Regarding the Nature of Time: A New Look at an Old Riddle

As a first axiom let us choose the following:

Axiom 1

There is a real universe.

By this I mean that there is an objective reality. It is this objective reality that
forms the backdrop for human endeavors, among other things. In its macroscopic
manifestations, this objective reality, i.e., this universe, includes such things as
galaxies, stars, planets, mountains, trees, etc. Human beings learn about the
existence and nature of the universe through their various senses of sight, hearing,
touch, etc. It is the purpose of science to "make sense" of these various sensory
perceptions about the universe. If we deny the existence of an objective reality,
then there is little purpose in science.

As a second axiom let us choose the following:

Axiom 2

The universe has some configuration.

Although it may be beyond our capability ever to define completely the
configuration of the universe, our empirical observations tell us that, at least in
terms of those macroscopic portions of the universe accessible to our senses, the
objective reality that we call our universe does indeed have some configuration.
This configuration is, roughly speaking, the way such things as galaxies, stars,
planets, mountains, trees, etc. are "arranged" or "distributed" in the universe.
Stated most simply, our experience leads us to infer that, on a macroscopic level at
least, "everything is always someplace," even if we can't say precisely where.

The concept of the universe actually having some particular configuration is
sometimes clouded by the observation that if a number of different observers are
located in different parts of the universe each observer will have a different "view"
of the universe, and, hence, a different notion of its configuration.

This is somewhat analogous to the group of blind persons, each of whom is asked
to examine and describe an elephant; each may offer a very different description
of what constitutes an elephant, depending on what portions of the elephant he or
she was able to examine, but the fact that they will not necessarily all agree on its
description does not mean that the elephant does not exist!

As a third axiom let us choose the following:

Axiom 3

The configuration of the universe changes.

Although it may be beyond our capability ever to define exactly how the
configuration of the universe changes, our empirical observations tell us that it
does change. Stated most simply, our senses tell us that "things are not always in
the same place." It is this changing nature of the universe that makes it
interesting!

Moving on to the topic of this monograph, we note that the concept of "time"
traditionally has been used in the sense of both "a particular time" (e.g., a
particular date or "moment" in history) and in the sense of "an interval of elapsed
time," i.e., the interval between two or more particular "moments" or "times." To
explore these concepts, let us consider the following assertions: