Main Philosophy
Time, Part II
As described earlier, this section in the series on time will leave the physical realm of part I in favor of a more subtle, but rewarding approach.
No, Time is too difficult a concept to analyze without standing on relatively reliable physics. Perhaps the latter part of the article will return to a more conceptual time, but we will begin with the comfort of physics.
The water in the bay rippled quietly, shrugging around the yachts that bobbed alongside their moorings. The night was dank and hot, and I had sought relief from the piercing music along the quiet bridge.
Quickly bored, I returned to the concept of time and attempted to imagine our world without time. What would happen to the rippling water, the boats, myself?
It was not a glorious epiphany (I fought to concentrate over the deafening music, and wrote my notes on my cell phone), but I believe that I have arrived on a substantial idea: time manifests itself as a field. Obviously, I have only a minimal understanding of the physics and mathematics required to properly verify my claim, but my knowledge of the subject is sufficient to, at least, allow me to deliver my idea and its justification.
Before getting into the time-field itself, let us begin with the purpose of time which is quite simple: to measure the passage of events. Actions are organized chronologically within our minds for the advantage of illustrating growth, and time provides the time line for these events.
Thus, time must always exist and pass unless one can find a completely static object; something that undergoes no changes will require no chronological tracking, and will therefore not experience time .
Finding an object that would experience this timelessness is very difficult. If we base this theory on the idea that one-dimensional points are the fundamental units, then a timeless situation is possible as movement within one dimension is impossible.
However, my recent studies of superstring theory describe vibrating strings as the fundamental unit, therefore eliminating the possibility of a motionless, timeless situation.
For the sake of our argument, let us imagine what our world would be like without time. While a completely static object would not experience time, it is a different situation if time itself is removed. Since we have established that time controls the order of events, a situation without time would be a tangle of an infinite number of events occurring “simultaneously” and “infinitely”.
If you are familiar with some of the concepts in quantum mechanics, you will notice an interesting similarity between the description of our universe without time and the quantum principle of superposition.
Quantum superposition describes the possibility of certain particles to exist in two places at once. In the “timeless” situation described above, a similar superposition of time occurs because the events that would have occurred separately on a timeline, can now take place “simultaneously” (if a term such as this is still valid).
However, before accepting this possibility of a time-field superposition, we must remember that it is impossible to have a completely static object to create the required timelessness for time-field superposition. Again, we can pull from some of the compromises that make quantum mechanics a viable system today. Similar to the way that the effects of quantum mechanics are felt only at very small sizes, time-fields can only be affected when an object becomes very close to being motionless. In superstring theory, the fundamental particle is actually a vibrating two-dimensional string that can not be static and would therefore experience the normal form of time experienced by moving objects.
As the objects motion becomes slower, there will be times between the motions that will be static. The object as a whole would therefore experience sporadic timelessness that could create the time-field superposition described earlier.
Again, my only background in physics comes from a fairly rigorous AP Physics course and my own fascination with the topic; therefore I understand that I may have overlooked many important possibilities. Please feel free to comment about any errors, suggestions, or additions that you would like accommodated.
“What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.” Saint Augustine
The Beautiful Bay
While watching the rippling water in Miami tonight, I had an interesting thought concerning the relationship between time and motion.
Unfortunately, for those of you who dislike the physical basis of some of my articles, this epiphany is heavily founded on my recent interest in modern theoretical physics.
I will go into more detail in my full article, Time, Part II, which should be completed soon.
Time, a Metaphorical Representation
The river flowed definitively through the lush fields. It was not bound by any banks but flowed above the surface, without spilling. Its path was erratic at best, taking wild turns across the landscape and ranging in breadth from a microscopic vein to an ocean. At times the river would slow to a trickle and branch outward to irrigate the greenery; without warning it would become a raging torrent, rising to a dome that gave shade from the punishing sun. The river remained untouched for many years, branching throughout existence until there remained no place where at least the smallest capillary had penetrated. In these places the river had less influence and the crop’s growth was stunted until the small capillary became an artery from the heart of the river.
All objects benefited from the river, from the lowliest organism to the most precious stones. The river was neither perfect nor clear, as one could not see the bottom (although it is doubtful that it exists). The water was also thick with mud, sand and other masses that floated regularly across the surface. These masses passed so regularly that they gave the appearance of a pulse to the river. One might think that this was the origin of time, that these masses somehow ticked the very first second, but this is not true as the river had diverged infinitely, with each branch of each conduit receiving regular, random masses. No, time lay far in the future where such words would be coined.
