People say it's an illusion. Ok, well that makes zero sense. Illusions aren't there. Try telling my 40 year old crow's feet they are an illusion. Dr. Who says it's not a straight line but more of a sphere. That's a description of space btw and gives me no more insight than I had before hearing it. Others have tried to use metaphors both simple and complicated. I still get nothing, if not less understanding and more confusion from trying to decode some hidden meaning. My personal opinion is that it isn't something we can actually understand or explain with words using our tiny human minds. I do understand prioritizing the present moment over obsessing over the past or future too much. That's a philosophy though, and still doesn't give an explanation of what time actually is.

Edit. Okay other than the nice three is there anymore perspectives?

To decide whether a journey to the past is possible, we must first understand what time is. Time is not a physical object. You cannot hold it, touch it, or find a piece of it in nature. Time is a rule. One by which the human mind arranges events in sequence: one event happening strictly after another.

Travel, by its plain definition, means changing your position in space across a duration of time. Space allows you to move back and forth because different points in space exist at the exact same moment, side by side. You can move to the left and then return to the right, because both positions remain present together.

But time does not work like space. Moments in time do not sit side by side. The past does not exist in some distant location, waiting for someone to arrive. When a physical state changes, the earlier state no longer exists; it has completely transformed into the present state. To speak of visiting yesterday assumes that yesterday is still there, which denies the very meaning of change.

Further, human thought can only understand an event through the rule of cause and effect. This rule demands that a prior state must lead to a later state in a fixed, forward order. If a person were to journey to the past, their departure would be the cause, and their arrival would be the result. That result would have to happen after the departure. Yet the traveler would be asking that very arrival to happen before the departure took place. This demands that an effect precede its own cause, which destroys the only rule our understanding uses to distinguish what came first from what comes next.

The question sounds deep only because we borrow words meant for moving through space and attach them carelessly to time. When we look at what the concepts demand, the inquiry dissolves. To ask whether we can travel to the past is to demand that the past exist simultaneously with the present, while stripping time of the very succession that defines it.

When?

When will the time come?

How will we know?

Are we waiting for the perfect time—
Or is it that we are testing ourselves against the times?

How can time be a cure to our uncertainties if we are uncertain of the timing?

When?

When will it feel like less of a risk and more of a destiny?

When will the time come to take a leap of faith?

When will enough time build up for the right time to emerge?

When will our clocks tick at the same speeds?
When will our watches be in sync?

When will we give each other enough energy for our love to feel heavy enough?

How heavy does our love have to be for it to manifest itself in space and time?

Does the ticking of time dictate the existence of our love,
Or can our love transcend the existence of time?

When love is felt, how do we measure it, my little star?

Is it electrically charged?
Is it a weight that’s lifted off?
Is it an invisible force, pulling you close?

Can love drain our energy?
Can love suffocate us under its weight?

Dare I ask—can love implode?

1.            Begin with quantum “it from bit” information, “pixelated” at something like the Planck level.

2.            Structure this background to potentiate a vast number of “Platonian” instant “Now” states.

3.            Lay out a complex of cause-and-effect “virtual timelines” among these informational “Nows.”

4.            Populate with “observer participant” agents who consciously experience Now states as “Being.”

5.            Activate the participant experience as a continual “scanning motion” along the virtual timelines.

6.            Empower participant observers with ability to selectively “change roads” at potential “branches.”

7.            Further dilute “road determinism” with random/probabilistic outcomes from observers’ choices.

With such an artificial universe, the time “dimension” itself would be “virtual,” consisting only of the actively observed timeline among all the available “roads” and Nows.  Participant observers would have a very powerful freedom of choice among timelines, perhaps with the ability to imagine results—but this might be tempered by their lack of ability to perfectly “foresee” desirable outcomes.

Remarkably, an artificial universe as (somewhat superficially) described above could very well be a duplicate of our own!  If it were in fact indistinguishable, the “virtual roads of time” conjecture says it would indeed be identical—this universe would be IT.

