Time: Does It Really fly?

So I read this book called Einstein's Dreams, which is really interesting. It's a fictional piece about all these theories that Einstein came up with about time before he settled on the Theory of Relativity. Some of them are really cool, and some of them are stupid, but it's really well written and I recommend reading it. However, that is not what inspired this post. I will now discuss some of my views on time and its passage.

First of all, how do we perceive time? We have some idea that we are moving through time, or that time is moving past us, but we cannot really know whether or not it exists. I think. Maybe we should ask some physicists or philosophers. Anyway, why do we have this idea? Why do we need time? Do we rely on our past experiences to define ourselves? Do we decide our actions by our past experiences and future consequences? And if we do, should we? Why not just live in the present? Here lies my disquietude.

Living in the moment. Living by your whims and passing fancies. What would happen? People would die young. Without regard to the future, people would no longer judge their actions by their consequences. People would have more sex, use more drugs, eat more trans-fatty and carbohydrated foods, drive fast, stay up late, and do whatever else they please, as the consequences would be, ironically, of no consequence. Nobody would work, or go to school, because nobody would care about learning new things or making money. Hooray for unproductive societies!

Why do we believe time? We were all raised to believe that time exists, but does it? How do we know that the past actually happened? Could we not simply have notions of something we call the past? Our bodies are not proof. We remember our childhood, our parents, growing up, and all of that, but who or what is to say that our minds have not simply created our oh-so-fond memories of our experience? Disbelieve is fun! Perhaps you think that the scar on your knee is from the time you fell off your bike when you were seven. Maybe it is just an abnormal skin pigmentation, and you actually never were seven. Creepy, huh?

On another note, white chocolate is not chocolate, nor should it be called chocolate, nor should anybody prefer it to dark chocolate because it contains no cocoa solids and generally isn't as good.

Time does not exist. You live in a single moment. Right now. No, wait... 

Now.

Or maybe it's now.

Anyway, it could be that you and everything else has been created at this exact moment in time. Who's to say that you weren't? If you call your friend on your cell phone, and they tell you, "Don't be stupid. Of course you existed before right now," how can you know that they existed before as well? Maybe they were created just now, complete with memories of your previous existence, along with your cell phone, their cell phone and the computer you're reading this on.

What should we believe? Can you rely on your experiences? How do you know it's not all a dream? Maybe we all live in our minds and we just don't know it. Who's to tell you otherwise?

Believe nothing.