The river was almost a creature unto itself; it fed no ocean and was not sustained by a delta. The river had hearts in many universes, galaxies, and planets, and all were connected directly to the heart and thus to each other. The river did not discriminate among its limbs just as a living creature does not allocate different types of blood to different organs.
Each advancement and leap in the creatures’ knowledge was accompanied by a reproach of slightly greater magnitude by the river. This pattern continued forever until the creatures finally won; they finally had control over the river. A filter was placed at the heart of the river; it sifted, cleaned, sanitized, killed the river which became a clear fluid except for the comparably dark lines of soil that passed when the filter lifted regularly. Just as mortals today dream of immortality, so did the eternal creatures who searched for something greater than their dependence on the river even before they poisoned it. The river is now nothing more than a pipe, bound more harshly than its natural counterparts as it runs laterally across everything.
So we are left today with a disgustingly pure time, which by its very label negates the idea of the river’s purpose. Rather than drink from its glorious flaws, we filter it with clocks and experience life vicariously through the pendulum which is more alive than us.
Time, Part I
There are many things that make time a difficult topic to describe. The linguistic foundation forces a chronological structure to areas that “precede” time. Also, people rarely question their ideas of time, making new suggestions or ideas much more difficult to imagine.
We must begin by building a basic foundation of the physical aspects of time:
Prior to Einstein’s relativistic revolution, time and space were considered to be completely separate entities. Einstein’s theory eliminated the mystery of tie by proving its attachment to space in new model. Aside from being a much more accurate description of gravity than Newtonian physics, general relativity also shows how time is not constant. In Einstein’s theory, height above the earth and its “imprint” on space-time would result in a slowdown of time1.
This phenomenon has actually been documented, with a pair of very precise clocks reporting different times at different altitudes.
Most importantly, we have learned that time is relative. If we know that time can change based on physical location, then it is equally possible for it to be just as malleable in various psychological situations. While these mental situations may not cause the tangible changes evident in its physical complement, they are much easier to imagine.
People experience events at different paces; a joyous event may pass fleetingly, while another person’s tragic incident may seem to extend infinitely.
Thus, we are left with what amount to two types of time. One that is based purely on physical law and is fairly easy to validate, and another that is much more personal built around individual and immediate experiences.
From Einstein’s relativity, we can see that at least one “part” of time’s birth coincided with origin of the universe. Again, using general relativity, as well as Hawking and Penrose’s papers on big bang singularity2, the expansion of space-time marked the beginning of the form of time associate with Einstein’s theories.
However, certain aspects of the big bang and its results are inconceivable to the human mind. For example, if we “rewind” to the big bang, it is impossible to imagine the entire universe being compressed into its infinitely small origin because the mind invariably pictures this dot inside something larger.
There is a reason that these events are so difficult to conceive: there is a distinct separation between the physical universe that can be explained with formulas and theories, and the individual universe that is subject to a more personal set of laws.
In the case of individual time, the laws that govern this area are much too dynamic to be included in some type of a formula, but there are a few “dimensions” that are always present. This particularized time is also entwined with a spatial dimension to form what we will call_place_-time. In this model, the location deeply affects the shape of time, but not in the manner explained in Einstein’s relativity. In the individual area of time, the “mass” of the location is based on its intellectual and emotional worth, not its density.
We can also use some aspects of the recent research in string theory with multiple spatial dimensions3 in our definition of place-time. In place-time, the dimensions that affect the sensation of time are emotions. If events associated with certain emotions feel particularly short, this is caused by the distortion that the emotion makes in a human’s innate sensation of the passage of time.
The origin of place-time is with the person’s birth. Only the individual’s experiences and personal intellectual fingerprint dictates the behavior of their place-time.
Now that we have discussed the different types of time and their origin, we can move to some more advanced areas of time. Later articles will include alternate representations of time as well as more profound discussions delving into the purpose of time
1 This effect is based on the relationship between the energy of light and its frequency. As light (or any wave) leaves earth’s gravitational field, it loses its energy resulting in a decrease of frequency. Since the wavelength remains constant, this means that the time between wave crests would increase indicating a general increase in the passage of time.
2 This theory states that singularity (a point in space-time where curvature becomes infinite) must exist under certain circumstances, especially that the universe began with a singularity.
3 A unified theory of the universe postulating that fundamental ingredients of nature are not zero-dimensional point particles but tiny one-dimensional strings. String theory unites quantum mechanics and general relativity that are otherwise incompatible, and is short for superstring theory.
