A Thunk is a beguilingly simple-looking question about everyday things that stops you in your tracks and helps you start to look at the world in a whole new light. © Ian Gilbert.
Thunk 19:
Is there more future or past?
Is there more future or past?
38 comments:
I feel there is more future. This is because our past is limited and is finite, but our future is still unknown and hence can be for as long as we imagine it.
Neither.
Time has always existed and always will, despite what the Mayans say haha.
When it comes to an individuals past or present, it depends. For an elderly person, ofcourse theres less of a future left(alive, atleast) and more of a past to look back to. Whereas to a young person, such as someone aged say 15 - theres more of a future to look forward to, than a past to laugh back at.
When it comes to time in general, theres more history we know of, than a future that might or might not be.
If i HAD to choose i'd say theres more future because of the generations and generations to come, and because of the fact that even though our planet earth may be destroyed in 2012(as some dimwits believe), the universe will still exist. And there? theres always a future. that will never end, and be infinite. But then again; who's to know how much of the past has existed?:P thats why I believe that you can never tell; that neither is any more than the other. Might as well just live in the present, I guess. :)
Well, we know of our past, and roughly how long we've existed, and how long this Earth has been here, and it has been a pretty long time. (lol)
But, who knows what the future holds? I'm not saying it's going to end in 2012; I'm saying there's a possibility of it ending tomorrow *touch wood*
We'll just. never. know.
The past- well, what's done is one, we can never change it, which is why we choose to just live in the present. But the future is inexplainable, unfixed, indefinite; vague. Nobody can guarantee that we will still be living in the next few decades; so if I were to calculate from today and measure the time passed and time to come, it would inevitably state that there has been aLOT of past, but a very shaky and unsure future, that can either last for centuries, or merely days.
Then again, this always depends on what future is. Are we just talking about the future of this world, our world? Or just, well, future- technically, that would just go on and on and on..
Ok this is one of those questions that I've asked myself ever since I was a kid, and I have yet to find an answer.
My only conclusion: A circle has no beginning, or end. :S
Funny how you can never tell. The only definite is the history we know, and even that is subject to doubt and uncertainty, how much do we really know of the past? Surely there was history before that which exists in the history books.
But then again, how on Earth will you be able to tell whether there's more future or past. I agree with Tannya that in subjective individual cases, it depends on how old you are. But as a whole, there really is just no telling.
If it boils down to the absolute necessity of a choice, I'd say future, only because of the absolute uncertainty that comes with it as opposed to the subjective uncertainty that comes with the past.
Let me just phone god to answer that
(Phones god)......
Ya apparently it's neither, since the past no longer exist and the future is yet to exist, meaning that any time that was recorded in the universe before now or after now techinally does not exist so therefore there is nothing only what we can percieve of it now.
either that or or we have more past cause according to my calculations we only have about 600 years left before the much delayed apocalypse happens.
13.7 billion years ago, the Big Bang 'happened.' Who knows if in 13.7 billion years from now, if anything will still exist. I guess it depends on each individual's perspective.
If we only think about the earth's past and future time space, then I would have to say that its past is a lot more than its future. I remember reading in one of my science books a LONG time ago that the earth is a bajillion years old and we the earth's inhabitants have only come into existence after a very very long time. An example was given:
Think of the earth as a party that starts at 7pm and ends at 12am, and we, the guests, have arrived 12 minutes to midnight!!
That's one hell of an example and so very true, because the aging sun is reaching its final days and before we know it, it will perish along with the rest of our doomed solar system...
But don't worry! We wont be there at midnight, because most of us have other plans!!
rationally speaking, theres neither more future nor past.
How can we be so sure we have been able to measure the exact amount of time the earth has existed?
The future is inexplainable, that means we don't know what will happen when; thus we stand in no place to judge whether there's more future or there's more past.
I agree with Fay.
We don't have the necessary knowledge to say whether there is more future or past.
If it refers to a person's future or past, an elder person is definitely have more past than future, where as it would be impossible to tell for a child, as he/she might get hit by a car any minute.
Over all we cannot say.
There can never be more of something that's infinite, the past and future are both infinite. They're both uncertain too, one can never be sure of either. So actually, there can't really be more of future or past.
Logically, there isn't more of either. But I'm sure we'd all like to think that theres more future out there for our future generations.
Unfortunately thought, our actions of the past few decades (Yes, forget about the millenniums before) have meant that unless we make serious changes, our future looks short and bleak.
But on a side note, I'm here to live my life and saving the environment is not on my agenda. We've solved problems before and we'll overcome this one... But if not refer to the previous paragraph...
^Duwane
The future of the planet is safe and secure. Climate change only means we humans are in trouble. Our planet will be here long long LONG after we are gone.
wow now you're making me think :P
I suppose logically there can never be more of anything that's infinite just like ishita said. but I suppose if one has to measure we can really only measure individually. Every person will have their own past and future "figures". well lets look at it this way, for me my past is more because I am 16 and have lived for 16 years I dont know how many years my future holds for me, so with the facts that I have it would be safe to say that I have more of past than future.
but if we consider the universe and its planets the future seems more.... the universe, space, the stars the planets they will be there as ,by evaluating their past we have evidence that, they have been here for millions of years and they do have a chance of living billions more.. it never ceases to exist!!!!
:S gosh I dont know if I made sense :P
future - because it can go on for ever, and we'll never know when the world ends
^Nishika
What if the past always existed? Maybe humans weren't around but the past still was.
