I was sitting; now I'm standing. What changed? My position.
I ate breakfast. What changed? The food moved from the bowl into my belly (with some assistance of course!)
Now, even the act of standing or of eating food is itself a process, but before we zoom in too far, let's consider these processes as a whole. What constitutes a change, a "time type A" moment/event?
It's remarkably simple.
Don't let anyone fool you into tuning your brain out because "that's metaphysics" or with some other scary statement.
Time is really easy to understand.
- Before : You have a prior state;
- After: You have a successive state;
- Effect : You have the set of things that changed between the two states;
- Cause : You have the actor/power/whatever that caused the change of state;
There is no simpler adequate reduction of the concept of time. Every moment of time involves all four of these things.
Applying the concept is easy : I stood up. Prior state? I was seated. Successive state? I was standing. What changed (effect)? My position. How did it change (cause)? Through my action.
Simple.
Elementary.
So let's dig deeper.
Digital existence
We can break down my act of standing into smaller and smaller time segments.But if we could do so indefinitely, we would find that the series of events involved in me standing up is infinitely long. But infinity is a fiction, and infinitely long series are not series and thus by definition do not exist.
So the only other possibility is that when we analyse the series of events closely enough, we discover that there is a smallest possible event. A smallest possible movement. We see our actions as fluid, as analog, but the world of physics is digital. At the macro level, we perceive an analog world, but the underpinning physics is digital. (Not necessarily binary, but digital.)
The math involved in keeping a digital world running without failure whilst appearing at all macro levels to be analog, is astounding, and testament to the extraordinary genius of the One who designed physics and the physical realm.
Volitional vs mechanical causes
The first "event" that transpired in the history of everything was a volitional event. Physics weren't around at that time. God chose; God did. He chose; He did make physics - the math, the matter, the energy - the whole kit & kaboodle.When I fire a gun, and the bullet leaves the muzzle at 800 feet per second, what carries that bullet on to the bullseye?
If you answered "nothing", you'd be correct most of the time, 'coz I rarely hit the bullseye.
But whatever it hits, how does the bullet get there?
Well, an object in motion stays in motion unless acted on by another force. (Hat tip Mr Newton.)
Good and well, but what exactly is motion?
Does the bullet propel itself on through space & time?
And how does this relate to time itself?
Think about it : what carries the bullet on through space?
Momentum?
I have a simple answer : the laws of physics.
Sure, the bullet has "momentum", but "momentum" means nothing absent something that acts based on the momentum. If you took a "freeze frame" 3d photo of the universe, you could analyse that bullet, and make guesses about its speed and direction based on the air patterns around it, but if you could only consult the bullet itself, and absent subtle clues like heat patterns from air friction in the direction of travel, you would have no clue how fast the bullet was flying or if it was even flying at all.
Momentum means nothing. Nothing, that is, unless there is something that pays attention to or "does something with" the momentum.
And there is such a thing : it's called the laws of physics.
Events in time that are caused by a person's choice are volitional events. The "what made it happen?" question is answered "by xyz person".
Events in time that are caused by the laws of physics can be referred to as mechanical events. A person - a volitional agent - might have anticipated and intended the event to occur (much as I intend the bullet to strike that bullseye), but it is the laws of physics and the associated series of mechanical events which effect the visible change.
Cause-effect
When my bullet strikes the bullseye, a dull thud is heard.What caused the sound?
"The bullet striking the bullseye caused the sound", says one.
Incorrect.
Am I to suppose that a bullet has power to create sound? That, absent time, it could somehow cause a sound to ring out? Obviously the bullet can do nothing - indeed nothing can do anything - without "time" of some sort. So, existing in time, does the bullet have the power by which the thud is caused? We say "yes". But let's return to the simplest complete definition of a moment of time :
We have a prior state : the bullet is in the air.
We have a successive state : the bullet is in the target and a thud is heard.
We have a change - the "effect" : the bullet has moved and a thud has occured.
And we have a cause. What caused the change? Did the bullet cause the change by its own power & momentum? Far from it! Take away the laws of physics, and the bullet halts. The laws of physics do not describe observed phenomena, they cause them. And so it is the laws of physics - acting with regard to the physical properties of the bullet - that "cause" the dull thud to sound.
The laws of physics act with uniform predictably based on quantifiable information regarding the physical state of an object.
When we analyse a series of mechanical events, we often describe the sequence of events as a chain of cause-effect links, with the cause of each successive link being the effect of the preceding link. Our terminology in such cases is adequate, but confusing. The prior state is not the "cause"; the laws of physics are the "cause". And the successive state is not the "effect"; the "effect" is the differences between the prior state and the successive state.
Thinking of time as a mere series of "cause-effect" links is inaccurate, but useful as a gross simplification that is widely known. The reality is that the successive state of one moment in time is linked to the prior state of the next. The link between each moment of time is that of the prior and successive states, not that of the causes and effects in operation.
