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Suzy B Software CD-ROM 2 (1994).iso
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1995-05-02
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49 lines
There is much more to time, even in the rigorous view of
scientists, than merely the interval between events. The scientific
concept of time is itself so rich with possibilities that it gives
writers plenty of room to maneuver even without going into the realms
of "imaginary" science.
When scientists refer to time as a dimension, they basically mean
something rather obvious. As H.G. Well's time traveller pointed out,
back in 1895, to describe any object it is necessary to say not only
where it is(using the three dimensions of space - length, breadth and
height), but also when it is. Any object has a duration of existence,
and to specify its position and qualities we need to be exact about
time. A man in Sydney in 1967 may be different from the same man in
London in 1982. This may seem an easy way of thinking about time, but
a little more thought shows its difficulties. Time is, in one vital
respect, different from the three dimensions of space. We can move
about in any dimension of space, backwards, forwards, and so on. But
we can only move forwards in time, and at the moment we can only do
this at the rate dictated by time itself for slow-moving objects. (As
we approach the speed of light, however, we can increase the rate at
which we travel forwards through time).
Einstein showed us that the universe was actually made up of a
four-dimensional amalgam of space and time which he termed the "space-
time continuum". It is hard enough to imagine the emptiness of space
as having a structure in the first place, but Einstein went on to show
that space-time could stretch, bend, and distort almost like a sheet of
rubber. Time itself, which in Einstein's theory is a a variable and
not an absolute, is distorted in the region of large masses.
In Einstein's theory, the very existence of time depends on the
presence of space, and it is impossible to think of time as a thing in
itself. As a consequence, the whole idea of infinite time, stretching
back endlessly into the past, and forward endlessly into the future, is
wrong. If the universe began as a primal monobloc which had no
dimensions of space, then we can say that time itslef began with the
explosion of that monobloc. Threrefore time itself will end when the
monobloc reappears, with the contraction of the universe back into primal
matter at the end of its life, as many cosmologists believe it will.
The cosmologist Paul Davies and others go further, arguing that
"before" and "after" our own universe there may have been an infinite
number of other universes, some of which may be indistinguishable from
ours. If it were possible for a time traveller to cross the timeless
gap between universes, he might enter a universe the same as ours, but
at a different point in time. this gives a possible scientific basis
for the old idea of time as a great cycle, as the ancient Mayans
believed. The idea often emerges in science fiction, as in John
Taine's THE TIME STREAM and in Michael Moorcock's THE HOLLOW LANDS, in
which the hero and heroine travel to the Paleozoic Age by going
forwards in time rather than backwards.
(Reprinted from Roxby Science Fiction)