04-Feb-2007: More Time
Last post presented some of my musings about the nature of time. Now I'd like to take a larger-view tour of time.
Cosmologists tell us that time had no beginning. We can only approach the beginning of time in smaller and smaller increments.
Think of dividing something in half, then keep dividing each resulting half into another half. Theoretically, you will never reach the end of the loop of
T = T*0.5. So with time. Scientists talk about the first billionth of a second of our universe, or the first trillionth, but never, really, at the beginning. Some cosmologists talk about
the possibility of time before our universe, but, seeing as time is an integral part of the structure of our universe, I cannot quite get my head around the idea of "pre-time."
Another concept I'd like to put forward: What is the difference between zero and infinity? Put another way: when does infinity end and when
does zero begin? Conventionally we think of zero as being a marker between two infinite streams: one getting progressively smaller, the other getting progressively larger.
But, other than serving as a marker in a series, what is zero? Multiply zero by zero and what's the answer? The same answer as you would get if
you divided zero by zero. It is also the same answer you would get if you either added or subtracted zero from zero. Zero can neither be reduced nor augmented.
And what about infinity? Infinity multiplied by itself is infinity. Infinity divided by itself is infinity. Infinity plus infinity equals infinity. So, when we talk about an infinity of numbers
receding by reduction from zero
(in other words, numbers with a negative sign) and an infinity of numbers receding by augmentation from zero (in other words, positive numbers) are we really talking about
two infinities or one? Once again: ∞ + ∞ = ∞. However, I avoided mentioning what happens if you subtract infinity from itself. Any other number (including zero)
subtracted from itself gives the answer of zero. In other words, something subtracted from itself no longer exists. Does that apply to infinity? Logically, if you subtract everything from everything you are left with
a very big hole. The only way I can conceive of the answer being other than zero would be if there were different kinds of infinity, so that infinity A subtracted from
infinity B resulted in infinity C. Infinities cannot be larger or smaller than each other, but, perhaps there can be different hues or flavours?
Back to zero. If we regard zero as a starting point, where can you go from there? You can add to it or you can subtract from it, each taking you in an opposite direction
from the other. (When I was a university student I became annoyed when I realized that all human thinking is binary.) But, we know that there are an infinite number of
directions away from any given starting point. So, is zero, then, an infinite set of possibilities? Is
infinity the sum total of all possibilities? This would suggest that zero and infinity are two sides of the same coin.
Which takes us back to the beginning of time.
Our universe developed following the laws of evolution that eventually led to at least one place that could support evolving life. Any change in that chain of events and we would not be here, especially
if the change occurred early in the evolution of the universe. If the graviton had a miniscule deviation in its energy, then the universe would have collapsed in upon itself; or expanded too
quickly for matter to condense. If there was the tiniest difference in the ratio of negative monopods and positive ones... The slightest of change in the density fluxuations of the early universe
would have meant that galaxies could not have formed. Etc., etc, and etc.
Why were the conditions perfect for our evolution at every step of the way for the past 13 billion or so years? This is where I marry zero and infinity. Imagine an infinite number
of events radiating out from zero. Almost all of those events led to universes that never developed matter, or galaxies, where the expansion was too fast, or too slow, where they collapsed
in upon themselves. And out of that infinity, some universes did evolve until they could produce stable galaxies. And, out of those numbers, some evolved to planets with
heavy metals. On some of those, life formed.
This infinity of universes developed and are and will be developing in infinite time. This infinite time is the same time that our universe began.
Here's one way to picture it: imagine an infinitely long string. On that string, bubbles form. Some flatten immediately back into the string, some last a longer time, some continue to grow.
Each of those bubbles is a universe. This string will continue to create bubbles for infinity. Now, roll the string up into a tight, tight ball. So tight that all points on it are equidistant from each other.
You can call the string in that state zero though it is composed of an infinite number of equidistant points. The string that occupies zero is the starting point for everything, simultaneously,
for infinity.
The ancient authors of the Upanishads saw this when they stated the awful truth: That thou art. The infinite and the intimate are one and the same. Our universe
exists because we need it to exist, and, the universe needs intelligent life-forms in order to define itself. We may not be the ones to do it, but it will happen, eventually,
because all that can happen has happened and is happening and will happen.
Of course my religious/philosophical prejudice guides my thoughts—I would not be human if they did not. Weekly, for many years, I recited, Glory to God in the
highest and peace to his people on earth. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.