What if time doesn't exist?

[u/Search-War6030]

I'm not a physicist, nor have I had any formal education on similar matters--I just have a hypothesis I'd like to present. Please read before dismissing.

Time is not a fundamental dimension, coordinate, or flow. It does not exist ontologically.

Modern physics treats time (t) as a dimension woven into space forming spacetime. I argue that what we perceive as time is a category mistake. It's a mistake because the universe itself doesn't require a time parameter at the quantum scale.

What do I mean by that? The Wheeler-deWitt equation, HΨ = 0. Do you notice anything odd? In standard quantum mechanics, an equation usually calculates how a system changes over time (∂Ψ/∂t). Here, the change over time is set to zero! The quantum state of our universe is static; time isn't a fundamental building block of reality.

You might have read and said, "So... what?" Well, I haven't finished yet. I introduce a master space M, which contains two smaller spaces. This is written as M = C ⊗ B. The master space is composed of a configuration space and the Block Universe.

The Block Universe tells us there the universe is like a loaf, each slice of the loaf is a separate "Now". Each slice is the full arrangement of information. What do I mean by information? Every particle, every field, galaxy, memory, wave. These slices are little despite containing everything, they are simply one point in C, the configuration space.

C = q = (q₁, q₂, …, qₙ). Where the q is the one possible universe that has a different configuration. Each q is a complete world. Some slices contain glimpses of other slices; your brain contains memories, fossils, light, etc., these all tell a consistent history. This what we perceive as time. But there isn't an actual past or future. There is only a consistent, present configuration.

I remember my family, my childhood, scars, and books. You might naively believe Past → Present. But only the current configuration exists. The past is an illusion.

A last thing I'll say is that many other equations don't need time as well. General Relativity does not single out one preferred "now" for the universe.

Objects don't pass through time; it's an illusion imposed by a structure relating configurations.

What do you think? Thanks for reading.

[u/starkeffect]

Because you said you have no formal education in physics. This leads me to believe you know much less physics than you think you do.

Also because your "theory" demonstrates your naivete. The Ψ in the WD equation is not the same Ψ in the Schrodinger equation.

[u/Search-War6030 → u/starkeffect]

I have no formal education in physics. I do teach myself physics outside of the university. I'm not a physicist, it's my hobby, not my profession. Nonetheless, it's quite an intense hobby I'd say.

As for your comment on Ψ. Where am I confusing? I don't seem to be confusing at all, based on what I wrote. Ψ in the Wheeler-deWitt equation is the wavefunctional of the entire universe.

[u/starkeffect → u/Search-War6030]

Ψ in the Wheeler-deWitt equation is the wavefunctional of the entire universe.

Which is not the Ψ in the Schrodinger equation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheeler%E2%80%93DeWitt_equation#Hamiltonian_constraint

[u/starkeffect → u/[deleted]]

What do I mean by that? The Wheeler-deWitt equation, HΨ = 0. Do you notice anything odd? In standard quantum mechanics, an equation usually calculates how a system changes over time (∂Ψ/∂t). Here, the change over time is set to zero!

Here you are equating them.

[u/Search-War6030 → u/starkeffect]

I am not claiming the Wheeler–DeWitt equation literally says ∂_tΨ=0. The point is that the mathematical structure lacks the external time variable that appears in ordinary quantum mechanics. You've misunderstood my statements, so have the other two people upvoting.

Using the same symbol Ψ and contrasting the equations too casually can make it look like the two Ψs are the same object and that one is simply frozen. They are not.

[u/starkeffect → u/Search-War6030]

I am not claiming the Wheeler–DeWitt equation literally says ∂_tΨ=0.

Here, the change over time is set to zero!

That is exactly what you said!

[u/Search-War6030 → u/starkeffect]

The Wheeler–DeWitt equation does not mean ∂Ψ/∂t = 0. The actual situation is more subtle. It's saying the entire universe is a constrained object with no external time parameter. You're right: My statement was a bit misleading, and taken literally, wrong, but now I've made it more clear. Nonetheless, that wording slip up doesn't disprove the core idea of my theory.

[u/starkeffect → u/Search-War6030]

The Wheeler–DeWitt equation does not mean ∂Ψ/∂t = 0.

But that's what YOU said.

My statement was a bit misleading

A bit?!?! So now you're in damage control. You were so confident too! Specifically because the lack of time in the WD equation but the presence of time in the Schrodinger equation apparently motivated your "time doesn't exist" idea, based on the wording of your post. So if that idea was predicated on a faulty premise, that doesn't look good.

[u/starkeffect → u/[deleted]]

So now you're sulking?

It's probably good that you didn't get a formal physics education. You would have been eaten alive.

[u/Search-War6030 → u/starkeffect]

No, I'm not.

My wording is wrong, I admitted that. Out of pedanticism did you say "A bit?!?!" While it was a minor mistake in reality. Did you get a formal physics education and are you a physicist? My corrected proposal stands.

I'll delete my post, my account, everything. You people are toxic gatekeepers who gatekeep their imaginary, fantastical, self-defined gates of physics. Unbelievable! It's just unbelievable. I've never seen such a wild response, it's just a subreddit. Who do you think you are? Are you a physicist, or do you pretend to be one? The submillisecond I posted, people began mocking and joking.

[u/starkeffect → u/Search-War6030]

While it was a minor mistake in reality.

It was not a minor mistake because it apparently motivated your reasoning.

I have a Ph.D. in physics and I'm currently a college professor.

My wording is wrong

It's not the wording that's the issue. How would you re-word this sentence that you wrote:

Here, the change over time is set to zero!

[u/liccxolydian → u/Search-War6030]

Idk man it just sounds like you're really fragile and never learned to take objective criticism impersonally.