The nature of Time
By barbarella
@barbarella (354)
January 31, 2007 7:47am CST
I would be interested to hear some different theories on the nature of time. Is it linear? Do the past and present have existence? Is it possible to be outside of time? Is it continuous (by this I mean does it ever stop - after all if it did, how would we know?)? Was there ever or could there ever be no time? I have put this question in science but philosophical answers are equally welcome.
2 responses
@aiguy01 (588)
• United States
31 Jan 07
In the multiverse exist infinite universes some like ours some very different.
Many have 4 dimensions, length, width, height, and time
Time emerged as the 4th dimension shortly after the universes creation.
Time will cease to exist at the end of the universe when all matter coelesces within the final black hole where all matter
has been stripped of it's elementary particles and only the singularity exists.
Prophecy and precognition, if you accept these as being real are views of a possible future when the conciousness either steps out of normal space time or receives information through another entity outside of normal space time.
Time slows down from your relativistic standpoint if you travel at a speed close to the speed of light. So if you travel out 1 light year and back 1 light year at near light speed many years could have passed on earth by only slightly over 2 years for you.
@barbarella (354)
•
1 Feb 07
The relativistic nature of time certainly throws up some interesting questions. It does mean that, theoretically at least, one can exist in a different 'time'. If there are particles capable of instantaneous travel (which apparently there are) then what that means is that a particle can travel at x speed then travel at y speed, instantaneously transport back to where it was travelling at x speed and encounter itself.
@aiguy01 (588)
• United States
2 Feb 07
I think you may be speaking of quantum entanglement where two particles once entangled seem to keep the value of the other particle even when seperated by a great distance and change to the value of the other instantaneously.
Yes this is weird stuff. It's like the quantum state is like a communication line that cuts directly through spacetime without a signal passing across space the way other signals like radio waves, xrays, etc... do.
It's seem similar to the scifi warp drive where you punch a hole in the universe and emerge out another hole without traversing the space in between. Because you are not actually passing through space you do not violate Einsteins laws of relativity. ie you don't become infinitely massive or require infinite energy to approach the speed of light.