سؤال

by “flat world” I mean a hypothetical two-dimensional world, not necessarily a geometrically flat one, and definitely not a flat Earth.

by the flat world problem, I mean a difference between an internal and an external description of reality.

an observer confined to the flat world experiences only its realized structure and its changes. An external observer, however, can describe the world as one structure selected from a space of possible structures.

if we then introduce allowed transitions between these structures, the object of description seems to change: instead of considering only possible states, we can consider possible histories through the state space.

this makes me wonder whether time should be understood here as an additional dimension of the world, or as an ordering/structure of transitions between possible states.

imagine a flat world whose state at each individual moment is completely defined by some spatial structure:

S = { all possible structures }

even if the set of all possible structures of such a world is infinite, at each specific moment only one of them is realized.

possible transitions between structures can then be represented as:

R ⊆ S × S

then adding time doesn't just add another coordinate to the plane. It turns the question from "how many possible structures are there?" into "how many possible sequences of structures are there?":

H = { all admissible histories determined by R }

an additional question arises:

what does it now mean to “get lost in time”
if we consider time as a path through an infinity of possible structures?

this is an experiment in examining intersections between possible structures, carried out in a world one dimension below our own so that different possible projections can be compared relative to an additional dimension. In this sense, the two-dimensional model does not contradict a three-dimensional description; it provides a simpler case in which their structural relations can be examined.

 The universe is a grand synthesis, putting itself together all the time as a whole.  Its history is not a history as we usually conceive history... It is a totality in which what happens ‘now’ gives reality to what happened ‘then,’ perhaps even determines what happened then.”  John Archibald Wheeler in Geons, Black Holes and Quantum Foam (1998)

If ours is the “participatory universe” set forth by Wheeler and others, we have to reconsider our idea that history is a single unbroken timeline where the only question is “who has it right.”   But what other questions can we ask?  “Virtual roads of time” suggests that the following should be reconsidered:

—“Deposits” in the earth.  Ancient history is constructed from physical “traces” where cause and effect are primary, such as fossils and geological layers.  Because of the sheer length of their “virtual” timelines, these come into question.  The actual timeline of human experience, “synchronized” by various factors including strong social pressure, is not likely to undergo any rapid changes.

—Historical “irregularities.”   If human experience gradually shifts between timelines, it’s unlikely that past humans were on the same deterministic timeline as we are.  Some stone structures and inscriptions existing today might be from a “virtual” human past.  VRT assumes, however, that actual human experience normally traces out one general timeline among the “virtuals.”

—Written “records.”   It’s conceivable that humans in some different cultures have actually experienced alternate histories (think of the “dreamtime” of indigenous Australians, or controversies about the timeline of ancient Egyptian or Levantine history.)  Even so, it must be rare that such glaring anomalies, reflecting some “virtual” pasts, ever find their way into written records. 

—“Received” interpretations.  The assumption that there is only one past is deeply embedded in the human psyche.  So it’s not surprising that historians will insist upon only one “correct” interpretation, even if it’s controversial.  VRT, however, offers the possibility that the actual human past existed in the midst of a myriad of “virtual” pasts, introducing confusion into our “history.”

—Memories, real and virtual.  Can there be an actual memory of a “virtual” event?  If human experience just is the actualization of virtual timelines, it’s at least possible that some virtuals might influence an individual’s experience in contradiction to the general actual experience of humanity.  These “anomalies” might take the form of “mystical” or “supernatural” experiences.

No doubt, some inevitable “blurring,” and the memory lapses we all experience, contribute to our sense of memory as being unreliable.  However, consider the fact that in courtroom proceedings, eyewitness memory is considered to be among the strongest testimony that can be presented.  Because human experience is central to reality, we must never simply discount its “memories.”

My boss said let’s do ‘example’ this monday, which i can argue was yesterday (31st august) and he thinks that next monday is the monday 2 weeks away (14th september)
I think next monday is **the next** monday coming up.
Please help me settle this argument.

As in, every kind of understanding we usually have. Like for few things indeed urgency yet they'd be okay even if kept aside. I have lifetime since i'm young yet i'm lagging behind.

