.. .a scientific theory is just a mathematical model we make to describe our observations: it exists only in our minds. So it is meaningless to ask: which is real, "real" or "imaginary" time? It is simply a matter of which is the more useful description.

Stephen Hawking
About This Quote

Isaac Newton, one of the most influential scientists in the history of the world, said, “Time is relative,” meaning that time is not something outside of us that passes by. Instead, time is an idea that we create to help us understand what is happening around us.

Source: A Brief History Of Time

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