The Dimensions of Subjective Time
This post is more a philosophic or psychological interlude. Yet, in asking the bigger questions of cosmology and fundamental physics- and seeing some comments and posts here today as I come with no new thoughts other than this, I think perhaps this perspective may have relevance to a science of time. Certainly, time is a philosophic issue as in the statement: Time is the fourth dimension where this is not technically a scientific statement. Then again, the imaginary numbers are regarded as subjective in the main by many authors.
That said, this is an idea that comes from the dream of the other night which has taken awhile for it to dawn on me that perhaps there is something deeper to this dream that has relevance to the results and spirit of this blog and to the debates and signaling to each other at a distance, receptive to what we can know of each other over some interval of time and space between the darkness- and on what sea? I rather like Ulla's description of the Sea of Entropy. Then again the symmetries of thermodynamic are still to be worked out in many physical models.
I dreamed I saw life and the world thru my little brothers eyes, when I was ten or so and he, a blue baby, died just before his fifth birthday. That was long ago and I wonder how it is that such an event could have such a lifelong influence on me and my dreams and life's purpose.
My conclusion seems to be that in the larger scheme of things, in our experience of subjectivity and the sense of time- things like it seeming to speed up as we age (so to we ask if time is speeding up and of other questions of space expanding.) That in a sense, as if an invariant almost predetermined, even after some accident that takes some much too soon or in their prime, our life is long enough to reflect the flow and structure of this world, our brief light given relatively the same no matter at what clock length or twists and turns of time, we perceive it in itself or relative to what we expect of life span of anything, a universe, a sense of self, and that of others.
We may ask, a people and groups do, as states, to try to control and bind time, make judgments age grading in the control of the culture and others, to give lip service often to a lie as good as any other and only as good as wealth and weapons permit, and from an economic distance to impose theory collectively and publicly whatever its intrinsic worth that it remains familiarly conserved, and its reins unseen.
Lately, I suspect we cannot nor should we defeat some question of gender differences by mere assertion or legislation alone. Although it makes perfect sense that anyone of intrinsic worth should make the same pay for the same merit- too much sense really to question as not an obvious truth. The consensus is that a woman's career is set back because she nurtures others, disabled relatives, and especially children. I mention this because at the highest state of our cosmology debate this organic differentiation is the same issue, the world as nurturing and creative. One cannot suppress the intuition of woman and not suppress our chances for a total theory of the world.
Gender issues aside, the question also come up (especially of interest to our generation, our surplus of educated souls without prospects in these United States and apparently in other places, like Egypt today in the news.) At what point along your life span is it best to do certain things? That is, for those of us with a dedication to inquiry or any other life role, what can we expect of the stages in our subjective time (something btw we do not know enough to adjust so that one abstract group has reparations at the expense of established groups- not of which realistically treats the work that arises from the individuals that we do not risk the coherence and stability of our general efforts.)
It has been said that the best work done in theoretical physics is around 35 years. But we cannot pinpoint such an idea- from my experience there are stages and times of deeper work which btw can see a decade or so ahead of the current body of knowledge as well can seem behind that long. I would think that at certain times that such an age, an echo really of previous states of greater awareness and perhaps a loop of what is hoped for or in the future once set on such a path if that is a creative path thus more focused and original, 35 is a beginning for a long period of productivity (although out of phase one can live off the early laurels or burn out after a period of child acting careers). Artist, scientist, or what, during this relative length of a creative period the one in such passion is not always aware of the casual significance of his growing body of work and its possible effects should another period (much as we survive cancer or heart attacks then live much longer after middle age) arise and a further awakening. In a sense a life time is also a mirror of our lack of knowing as we go thru the motions to lay the ground of learning for some useful career later- the phenomenon of know it all zit face bs degree kids for example- or worse the frustrated souls who attack selfishly if their paths are thwarted and if they say for example do drive by's off the grid. Such issues when they occur are given many of the usual explanations, none really apply until we get a firmer hand on technical things- that cannot be solved from the stance our ethics are lagging our ability to control science in the world.
But it occurs to me, at least intuitively, that this sort of concept of time even if subjective or philosophical in nature, could have a resolution like anything we regard as resolved by math and science, within the newest theories of physics, of space and time- albeit these more of an organic nature- and this can be done without a reductionism to our humanity turning us into something like machines.
Still, it hard to think that the young lady 24, who died in a fire last week whom came to the coffee shop and waved hello at times, (she forgot a pizza in an oven and the duplex with a lot of smoke caught fire) did not have a radically disrupted experience of a subjective length of her lifetime.
As far as our efforts here go- history will see some very fine and dramatic comings together of a few pioneers with real places to discover.
How much longer can we wait wasting genius or just plane ability in this world with false promises and broken investments in education. Too many have to face this crisis at the prime of what they could have been prepared for in their prime, in a world of false measures of genius where a little well roundedness is healthier than the troubled over sensitive artist or the way to anxious groupies to the powers that be or the hints of what is the politically correct in fade they wear to blend in at the time.
One does not have to be of some certain political or social persuasion to ask "What Has to be Done?"
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These are the latest paintings of my roommate, an artist, Bonpa. I have had the privilege to observe his progress at the prime of this chosen profession and the things he puts into the work. This is a breakthrough of sorts after a long dry period. The left one is called "Nightmare" and is rather zig-zag deep quantum like physics to my eyes and the right one is "Awash" after a volcano where some of the ancient ancestors of homo sapiens were discovered. I think that if Bonpa had stayed in the sciences he would have been a great anthropologists in the study of such things- physics has changed too much to catch up unless one starts from scratch now so as not to get caught in obsolete things. But I am not sure Bonpa can see the value of his work if he stays with this idea.
There was a video of a gorilla on the news who seems to want to walk upright like a modern man. The news said this was not a man in a gorilla outfit. Sometimes, in matters of science I feel like that myself.
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In reply to Lubos interesting survey today: Do you think inflation probably happened? A poll: http://motls.blogspot.com/
None of the above- especially any ideas of big bang, inflation, or eternal inflation cosmology- nor those as the cyclic models of colliding branes. These theories are at best but stepping stones to much clearer pictures. We should start by defining better ideas of information, dimensions, and multi-verse. But I welcome this post. The more recent cosmologies certainly have a lot to do with how we do science and a debate near to your heart of a less scientific appeal to anthropocentric principles for cosmic ultimate explanations.
ThePeSla
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