New theory to revolutionize quantum physics.

[Aldurin]

Originally Posted by Nikose Tyris

Religous conversation isn't allowed on NPF.

I did not know that, and I'll keep from stepping in that turd-bomb from now on.

Originally Posted by Sithdarth

First, to have any hope of tearing down established science you must first know established science. Otherwise you're bound to stumble into known mistakes. You can't revolutionize the way cars are fixed without knowing how cars are currently fixed. Same thing goes for science.

Beyond that thermodynamics would like a word with you and whoever wrote that scientific american article. Thermodynamically speaking there is both a past and a future. Combine that with Einstein's treatment of time as a dimension that is inextricably linked to space and it is clear that in someway the thing we call time must exist. It might not work how we think it works and clearly our units are arbitrary but our perception of time is definitely a manifestation of something physical and real about the universe.

The real interesting thing is that time might not be so much a single straight line as we envision. If you subscribe to the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics then the past you remember is only one of many possible pasts that could have lead to your present and the future you imagine is truly on of many possible futures you can find yourself in. There are an infinite number of possible presents as well. Some subset of these (which is still probably infinite) are simultaneously explored by various versions of you. Of course that is only on interpretation. There are others but they all need some version of time. The real key is that in all of them the past you remember is more or less fixed for you because you remember it and that combined with thermodynamics and relativity makes time real.

Of course the other side of this is kinematics. Bodies couldn't move without some sort of physical "thing" (for lack of a better word) that could be called time. Without moving bodies we don't have kinetic energy, temperature, magnetism, atoms, and a bunch of other things. These things don't require the existence of say seconds or minutes or a single constant linear path through time but something inherently physical that we would perceive as time.

You know, that got me thinking to how everything in the universe comes down to the movement of atoms, molecules, electrons, various particles and energy forms. With that in effect, the moving object in question could not go backwards, sideways, crossways or even stopping on its own. It would keep moving forward until a separate force interferes. As this is the true progression of events for any given thing, time must be in a definite direction. Forces like gravity can only affect the speed of time, not the direction. Time must exist, only as a dimension of constant direction and varying intensity.

Damn, you guys got me to finally out-think my own moment of illogicalness. And there isn't any brain parts on my monitor at all. Tear this revelation apart and then I might finally have to give in and let my head explode.

[Sithdarth]

The Sci American article did acknowledge that some fields do have required time and just getting rid of it doesn't work, though they did kind of ignore it in focusing on timeless theories. Theories that get rid of time sell more magazines than "Hey here's a theory with time in it".
The timeless theories do address this, they don't just ignore the things we use that have time- they reformulate them. You can argue that they don't address this very well but you can't just say they are wrong because certain things rely on time, the point of the theories was that our conceptions of things that rely on time are wrong.
Personally I don't agree with the timeless theories but they are put together a little more robustly than you make out.

Also time is totally a super rotor. What drives the rotor? Is it an infinite motion machine? I think it is.

You'll notice I very carefully left out any specific notion of what physical thing is called time. Even the so called "timeless" theories must have a physical manifestation that people would otherwise call time. They have to explain our perception of time and thereby they introduce some physical thing (or perhaps process) which usurps our intuitive grasp of time (or perhaps just explains it). They don't so much get rid of time as introduce a very foreign concept of the nature of time. Call it what you will but if it gives rise to our natural concept of time then it is time. Just scary weird not how we imagined it time.

You know, that got me thinking to how everything in the universe comes down to the movement of atoms, molecules, electrons, various particles and energy forms. With that in effect, the moving object in question could not go backwards, sideways, crossways or even stopping on its own. It would keep moving forward until a separate force interferes. As this is the true progression of events for any given thing, time must be in a definite direction. Forces like gravity can only affect the speed of time, not the direction. Time must exist, only as a dimension of constant direction and varying intensity.

Nope sorry. General Relativity includes geometries of spacetime (that is the name we give to the ideal that everything happens on this grand stage where the things we call space and time are not separate) that fold back in on themselves allowing you to travel backwards in time while you still think you are moving forward in time. Rather you can bend spacetime so much that in certain places time flows in the direction opposite of most other places in the Universe. There is also the little hiccup of how in some quantum systems events in the future can effect the results of an experiment being conducted in the present.

[Aldurin]

Originally Posted by Sithdarth

Nope sorry. General Relativity includes geometries of spacetime (that is the name we give to the ideal that everything happens on this grand stage where the things we call space and time are not separate) that fold back in on themselves allowing you to travel backwards in time while you still think you are moving forward in time. Rather you can bend spacetime so much that in certain places time flows in the direction opposite of most other places in the Universe. There is also the little hiccup of how in some quantum systems events in the future can effect the results of an experiment being conducted in the present.

Quit making my brain hurt.

[Kim]

Quit claiming to revolutionize fields you know absolutely nothing about. Being ignorant of them does not make you privilege some fantastic viewpoint that nobody has considered before.

[Bard The 5th LW]

StOp MeAsUrInG tHe MaRiGoLdS aNd RuInInG mY mIrAcLeS.

[Geminex]

Rather you can bend spacetime so much that in certain places time flows in the direction opposite of most other places in the Universe.

Ok, wait, what? What sort of "places" would this be? Cause I was under the firm impression that even within the very centre of a black hole's event horizon, time is just bent to the degree that it stops flowing relative to an observer outside this event horizon.

[Grimpond]

Originally Posted by Sithdarth

There is also the little hiccup of how in some quantum systems events in the future can effect the results of an experiment being conducted in the present.

Isn't that what the hubbub about the large hardon collider was about?

[Sithdarth]

Kerr Metric
Tipler Cylinder
Time travel in general and a little bit about using Cosmic Strings

And what I mean by opposite is that even though you see your clock moving forward in time you can come back to either the exact moment and place you left or to some moment before that. Essentially you see time as moving forward while people outside this space "see" (ok I don't know if you could actually see a backwards time traveler or what it would look like) you traveling back in time. Well at the very least they see you showing up somewhere you shouldn't be showing up and your clocks really don't match up.

Isn't that what the hubbub about the large hardon collider was about?

Kind of taken to logically absurd extreme.

[Geminex]

I don't think so. The experiments Sithdarth is referring to are simpler...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed...quantum_eraser

Here we go. I'd explain it, but I'm sure Sith is itching to. In Layman's terms, information seems to be travelling backwards in time.

Edit:
And thanks, Sith. I'll go through those links... another time. When I'm feeling more mentally acute. They look intesting, though. Might PM you.

[Sithdarth]

The quantum eraser was pretty much the thing used to extrapolate that whole weirdness about Quantum Waves from a future LHC disaster sabotaging its operation. Of course it basically ignores that quantum effects of that kind rarely manifest in large complex systems. You can see hints of them through odd behavior (like the resolution of the ultraviolet catastrophe) but they don't show up directly.