No texto, a pergunta “What time is it?” (L. 1), inserida no
debate da ciência moderna sobre a noção de tempo,
What time isit? Thatsimple question probably is asked more
often today than ever. In our clock‐studded, cell‐phone society,
the answer is never more than a glance away, and so we can
blissfully partition our daysinto eversmaller incrementsfor ever
more tightly scheduled tasks, confident that we will always
know it is 7:03 P.M.
Modern scientific revelations about time, however, make
the question endlessly frustrating. If we seek a precise
knowledge of the time, the elusive infinitesimal of “now”
dissolves into a scattering flock of nanoseconds. Bound by the
speed of light and the velocity of nerve impulses, our
perceptions of the present sketch the world as it was an instant
ago—for all that our consciousness pretends otherwise, we can
never catch up.
Even in principle, perfect synchronicity escapes us. Relativity
dictates that, like a strange syrup, time flows slower on moving
trains than in the stations and faster in the mountains than in
the valleys. The time for our wristwatch or digital screen is not
exactly the same as the time for our head.
Our intuitions are deeply paradoxical. Time heals all
wounds, but it is also the great destroyer. Time is relative but
also relentless. There is time for every purpose under heaven,
but there is never enough.
Scientific American, October 24, 2014. Adaptado.
What time isit? Thatsimple question probably is asked more often today than ever. In our clock‐studded, cell‐phone society, the answer is never more than a glance away, and so we can blissfully partition our daysinto eversmaller incrementsfor ever more tightly scheduled tasks, confident that we will always know it is 7:03 P.M.
Modern scientific revelations about time, however, make the question endlessly frustrating. If we seek a precise knowledge of the time, the elusive infinitesimal of “now” dissolves into a scattering flock of nanoseconds. Bound by the speed of light and the velocity of nerve impulses, our perceptions of the present sketch the world as it was an instant ago—for all that our consciousness pretends otherwise, we can never catch up.
Even in principle, perfect synchronicity escapes us. Relativity dictates that, like a strange syrup, time flows slower on moving trains than in the stations and faster in the mountains than in the valleys. The time for our wristwatch or digital screen is not exactly the same as the time for our head.
Our intuitions are deeply paradoxical. Time heals all wounds, but it is also the great destroyer. Time is relative but also relentless. There is time for every purpose under heaven, but there is never enough.
Scientific American, October 24, 2014. Adaptado.
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