Today in physics, there are two fundamental approaches to time. The first and the most common approach says that we use clocks to measure the time component of space-time, space and time being cofounded as the basis of physical reality. However, this approach has no experimental support. There is no evidence whatsoever that clocks measure one aspect of space-time, and in reality we cannot observe space-time at all. The second approach says time is cofounded with motion through space. This approach is supported by experiment and observation. We employ clocks to accumulate local internal motion, and then use the result to calibrate duration. This is then employed in the measurement of external motion or material change, and the comparative rate of such change. Our evidence tells us that this rate of change varies with gravity, being commonly known as gravitational time dilation. However, we can only measure space and motion, not time, and thus we must assert that the true basis of fundamental reality is space and motion rather than space-time. This means that space itself is in some respect timeless. Motion runs in timeless space.

There is no experimental evidence whatsoever to support the view that space-time exists as the basis of fundamental physical reality. We cannot observe space-time directly, nor can we actually observe a world line, or a light cone. We should remember that space-time is an abstraction, a 3 + 1 dimensional `mathematical space' devised for ease of calculation. In real experiments, we observe motion or the resulting changes in physical space. Space is the arena in which massive bodies move and particles interact. Motion and change are patently observable. We can literally measure a distance and be utterly confident that space exists. We employ clocks to measure duration and record a sequencing to the motion and material changes that occur in space. Here time is derived from clocks whose internal mechanisms are themselves in cyclic motion through physical space. Physical space itself is therefore timeless, time is derived from motion through it, and negative motion is an impossibility. Thus, travel to the past is out of the question.

A growing number of modern researchers are challenging the view that space-time is the fundamental arena of the universe. They point out that it does not correspond to the physical reality, and propose `timeless space' as the arena instead. One recent paper on the subject is, "A New Geometric Framework for the Foundations of Quantum Theory and the Role Played by Gravity" (Palmer, 2008). Another recent paper says, "we illustrate our proposal using a toy model where we show how the Lorentzian signature and Nordstroem gravity (a diffeomorphisms invariant scalar gravity theory) can emerge from a timeless non-dynamical space" (Florian et al., 2009). Julian Barbour (2009) said, "I will not claim that time can be definitely banished from physics; the universe might be infinite, and black holes present some problems for the time picture. Nevertheless, I think it is entirely possible, indeed likely, that time as such plays no role in the universe". Such challenges are nothing new, and go back as far as Aristotle. Even Ernst Mach said: "It is utterly beyond our power to measure the changes of things by time. Quite the contrary, time is an abstraction, at which we arrive by means of the changes of things".

Physics Journal, Gravitational Time Dilation, Quantum Theory, Internal Mechanisms, Geometric Frameworks, Mathematical Models, Fundamental Entity, Lorentz Transformation, Timeless Quantum Communication, Tunneling Process, Quantum Tunneling.