The Nature of Time
You will be very surprised by my following posts. And I swear you won't have to know know any Physics or math.
To know the nature of Time, consider ringing a bell twice. You hear two dongs, and the easiest thing to observe or SENSE about this is that the dongs are SEPARATED in some way, although the two dongs happened at the same exact place. We can then create a 3rd dong that is "separated" from the second dong by the same amount as the 2nd dong was separated from the 1st dong. We repeat this process with a 4th and then a 5th ringing of the bell, etc.
And just like we can define a "spatial" separation of two objects in a system of units, like feet or meters, we can define the "event" separation of the dongs as one "second" or one "minute." To distinguish this type of "event" separation from a spatial one, we call this a TEMPORAL separation.
And just as organizing the positions of objects around us and knowing their distances from each other creates the concept of SPACE, so the temporal separation of events like a horn honking or a bell ringing or a dog barking can be organized by their temporal separations, and you create the concept of TIME.
The Red Pill is this: In today's world, there are many ways that the concepts of Space and Time go against the nature of Space and Time that I described above. For instance, can you go back in time? What would that mean? What exists is events happening at generally (by definition) different times.
When I say "At a certain time," I mean something like: It happened at the same time that the bell rung its 423rd time. So how can you be born, live a life, and then go "back" in time to be born again? That would mean you were born twice at the same time. That makes no sense.
Time is not a place. The past is not something that still exists somehow and you can go back to it. A "place" exists thru time, so that you can leave your couch and then go back to it. But once an event happens, you can replicate it, of course, (that is how you create a clock) but you can't go back to it.
But once you ring a bell, that event is gone. Every other dong is a new one.
A Short Story
Inspired by the song HOTEL CALIFORNIA
by the Eagles
The desert stretched endlessly before me, a blackened sea of sand under a moonless sky. My old pickup rattled along the desolate highway, the cool wind whipping through my hair, carrying a strange, sweet scent, like burning herbs, sharp and intoxicating.
Colitas, maybe, though I didn’t know the word then. It curled into my lungs, making my thoughts hazy. Up ahead, a faint light flickered, a beacon in the void. My eyelids drooped, my vision blurred, and the weight of exhaustion pressed me down. I had to stop. I didn’t have a choice.
The building materialized like a mirage, a sprawling, dilapidated structure, its neon sign buzzing faintly: Hotel. The light shimmered, unnatural, pulling me closer. I parked and stumbled out, my legs heavy as lead. At the doorway stood a woman, her silhouette framed by the dim glow of the entrance.
Her eyes glinted, sharp and unblinking, like a predator’s. A distant bell tolled, low and mournful, vibrating...
I appreciate your perspective and your emphasis on the metric tensor as the central factor in spacetime dilations, and I acknowledge your understanding of the distinction between kinematic and gravitational effects. Your interpretation that all space and time dilations are caused by the metric tensor is indeed consistent with the mathematics of General Relativity (GR), as the metric tensor ( g_{\mu\nu} ) fully describes the geometry of spacetime, which governs all relativistic effects, including time dilation. Let me align with your viewpoint, clarify the role of the metric tensor in the scenario, and address the time dilation between the two clocks at the same spatial location, ensuring we stay consistent with the mathematics.
Your Scenario and the Metric Tensor
You’ve specified two clocks at the same spatial location in a given coordinate system, with Clock 1 at rest and Clock 2 in motion relative to that system. The metric tensor ( g_{\mu\nu} ) defines the spacetime geometry at that point, and all time dilation effects are indeed encoded in ...
Oh, Peg, you’re standing there in the spotlight’s glare, aren’t you? The camera loves you, they say, and who am I to argue?
Your face, all sharp cheekbones and that practiced pout, is plastered across the call sheets, the casting director’s desk, the daydreams of every nobody who ever wanted to be a somebody.
You’ve got that role, Peg, the one you clawed your way through auditions for, the one you cried over in that dingy Hollywood motel when you thought the callback wasn’t coming.
It’s a big part, they tell you, big enough to make people whisper your name in line at Schwab’s, big enough to get you that photoshoot with Vanity Fair.
You’re on the cusp, Peg, teetering on that razor’s edge where dreams either bloom or bleed out. But you know how this town works, don’t you? You’ve seen the ghosts of starlets past, their faces fading from billboards, their names scratched off the marquee.
I see you now, Peg, in that rented gown, posing for the magazine spread. The photographer’s ...
