Time is our most precious resource in this world. It is the only tangibly finite object that we have entirely no control over, and it is precisely because of this that it is so valuable; we can never get it back. That being said, how “real” is our past as a physical property? Can we study it? Does it still inhabit our plane of existence?
I recently read a nonfiction book by scientific communicator Sabine Hossenfelder, and she asked me a burning question I didn’t realize I needed the answer to. Does scientific evidence tell us that the past subsists just as the present does? Intuitively, I think most of us would argue against the affirmative, as the idea of the past being a physical property equivalent to the present is starkly against our perception of life. Unfortunately, though, Einstein proved the opposite, and you can’t argue with a dead man.
Einstein’s theory of general relativity told us that time—as a physical quantity—is not actually a linear, universal constant; it is subject to the rate at which we move. Excluding the fact that it cannot be reversed, time is not absolute. Transitively, we cannot extrapolate and infer that the past, present, or future holds any more physical significance over the other. They all exist in the same way.
Of course this idea is not entirely foolproof, but it seems to be a very accurate description of how the nature of time operates. Perhaps this idea terrifies you, but, depending on how you look at it, this can be a very comforting idea. Our idea of the past is inherently subjective and highly biased to the whims of our mind, but somewhere in the universe exists the good, the bad, and the ugly of your past. Somewhere in the universe, your bad grade is haunting you, that package you’ve been looking forward to came in, your grandmother is still alive.
It’s all a matter of perspective.
This human absolutely agrees because of synchronicities that have happened. All of my strange thoughts led me to an idea from Einstein to do with block theory. I’m just a freaking idiot and don’t understand the underlying mechanism to reality and I like to overthink and philosophize about random stuff, mostly religious/spiritual ideas. I’ve had at least had one witness to some of these events, no way to prove anything, and all I can say is that I pray this is a Choose Your Own Adventure movie, because our whole life does appear to be absolutely pre-determined. I am only a human and do not have all of the answers and I am very aware that my thoughts make me sound schizophrenic or some brand of insane because coincidences, even extreme coincidences are not proof of anything I say being true. I say this here and risk ridicule because.. I’m nobody and it’s an interesting concept/theory and if it is of interest to intellectuals to consider such a crazy notion, good… and if there are any other oddballs that get what I’m saying and ended up looking at this message, good…I don’t know the meaning of this thing that has caused me such existential dread/amusement, but you are not alone, even if you feel alone. I’m not on drugs and I believe one day this will be understood. Maybe Einstein can tell us himself and we can one day pop into his timeline without destroying everything to ask him before erasing his thoughts and going back to where we are meant to be, but of course maybe our future selves already have and are amusedly waiting for our arrival to where we were meant to be!! And at least let the artists be amused with these thoughts, lol.