There are two layman view on time.

1) consciousness is fixed, time flows

We are conscious and fixed, time is like a flowing river, bringing future events towards us, from future to ....now....and becomes...past.
or

2) time is fixed, consciousness flows

Time is fixed, our consciousness moves from past.....now...towards...future. Or so called we gain knowledge as time go by.

This is what we understand about time.

Now, let's look at what "The Guy" says:

"The distinction between past, present and future is only an illusion, however persistent" - Albert Einstein

He said both 1) and 2) about time are wrong! in his relativity theory.

For 1), time flows means time is moving. How can time move? Like a ball rolling? An object that moves must have a speed, what is the "speed" of time moving? A second of a second? Second is merely something human created, it is just a "unit" representing a segment of time. We can have 4.5 seconds to represent a "new" single unit of time called "fi". So time is moving a fi of a fi now?

Same apply to 2). What is the speed of consciousness moving, a second of a second, a fi of a fi? How can consciousness flowing? Consciousness is simply just there...

Time cannot be flowing. In other word, time does not move.

So you say, I observed an apple on a table for 3 days. Nobody moves it, so as far as space (xyz) is concerned, it is unchanged. However, I saw it get rotten more and more especially on the third day. Aren't this tell us that time is there?

This is correct, the object "apple" changed "in" time. Time is "simply there" like xyz. It doesn't move.

There is no need to distinguish time between past...now...future.

If you do not believe, try this. Say "Now". By the time you say "Now", you assume that the "Now" you just said is gone and you have to repeat saying "Now". Again, it is gone, and you have to keep repeating saying "Now" again.

You assume that every "Now" you mentioned has "flown" through time and become the "Past". And you assume that every moment is "Now". If every moment is now, what do you means by tomorrow? You have to agree that tomorrow will never come.

How Einstein explained all this is "all" events happen "in" time, just like xyz and there is a sequence of events happen and we use our calender system to record each event at different time.

As time is the medium, just like XYZ is the space medium, it is elastic. So difference observers with different relative speed will observe the so called "now" event differently. And this is what make time travel possible in theory.

That is true. Time is one of the most difficult subject under study ever.

The inability of human to understand the nature of time resulted in a lot confusion and unnecessary religion conflicts. Human being appears to know what time is. However, upon asking further, they found that they don't understand a single thing about time at all. It is something so near yet so far.

(What is time? If no one asks me, I know; but if any person should require me to tell him, I cannot ------ Saint Augustine)

During newton mechanic era, the view of time is an "absolute" entity. The introduction of relativity theory induces more confusion than resolves the misery of time itself. A "relative" concept challenges the "absolute" view of the world. Free will? Determinism? Parallel universe? Multiverse? Cause-Effect chain? Time-travel?

Above all, because of "time", it raises the question of "temporal" vs "eternity". Time is a temporal entity? Time is endless? Human consciousness is temporal? Or eternal? What happen at the end of life? What happen at the end of time? Does universe has a beginning? Does human has a beginning?

These questions would be meaningless if the "time' entity does not exist.

I asked this question before: "What happen before time existed? Later I found that this question is meaningless as there is no such thing as "before time existed". All things and events only count after time existed or they only count "in" time. There is no such thing as "before time" as the existence of time is needed to ask this very question in the first place...

This lead to the question of what caused time to exist in the first place.

From Saint Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Plato, David Hume, Newton to Einstein, all these scholars have provided the POV from religion, philosophy and science perspective. I would say there are some coherence between them. However, challenges still arises as it touches the boundary of metaphysics.

The search continues......

Good one, here is another:

"Time" is nature's way to keep everything from happening at once - John Wheeler

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday to all