Scientists zero in on why time flows in one direction

eurekalert/University of Chicago ^ | 26-Oct-2004 | Steve Koppes

[Bandaneira]

Time is a construct. The Master of the Universe is the Superset, Time is a Subset. The Master of the Universe is beyond time.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Emit

[edsheppa]

But if it can be violated, it is not an absolute.

Wow, ya think?

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank y'all for the pings, xzins and timestax!

My first reaction is that their solution is only considers high energy particle physics and not geometric physics.

Even one extra temporal dimension eliminates physical causality in our four dimension block (3 spatial, 1 temporal).

[Cogadh na Sith]

You suck. I spit beer on my monitor.

[Camachee]

Oh did I tell you, I am caught in a time warp?

Yes, Dear. I know that.

You had a 20th Century surge to be respected. Probably affected the charts of noted scientists and fashionable reconteurs world wide!

I know you had a habit of good hats. I've always guessed red and purple, but that's just me.

[Cogadh na Sith]

The Master of the Universe

That was my favorite cartoon!

[edsheppa]

Then they aren't looking small enough.

The asymmetry is real. If it "comes from" something smaller, that smaller thing must encompass at least that asymmetry.

[Alamo-Girl]

Anyone know what the opposite of time is?

I can offer this: the absence of time is null. IOW, without time, there is no space, ergo no matter, energy, etc.

[Doctor Stochastic]

So you did emit beer orally. (Aren't science threads wonderful?)

[Cogadh na Sith]

Auuughhhh!

Better than the opposite of orally. (I don't mean yllaro, either)

[Captain Beyond]

bump

[CheezyChesster]

Did time exist before the Big Bang ? if not, how then the Big Bang ?

[TheBigB]

Lordy. I leave for a little while (I think) and it's still going. :)

The whole idea that things only exist if we observe them...kinda related to Schrodinger, I think...intrigues me. Reminds me of the boy in MYSTERY MEN who could make himself invisible...but only when no one was looking at him. :)

[latina4dubya]

ping

[timestax]

Like looking for time in a timestax, like a needle in a haystack

[timestax]

pinging

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for your question!

Did time exist before the Big Bang ? if not, how then the Big Bang ?

Time cannot precede the big bang for the same reason there is no "south" of the south pole. Time is a transformation of space in relativity (Lorentz Transformation) - it is relative. Hawking proposes an alternative model for the beginning of real time by using imaginary time - basically, the need for an explanation is the loss of information in a black hole or singularity. IOW, how to explain the unreasonable effectiveness of math, the physical constants, etc.

Neverthess, all cosmologies - whether big bang, imaginary time, multi-verse, ekpyrotic, cyclic, multi-worlds - all of them require a beginning. And that is the issue which invariably puts them in the domain of theology, as the Scriptures say "In the beginning, God created ..."

As Jastrow said (paraphrased) when the scientists climb that final mountain they'll be met by a bunch of theologians who have been waiting for them, for centuries.

[Porterville]

Time can be sped up by using the mind alone. That is why when you are running you can run for an hour an it feels like 20 minutes or do stair climber for 30 minutes and it feels like an hour. But it is always forward.

[Ronzo]

You can always increase the entropy more by creating a new universe and allowing it to expand and cool off," Carroll explained.

So, all I have to do is create a new universe to increase entropy. Some things are just so gosh-darn simple it's a wonder they weren't thought of sooner. Let's see, for tomorrow's to-do list:

1. Feed the fish.
2. Pick up the kids from school.
3. Create new universe (in order to prove new theory correct...)