Does proof of time not exist in science?

[MindForgedManacle]

"No scientific experiment has ever been done (or could be done) to prove that time exists"

This is a straight, unaltered, in full context quote from the 2012 QI Book of facts.

QI are usually pretty keen to get their facts straight, but I'm having trouble corroborating this on the web. It seems a really interesting subject and I wondered if anyone could help with any pointers.

Fanx

You might be better off reading stuff on the philosophy of time here. The topic is a little too complex to resort to pointing at particular facts, as it largely has to do with our concepts and interpretations of facts.

I'm not sure we even need a scientific proof of time. Since everything clearly doesn't happen at once, time exists. QED.

Boru

But you're appealing to a notion of time ("everything doesn't happen at once") to prove time exists. McTaggert's Paradox bro.

More seriously, even your statement doesn't make clear what time is. Does only the present moment exist along a progressing continuum (presentism and A-theories of time) or do all moments of time co-exist in a 4D block universe (eternalism and B-theories of time)?

Going even further, time is intuitively obvious, do we need to over think it ?

See my above response to Brian. Just saying time is "intuitively obvious" is just not true. I may think that the concept of knowledge is intuitively obvious, but that doesn't itself tell me what knowledge is. It wouldn't be overthinking it to actual unpack our conceptions of time. And seeing as that's what the philosophy of time does, it's clear that our intuitions regarding time are far from infallible.