erraticwisdom

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.