a first time for everything......?

[Laughing Gull]

is there really a first time for everything?

as in, its it a natural law?

the first raindrop to hit dirt on earth.

the first time there was a super nova.

the first honey bee to sting a boy.

the first leaf ever to fall from a tree in autumn.

thinking about this stuff upsets me for some reason. kinda like the chicken/egg thing


or is just a huge gray area that cannot be defined?

or is the universe so vast that everything that happens, happens more than once at the same time?

can someone help me sort this out?

 

[Azadre]

You need to stop being so philosophical and more political

 

[andrewgprv]

Well assuming time is linear then yes, there is a first time for everything. However it can be fuzzy I.E. what do you define a boy? a male animal? a human male? a young human male? a young male neandertal? a young male monkey?

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Originally posted by Laughing Gull
or is just a huge gray area that cannot be defined?

Like Ted Kennedys head?

can someone help me sort this out?

I doubt it.

 

[Mrogreturns]

My best guess is that yes there is a first time for everything, but that, due to uncertainty, we would have to award joint first place in many instances.

 

[WillJ]

Well, if there were a first time for everything, that'd mean that there was a first time that there wasn't a first time for everything, and therefore all known forms of reason would come to an end and the universe would implode.

 

[Mrogreturns]

Based on the examples in the first post I read it as every physical event.

 

[Bud2998]

If there's a beginning in anything, there has to be a first time for something.

 

[Archer 007]

I think there is.

 

[cgannon64]

I think there must have been a first time you smoked too.

 

[andrewgprv]

Originally posted by cgannon64
I think there must have been a first time you smoked too.

Good one

 

[bobgote]

Originally posted by cgannon64
I think there must have been a first time you smoked too.

beat me to it

anyway, as andrew said, as long as you assume that time is linear (a fair assumption, given information we have), then there is a first time for everything.

 

[Plexus]

Of course, there are some things that will never happen.

 

[Mrogreturns]

On a more pessimistic note- is there a LAST time for everything?

 

[FredLC]

I guess there was a first time for everything that DID happen (still assuming a linear time).

What does not mean that everything that is theoretically possible did happen, hence, there was not a first time for everything in the most conglobing sense of the term.

But everything that turned from conjecture to event (as in having happened at least once in the space/time continuum) must have had a first time.

Note: this is a far less challenging question than the egg/chicken thing, because, unlike it, this one does not explore the fundamental paradox of the relation cause/consequence.

Regads .

 

[Pirate]

Andrewgprv had it right. The answer is fuzzy for some things (how big does a collection of water need to be to be considered a raindrop? Does it need to fall from a cloud or can it condense out of fog just an half a millimeter above the ground? What constitutes soil?). But others can be more concrete. Take the leaf falling from the tree in autumn. Somewhere there is a first leaf that falls every autumn, presumably somewhere near the international date line where "autumn" is defined first. Since leaves are constantly dropping it would probably be right at the stroke of midnight too. I would define falling as the instant that the leaf is free to fall under gravity and is not experiencing any resistance via a mechanical connection to the tree. The "second" leaf (or third, or thousandth for that matter) may be only milliseconds behind it, but there is a first.

 

[da_greatest]

Originally posted by cgannon64
I think there must have been a first time you smoked too.

Yeah, but you might not remember it.

 

[bobgote]

Originally posted by Pirate
Andrewgprv had it right. The answer is fuzzy for some things (how big does a collection of water need to be to be considered a raindrop? Does it need to fall from a cloud or can it condense out of fog just an half a millimeter above the ground? What constitutes soil?).

Well actually the answer isn't fuzzy. The question is fuzzy If you specify the question, there is a specific answer.

 

[Pirate]

Originally posted by bobgote

Well actually the answer isn't fuzzy. The question is fuzzy If you specify the question, there is a specific answer.

Touche. Whaddya say we go smoke and think about it...

 

[bobgote]

Originally posted by Pirate
Touche. Whaddya say we go smoke and think about it...

lol
this is my brain functioning normally
it's good to be me