Science

and it pervades a lot of debates over not only physics, but politics, psychology, social sciences, philosophy, etc.

Some current thinking says time and gravity are inextricably linked and that space is largely an illusion. We know time slows the deeoer you get into a gravity "well." Time is measurably faster where I am at 6000 feet than it is at sea level, so I'm aging faster up here, although my perception of it is exactly the same. To someone way out far between galaxies, I would appear to be standing still, while they would appear to me to be moving faster and faster.

None of this would decrease the time it takes for me to limp to the mailbox, thought experiments being wonderful when my hamster wheel brain wakes me up at 3 AM and I know stewing about practical things at that hour is futile, at best. I'd rather play with ideas like these.