ABSTRACT
According to this view, we could in principle synchronise our watches with distant aliens visiting from a far-off galaxy. The aliens could return to their home galaxy, stay there for many years, and then once again come to Earth. On their arrival we could compare our watches once more, and we would find them to be still identical. In this picture, time sits above and apart from space, acting as a universal coordinate labelling events in space. This notion of time is so ingrained in us that it took a very special person to realise that it is in fact wrong.
