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O Holy Ghost, whose temple I
Am, but of mud walls, and condensèd dust,
And being sacrilegiously Half wasted with youth’s fires of pride and lust,
Must with new storms be weather-beat,
Double in my heart Thy flame,
Which let devout sad tears intend, and let—
Though this glass lanthorn, flesh, do suffer maim—
Fire, sacrifice, priest, altar be the same.
In some sense, yes.
originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: Arbitrageur
The clock is keeping a record of time though isn't it?
In the way special relativity defines "observer", yes, but the language of physicists differs from ordinary English in some respects and this is one such case, where the definition of "observe" is context dependent.
Regardless of the school of science this belongs too I believe that tells us that the clock is in fact observing time.
Physicists use the term "observer" as shorthand for a specific reference frame from which a set of objects or events is being measured. Speaking of an observer in special relativity is not specifically hypothesizing an individual person who is experiencing events, but rather it is a particular mathematical context which objects and events are to be evaluated from.
That seems to refer to my previous comment about the meaning of the word "observe" depending on context.
originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: Arbitrageur
Could we redefine "being in observance of", such as observing a holiday? That's a modality for experience isn't it?
"Experience" also has context dependent meanings, but yes in some sense of the word "experience" the clock experiences time, however not in all possible meanings of the word "experience", some of which connote consciousness and the clock has no consciousness.
Is experiencing something observance?
Would the clock need to experience time in order for it to record it?