Time is not constant for all observers. It is not absolute, it is relative. This has little to do with the Big Bang.
-
The answer has yet to be determined.
Stephen is probably referring to the singularity as a state of physical existence in its most highly ordered state.
Any reference to a state of less order than that of the singularity of the big bang is a reference to events that occurred after the big bang, this is because of the asymmetrical arrow of time.
When we refer to time we speak of the mutability of a system or of some qualitative change between one frame of reference to the next.
There is still debate about the precise nature of time, some argue that it is an artifice of perception projected upon reality, and some argue that it is a fundamental aspect of the nature of reality.
One experiment is scheduled to test the existence of time by measuring the speed of light (a physical constant) in a distant much older area of the universe.
We can test that if two photons leave the area one having high energy and the other a lower energy, and there is not fundamental time of the universe (consistent unchanging physical constants) then both will arrive at the same instant.
However if there is even a slight variation in the physical constant then we should observe the low energy photon arriving at a detectably different time than the high energy photon.
This would indicate that even physical constants can change that time is fundamental, and that time exists completely independent of human perception.
Stephen is probably referring to the singularity as a state of physical existence in its most highly ordered state.
Any reference to a state of less order than that of the singularity of the big bang is a reference to events that occurred after the big bang, this is because of the asymmetrical arrow of time.
When we refer to time we speak of the mutability of a system or of some qualitative change between one frame of reference to the next.
There is still debate about the precise nature of time, some argue that it is an artifice of perception projected upon reality, and some argue that it is a fundamental aspect of the nature of reality.
One experiment is scheduled to test the existence of time by measuring the speed of light (a physical constant) in a distant much older area of the universe.
We can test that if two photons leave the area one having high energy and the other a lower energy, and there is not fundamental time of the universe (consistent unchanging physical constants) then both will arrive at the same instant.
However if there is even a slight variation in the physical constant then we should observe the low energy photon arriving at a detectably different time than the high energy photon.
This would indicate that even physical constants can change that time is fundamental, and that time exists completely independent of human perception.
-
Well Butthead is completely wrong. We know for an absolute fact that time does NOT pass at a certain rate. Gravity and travel near light speed both cause time dilation. Both were predicted by the theories of relativity and both have been confirmed in experiments. Near light travel time dilation has been confirmed by measuring the decay of rapidly decaying particles. Gravitational time dilation affects each of us every single time we use GPS. Every GPS satellite has a built in error in the on board clock to compensate for the gravitational time dilation. If the error had not been built into the clocks after just one day every GPS receiver on Earth would be 6 miles off. However most physicists, not just Hawking, believe that space-time did not exist in this universe prior to the big bang. Because this universe did not exist. So as far as this universe is concerned nothing at all existed. If you believe in the multiverse theory this does not preclude the existence of time in other universes. It just means that this universe did not exist at all prior to the big bang, so time as we know it did not either. No space, no time, nothing. Though I have no idea what you mean by "a constant one".