:)
Well, if you look at it in the prospective of an optimist they would probably say there is more future. On the other hand, a pessimist would say there is more past, and the world will end in 2012. On a logical prospective though, I must agree with everyone else there is neither. Of course I'd like to think there will be plenty more future :)
You can look at this thunk from a few different perspectives.
If you look at it from a humans point of view, it depends on one's age. A 90 year old man will most probably say there is more past behind him rather that more future in front,as he knows he isn't going to live another 90 years, hence the 90 years of past will be greater than how ever many years he lives on.
Yet a 20 year old man will probably state that he has more future ahead of him as he will expect to live more than 20 years on.
Looking at it from an overview, it would be very difficult to tell whether there is more past or more future still to come.
However all these movies about dooms day and the last day of the world etc. even though not accurate in the least bit are probably basing the movies on some basic scientific surveys carried out by experts to estimate how long the earth has left. I personally don't know how long scientists estimate the earth to last, however I don't think its going to last longer than the past it has already gone through.
Therefore, to conclude I would say that there is more past than future judging from the the estimated time the earth has been around and also the historic timeline.
I think there is more future as it is unlimited and no one knows where it will stop. However the past has already gotten over and we know how much of past is there.
^Shweta
Do we really know how much past there has been? Scientists tell us about the Big Bang. But what came before the Big Bang. (i know, that's a bit like asking what is North of the North Pole). But, what if a different universe existed before the Big Bang and another one before that - what if space, time, matter, energy has always been - in some form or the other?
:-)
None, because the more future there is the more past there will be! It just goes on and on and on...
Considering the present issues of the world that predict the future, I think there is more of past than future. Issues such as global warming, fresh water and fossil fuels running out, and the increasing inhumanity of humans, I personally feel the world will come to an end within a period of a 100 years.
well, it seems that there's more future since the future's pretty much infinite but if you think about it so is our past.
Agreeing with shweta
there must be more future than past .but we dont know our future yet , but what we know for sure is , we arent all going to just drop dead tomorrow or anytime soon
mr.roberts
considering the fact that the singularity WAS caused by 2 out of an infinite number of universes coliding to form our own universe with its own governing laws of physics its own space and most importantly '' its own time!''
soo the other question is
is there more future or past for us as humans
or is there more future or more past for the universe, as WE humans know it .
I agree that it is neither. Although sources tell us how old the past is, we can never be sure and nor can we assume how long the future will be.
Aisha Bashir
10g2.
i feel there is more future than past because a person cant mend the past.. but can plan for the future for as long as they want to..
Well then, if one were to say there is equal past and future. Then I would say the 'more' would be the more important one... And in my opinion the past is more important than the future... So there's more past :D.
The Universe started at some point of time definitely, even before the Big Bang, there are numerous possibilities of what existed then.
And since there is no chronological evidence of an actual 'Beginning' or 'End' it is hard to say which is more in length of time. The Past, I feel, will be much more than than the coming Future, bearing all the global effects in mind.
But then again, are we discussing the Past and Future of just the Earth or the Universe? In that case, even when talking about the Universe, I feel that the past has been much more than the future will be.
It is not definite, but it is a great possibility. The Sun is said to be middle age as it has been burning for the past 5 billion years of the 10 billion lifespan of our galaxy to date.
Considering the fact that time existed before our galaxy too, leads us to believe that the Past is more than the Future.
Im StUcK........
errrrmmm......
k........i think that there will be more FuTuRe than pAsT....................................BECAUSE..........
its what I think..........i dont knw why
Neither, you can't say.
We don't know how long the past was or how long the future is going to be.
..The more you think about this the more confusing it gets >:C (that’s the whole point, I know)
Seeing as the past – I mean all the way back, isn’t recorded, we can never be sure how long the Earth itself has been here, we only have the dates when we started recording time. This could have been thousands of years after the world began.
By the end, when the world does finally end, we’ll all have been dead with thousands of years, no matter what the Mayans say, so we’ll never know D:
This is like the whole 'Did the egg come first or the hen?' :P
Either way, to me, there is more future than past. For some odd reason, I believe that there's still SO much more to happen! The future holds more promise than anything that's ever happened in the past. For me, there will exist a longer future! :)
I think there will be more of past. As every "tomorrow" becomes a "yesterday". Future can get over but the past just keeps growing. All the time in the future has to become past some day, so no matter how long the future may be, past will always be more than that.
Well, it depends. More past/future for us? Cause if so, then we will never be able to tell.
We have no actual documentation of when life began, and we have no idea when it will end either.
I really believe they are both infinite in opposite directions.
But then again, looking at it generally, there is definately more future.
We know absolutely nothing about the future. We can only guess.
Since the movie 2012 has released, there are also speculations about the world ceasing to exist soon.
We cannot be sure what the future holds for us, but we know or can know everything about the past. There is a long history of people and civilizations before us.
Therefore, there is more past than future.
I feel that the future is unknown and we cannot measure it but the past has been measured by our experiences and by our memory thus we cannot measure our future therefore i feel that the future is longer and unlimited.
I feel that the future is unknown and we cannot measure it but the past has been measured by our experiences and by our memory thus we cannot measure our future therefore i feel that the future is longer and unlimited.
Hmm.. Logically the future would be the one thats more, But if you think about it. what is past? the past isnt limited. Everyday we make a present and yesterday would've been a past. Tomorrow would be a future. So the past in creases whenever it is that we start a new day. Im probably just rambling out my thoughts and this cannot be proven or anything. But i personally think that its equal. :)
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