rogue49

duckznutz, he means a "real" turtle. He was referring to an ancient myth
that said the universe sat on the back of a very large turtle,
and that turtle sat another and so on.

BTW, the photons don't "know", they just move straight at a constant rate. "C" represents this rate or speed.
The only thing that affects this is gravity which changes or bends the path it's taking
or it goes through a different material, like water or glass.

tiberry
Time is a fundamental aspect of the Universe - a Dimension we live within.
Currently there are 4 accepted Dimensions, 3 spatial and 1 time.
Personally, I think there are more, but that's a whole other thing.

Time is a measurement of "Action".
Yes, Mass can be something that is used for measurement,
and that affects the 3 spatial Dimensions (up/down, left/right, backwards/forwards or X,Y,Z in graphing),
and how much material is within that area (density)...
However, there are things "happening", everything is not just sitting around.
You need to account for this in the Dimensions you live within...thus Time.
Even when something is sitting still, something is happening.
Atoms are moving, light is moving, you're observing.

You have to account for the action & interaction of all.
There is not just one object or point in the Universe.

Now you might be correct in the scientists might be going the wrong way with their models,
and not taking everything into account,
but for the most part Time is pretty much a given.