RainmanTime
Super Moderator
Interesting stuff here. I've enjoyed reading it all so far! I'm a newbie, so forgive me if some of my thoughts have already been brought up or discussed.
A simple fact of our physical existence is that our senses are limited in scope. For example, we can only see within a given frequency band of "visible" light. Science makes an enormous error when it states an assumed fact based on what our senses tell us, because what our senses tell us might not be the whole story. The perception of Time is a great example. We "set" our arrow of Time (and hence we perceive it as linear) because we have vision systems (eyes) that are designed to respond to light. Thus, events can "never" proceed at faster than light. But now suppose a species exists that does not have vision systems. Suppose that the highest form of frequency-responsive sensing that this species possesses is equivalent to our own ears. Such a species would "set" its arrow of time based on the speed of sound in some medium (air), rather than the speed of light. To this species, the speed of sound would appear to be the same type of "impenetrable barrier" that we perceive to be true of the speed of light. The equivalent of Einstein in this species would set Energy = m*a^2 (where "a" is speed of sound, not light).
What this thought experiment should tell us is that the linear nature that we PERCEIVE Time to be (thanks to our eyes) is likely not the whole story. In fact, it is likely a very small part of the story. Indeed, recent measurements by NASA confirm this: The "visible stuff" in our universe that we call matter only comprises about 6% of the total energy in the universe! Only 6%, and that includes all the galaxies and astronomical objects we can "see". We are truly missing out on a lot of data if this is the case.
However, all is not lost, because great people in our past have been able to infer what "reality" may be like just by examining how our senses paint a picture of our universe to our minds. Thankfully, our brains permit us to remember things that happened in our (perceived) linear past, and also allow us to ponder what may come to pass in our (perceived) linear future. This ability to recall and project may help us understand how Time may NOT be linear, one-dimensional. But we must begin such a journey with an understanding that "things may not actually BE as we perceive them to be."
I will take this concept forward in my next post (this one is long enough) and introduce another way to envision Time...one that also nicely corresponds to what we perceive about Space and Mass (the other two fundamental dimensions of science and engineering). Until my next post....
RainmanTime
A simple fact of our physical existence is that our senses are limited in scope. For example, we can only see within a given frequency band of "visible" light. Science makes an enormous error when it states an assumed fact based on what our senses tell us, because what our senses tell us might not be the whole story. The perception of Time is a great example. We "set" our arrow of Time (and hence we perceive it as linear) because we have vision systems (eyes) that are designed to respond to light. Thus, events can "never" proceed at faster than light. But now suppose a species exists that does not have vision systems. Suppose that the highest form of frequency-responsive sensing that this species possesses is equivalent to our own ears. Such a species would "set" its arrow of time based on the speed of sound in some medium (air), rather than the speed of light. To this species, the speed of sound would appear to be the same type of "impenetrable barrier" that we perceive to be true of the speed of light. The equivalent of Einstein in this species would set Energy = m*a^2 (where "a" is speed of sound, not light).
What this thought experiment should tell us is that the linear nature that we PERCEIVE Time to be (thanks to our eyes) is likely not the whole story. In fact, it is likely a very small part of the story. Indeed, recent measurements by NASA confirm this: The "visible stuff" in our universe that we call matter only comprises about 6% of the total energy in the universe! Only 6%, and that includes all the galaxies and astronomical objects we can "see". We are truly missing out on a lot of data if this is the case.
However, all is not lost, because great people in our past have been able to infer what "reality" may be like just by examining how our senses paint a picture of our universe to our minds. Thankfully, our brains permit us to remember things that happened in our (perceived) linear past, and also allow us to ponder what may come to pass in our (perceived) linear future. This ability to recall and project may help us understand how Time may NOT be linear, one-dimensional. But we must begin such a journey with an understanding that "things may not actually BE as we perceive them to be."
I will take this concept forward in my next post (this one is long enough) and introduce another way to envision Time...one that also nicely corresponds to what we perceive about Space and Mass (the other two fundamental dimensions of science and engineering). Until my next post....
RainmanTime