Today (yeah I know this also refers to a time!), we live by the clock - we dont do a thing without asking the clock, or the calendar. In such a situation, this might come in as a shocker....atleast for the first time readers. For those who are aware, its still an interesting topic for debate.
The big question is - DOES TIME REALLY EXIST?
We all have this idea of time as a Universal constant. Newton had claimed that time flows on its own, not perturbed by anything. But Eistein's Theory of Relativity proved it wrong - Time does get affected by the force of Gravity.
There is an edge of physics known as Planck Scale. In simple terms, its the smallest possible length with any relevance. So at this Planck Scale, the concepts of space & time start to break down. So if something is real, then it ideally should hold true at all levels? That exactly is not happening!
Efforts to understand time below the Planck scale have led to an exceedingly strange juncture in physics. The problem, in brief, is that time may not exist at the most fundamental level of physical reality.
If so, then the obvious questions you will get are: Then what is time? And why is it so obviously omnipresent in our own experience? The answer, or more precisely, the counter to that question is this -
In the late 1990s, physicist Julian Barbour suggested that time is actually just a useful construct to measure change.
Lets say, you walk across the floor. The person who started walking is not the same person who reaches the other side. You've changed completely, and your memory of the trip is just the brain sorting cognitive snippets left over from another you. So, if you do not have any such cognitive snippets of a particular period, then you do not remember living through that period at all.
In the recent times, we have a new theory that is being developed......The String Theory or the Theory of Everything. According to it, our universe is just one of an infinite number of possibilities.
So lets say after your school, you had a set of options to choose for your career - Accounts/Finance, Medics, Law, Engineering, etc. Out of these you selected 1. Lets say you selected Medics. Then it is possible that for each other option that you had, we have that many universes. So in another universe, "ANOTHER" you would have already selected Law. In yet another Universe, "YET ANOTHER" you might have already selected Engineering. So it is very much believable, that your current being, who is actually reading this article, is just an outcome out of the numerous options you had, in some other universe!
This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "local time."
Anyone wishes to change their past? Chances are - ANOTHER YOU, might be living the dream, in another universe, that you are harboring in this universe.
Sources of the articles, in case you want to read more:
1) Discover Magazine: The latest in science and technology news, blogs and articles - Newsflash: Time May Not Exist
2) Through the Wormhole Season 3 : Science Channel
The related documentary that was aired on TV, based upon which I am sharing the thought - https://youtube.com/watch?v=dbFoSR44ImY (Its obvious that i wud link this.....since it has really shook some of my concepts!
And, to add to this, i m now actually motivated to read a 400 page book.....About Time: Cosmology & Culture at the Twilight of Big Bang by Adam Frank. Have hardly read 1/5th of it, so wont discuss right now on it!
Still, lets have a discussion on this topic.
The big question is - DOES TIME REALLY EXIST?
We all have this idea of time as a Universal constant. Newton had claimed that time flows on its own, not perturbed by anything. But Eistein's Theory of Relativity proved it wrong - Time does get affected by the force of Gravity.
There is an edge of physics known as Planck Scale. In simple terms, its the smallest possible length with any relevance. So at this Planck Scale, the concepts of space & time start to break down. So if something is real, then it ideally should hold true at all levels? That exactly is not happening!
Efforts to understand time below the Planck scale have led to an exceedingly strange juncture in physics. The problem, in brief, is that time may not exist at the most fundamental level of physical reality.
If so, then the obvious questions you will get are: Then what is time? And why is it so obviously omnipresent in our own experience? The answer, or more precisely, the counter to that question is this -
In the late 1990s, physicist Julian Barbour suggested that time is actually just a useful construct to measure change.
Lets say, you walk across the floor. The person who started walking is not the same person who reaches the other side. You've changed completely, and your memory of the trip is just the brain sorting cognitive snippets left over from another you. So, if you do not have any such cognitive snippets of a particular period, then you do not remember living through that period at all.
In the recent times, we have a new theory that is being developed......The String Theory or the Theory of Everything. According to it, our universe is just one of an infinite number of possibilities.
So lets say after your school, you had a set of options to choose for your career - Accounts/Finance, Medics, Law, Engineering, etc. Out of these you selected 1. Lets say you selected Medics. Then it is possible that for each other option that you had, we have that many universes. So in another universe, "ANOTHER" you would have already selected Law. In yet another Universe, "YET ANOTHER" you might have already selected Engineering. So it is very much believable, that your current being, who is actually reading this article, is just an outcome out of the numerous options you had, in some other universe!
This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "local time."
Anyone wishes to change their past? Chances are - ANOTHER YOU, might be living the dream, in another universe, that you are harboring in this universe.
Sources of the articles, in case you want to read more:
1) Discover Magazine: The latest in science and technology news, blogs and articles - Newsflash: Time May Not Exist
2) Through the Wormhole Season 3 : Science Channel
The related documentary that was aired on TV, based upon which I am sharing the thought - https://youtube.com/watch?v=dbFoSR44ImY (Its obvious that i wud link this.....since it has really shook some of my concepts!
And, to add to this, i m now actually motivated to read a 400 page book.....About Time: Cosmology & Culture at the Twilight of Big Bang by Adam Frank. Have hardly read 1/5th of it, so wont discuss right now on it!
Still, lets have a discussion on this topic.
