A new theory claims that time does not move forward, but rather, everything in time is ever-present.
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According to the theory, if we were to ‘look down’ upon the
universe, we would see time spread out in all directions, just as we see space
at the moment.
The intriguing theory was put forward by Dr Bradford Skow,
an associated professor of philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT).
In his new book, Objective Becoming, he examines some of the
theories that have been postulated to explain time.
‘When you ask people, “Tell me about the passage of time,”
they usually make a metaphor,’ he said.
THE ARROW OF TIME
In 1927 British astronomer Arthur Eddington first devised
the ‘one-way direction’ or ‘asymmetry ‘ of time.
He said that by studying the organisation of matter, it was
possible to make a 4D map of the universe.
The so-called ‘arrow of time’ supposedly points to a move
spread out and ‘random’ future, toward which everything is moving.
This is also known as entropy, which tends to increase with
time.
Entropy, a consequence of the Second Law of Thermodynamics,
will increase as energy dissipates and matter and energy disperse.
This means that entropy will always increase in the
universe.
Some say this may lead to a ‘heat death’ future where
everything is spread so thinly that nothing can exist any more – a scenario
famously postulated in Isaac Asimov’s short story The Last Question.
However, owing to the law of gravity, some think such a future
is not a possibility.
And Dr Skow thinks the 'arrow of time' theory itself is not
necessarily correct.
‘They say time flows like a river, or we move through time
like a ship sailing through the sea.’
Another theory states that the present is a ‘spotlight’ that
moves from the past to the future, with us being located in the spotlight as it
moves forward.
Dr Skow, however, said he ‘wouldn’t want to believe in that
unless I saw good arguments for it.’
Rather, he favours a theory known as the ‘block universe’,
which states that the past, present and future already exist.
Dr Skow said that he does not think events sail past us and
vanish forever - instead, they exist in different parts of space-time.
‘The block universe theory says you’re spread out in time,
something like the way you’re spread out in space,' Dr Skow said.
‘We’re not located at a single time.’
Instead he says we are in a 'temporarily scattered'
condition.
He asserts that our passage through space-time is not like a
spotlight - and the experiences you had yesterday, last week, or even years ago
are all real.
But he says time travel between the different times is not
possible, as we are now in a different part of space-time.
His theory follows another postulated by scientists back in
December.
They proposed that at the moment of the Big Bang, a 'mirror
universe' to our own was created that moves in the opposite direction through
time - and intelligent beings in each one would perceive the other to be moving
backwards through time.
The radical theory was proposed by Dr Julian Barbour of
College Farm in the UK, Dr Tim Koslowski of the University of New Brunswick in
Canada and Dr Flavio Mercati of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical
Physics, also in Canada.
Their research attempts to answer questions that remain
about the ‘arrow of time’ - which is the concept that time is ‘symmetric’ and
everything moves forwards.
They say that at the time of the Big Bang not one but two
universes formed – both moving equally in each direction through time, but
opposite to each other.
This universe would not be exactly the same as ours, though;
it would have evolved and changed in its own way, completely separate to our
own.
However, it would be subject to the same laws of physics, so
it would likely have planets, stars and galaxies just like in our version of
the cosmos.
And Dr Barbour told MailOnline the theory could open up a
new way to think about the Big Bang.
‘At the moment when people talk about the Big Bang, they
more or less throw their hands up in despair and say they can’t say what
happened,' he said.
‘Now our work is beginning to suggest we can actually say
more than people thought.’
Which theory of time proves to be correct, though - Dr
Skow's block universe, the mirror universe or perhaps another - remains to be
seen.
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