are strongly reinforced. We
When Copernicus put the sun at the centre of the universe, and not the
need that very same talent that created myths and legends more than
earth, some theologians objected because the role of mankind would
ever. But nothing happens, not really.
be diminished. Etcetera, etcetera.. A long battle between science and
(Christian) religion followed that more or less ended in the contempo-
Science rarely is in the news. And I mean science. Not those fields which
rary truce. Ignoring idiocies like creationism (although legal debates with
are no doubt of high practical value like the social sciences, Law and eco-
creationists still can ruin fine scientific careers), the general understanding
nomics, but the sciences that matter when we think about big questions
now is that if religion says anything about nature, it is only about creation
like what it means to be human. The, from the perspective of life’s big-
and about the immortality of the soul. Both topics cannot at this time be
ger questions, minor scientific fields make their appearance in the media
addressed by science, so (Christian) theologians seem safe for the time
regularly. Admittedly, some of their findings do stir the public mind. It is
being.
somewhat thrilling to know that we can only keep 7 items in our short
term memory, to know that most of what we do is based on unconscious
Although there is a large history of conflicts between science and religion,
decisions, that revenge is not the only and ultimate ground for criminal
at least in our Western world, the least we can say is that those conflicts
law, that consumers trust in the economy plays such an important role
were visible to everyone who cared about them. Now, with the truce
in an economy, etcetera, etcetera, but none of these findings is of such a
between science and religion in place, such conflicts rarely reach the
nature that a priest, bishop, pope or ayatollah will lose one night of sleep
surface of public consciousness anymore. And that is a shame. Science,
over it. These, with all due respect, minor sciences have become part and
at least the major sciences, has come up with descriptions of the world
parcel of the practicalities of our life, are controlled by those practicalities
around us that are totally surprising and even bewildering. Particles can
and do nothing to help us think about the meaning of our life.
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THERE IS NO SEPARATE MODE OF EXISTENCE
FOR EVENTS IN THE PAST, FOR EVENTS IN
THE PRESENT, AND FOR EVENTS IN THE FUTURE
you. The eminent physicist Roger Penrose made this effect quite clear
with a simple example. If you and were to meet on a street in, say, Tilburg,
than it may the case that an election that is held on some distant planet
(he used the Andromeda galaxy as an example) is in the past for you,
but it still is about the happen for me. In fact it can be shown by simple
mathematics that there is no event in the universe at large that is not in
the past of some observer. So, if the past is immutable and everything
is in the past of some potential observer, then everything is immutable.
There is no separate mode of existence for events in the past, for events
in the present, and for events in the future. Everything that was, is and will
be, simply is. Is it really true then that there is no future to plan because
it already is there? If we do not want to accept this conclusion, and it is
possible to avoid it, we need to think real hard about time and the world
around is. Mind you, this is not some bogus fantasy, the so called block
view of the universe in which everything simply is, is widely accepted in
the community of physicists. Articles with titles like “Time. Forget about
it” abound in the literature.
Since time plays such a fundamental role in our life and since it is likely
that we control our lives based on certain myths about time, why are
As alluded to above, the major sciences have led to conclusions so
not the media full of talk about time? Why has not the pope banned
far reaching and so important for our thinking of what it means to be
theories like this because it contradicts so much that the church stands
human, that it is baffling to see how little attention is given to them in
for? Where are the philosophers, the theologians, the writers that take
the public media. The truth is that those findings would contradict a long
this issue seriously, that reject, amend or approve it? I truly wish we had
standing myth that determines to a large extent the structure of our soci-
a pope that would ban Einstein, for then at least, we would have a thor-
ety. The myth I am referring to is the myth of time. We think of time as
ough and public debate on the true fundaments of our life: the way we
something that has a future, a present and a past. The present is, in a way,
perceive and deal with time. It is tempting to conclude that no one wants
all there is. The past has been and what has been is immutable. We can
this debate, really. There is an urgent economic crisis and we need to join
know something of the past, by the remains of it that are with us in the
forces to fight this crisis. Sure, the practicalities of life cannot and should
present, but we cannot change it. The future is not yet and is open. The
not be avoided. But every now and then the need for a broader vision
actions we perform today will affect the future and if we work hard and
arises, especially when some Dutch secretary of state forces the youth
right we can change the future and make sure that it will be beneficial to
to be trained in only those fields that will bring them jobs. It is hard, at
us. It is this conception of time that underlies all our work, that motivates
times, not to think that there is conspiracy of sorts that forces us to focus
our ethics and reinforces on us the concept of an active person respon-
solely on immediate practicalities, on the necessities of life. When have a
sible for his own well being (and his future). This common conception
shared system of beliefs and are not encouraged to think deeper, political
of time also underlies all the practical sciences that have a podium in
turmoil will be minimized. But one day we will have to think again about
the media. The conception of time itself is rarely discussed. Yet, given the
the huge conceptual problems that science gives us. Let’s hope that our
advancements in science over the last 100 or years, this conception is
talent to find truth and meaning will not have left us by then, that we
most likely to be false.
can find a meaningful story within the confines of the maxims of Grice.
Sadly, I can only give a hint of what is wrong with this conception. Let
us start with the present. You are reading this and at the same time that
I am somewhere else (sorry, I do not know where I will be). In this shared
present we exist, perhaps reflecting on the past, perhaps planning for
the future. But this present in which we all exist, this notion of us being
simultaneously present, cannot be. It is a simple consequence of the
theory of relativity that the events that are simultaneous for me are not
simultaneous for you. When we do not move at high speeds with respect
to each other and live relatively close to each other (say on earth) the differences in timing of events is of little practical interest, but the principle
nevertheless stands: what is in the past for me may be in the future for
Academic Forum
where science meets society and life
Expand your horizons, take the time to reflect
www.tilburguniversity.edu/academicforum
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