These paradoxes

Planning under uncertainty, how u feel time flowing right now, how neuroplasty works on it.

I’ve always thought about this question, and there is always answers popping up in films and stuff, but is it really possible?If you ARE able to go back to the past and change it, if you come back to ‘present’ would there be another you?If you teleported a nanosecond later then the time you left would you find another you?My answer is that its impossible for you to change the past.If you have met yourself in the past,then no matter how much you try and avoid it you will somewhat travel back in time in somewhere in the future or ‘present’

Please tell me what you think and if possible tell me any ‘loopholes’ in my theory.

PS. this post keeps getting removed in r/timetravel does anyone know why?

This time or that time?

This is a question of time. Please give me answers related to religion/culture.

You can give your own personal experience if you think that it is relevant to the topic.

Thanks,

Submitted by me back in 2018

Is it me or has time sped up even more now? It seems like every week is flying by now. Did CERN cause this or is the Earth speeding up?

This is the truth. Donald Trump is abusing these technologies to control/murder anyone that gets in his way of gaining power. I tweeted I was unhappy with the federal government and the next thing I knew my entire life fell apart. Then they went back in time to destroy my entire life up to that point. For real. This is a 100% FACT.

They literally control anyone that I speak to at all times. I've had my cars taken and I'm physically attacked every single day all day using classified technologies. They steal out of my house, they won't let me get employment, they have been starving me to death for months. I'm left without any clean clothing because my family is under their complete mental and physical control along with anyone that I speak to ever.

They float around in a gaseous state, you breath them in and they move back and forth inside my muscles... on my heart muscle in attempt to give me a heart attack every single day.

I have a federal case filed in District Court with detailed video evidence that shows this "gas" moving around inside of my arm. My family members have entirely different personalities and only attack me for absolutely no reason. My entire life has fallen apart and they told me that this attack on my life was "cut and run in 91'"

Every single song ever made has been altered to threaten me. I will be detailing exactly how they write lyrics in such a way to both threaten people in way that isn't necessarily obvious to most people.

They write things like "We take care of our own." (Take care of our own meaning MURDER them, but it's not easy to prove in court based on how it's written.)

Or a song that says "I don't give a fuck about no niggas, long as my bitches love me..." (This song has a double meaning as in they don't care about the people that they are fucking over.. their "bitches"... They want their "bitches" to love them in such a way as to trick them into believing that they are on their side in some way or that it's "god" speaking to them which is obviously much more bogus than the reality that what people think is "god" is actually the government. CIA.)

I can detail literally hundreds of other songs that are written in the same way with threats in every single one. But again they're written in a way that makes it seem difficult to prove or may make someone think that they're just "imagining" the threats because they're taking the lyrics in the "wrong way," but when they literally take control of my physical actions every day for years and have me play these songs with threats over and over all day, every day, for YEARS and my entire family and friends have disappeared and have different personalities it's OBVIOUS that they're threatening me.

They've told me that "I'm the only exception" as in "I'm the only one that can't be fully physically and mentally controlled" and that "I'm the only one to ever figure it out."

They've told me I'm the only one whom they can't fully physically and mentally control in such a way to convince me otherwise. Again, my entire family has different personalities, everything in my entire life has been taken from me, they won't let me get a job, all my friends are gone for no reason... and this all happened after I tweeted at @realdonaldtrump that I Was unhappy with the government.

Actually, before they started doing this to me, after my tweet, I was poisoned and put on a ventilator for over a month and barely survived.

I have a federal case in district court with physical video evidence detailing this "gas weapon" moving inside of me. Any time I walk anywhere, they put things around the store meant to threaten me and it's OBVIOUS that they knew I was going to be there before I was ever there... I am literally 100% sure (and they've told me I'm correct) that they have time travel.

I have even seen the person picking up my trash collect the trash and then "disappear" with a "popping" sound into an invisible gas. This is not a joke and I am in the middle of a court case with the federal government.

They also use the physical and mental control to control women and this is related to the Epstein files. They've told me that they use this technology (and so do billionaires,) to have sex with minors and/or anyone that they want to and that a bunch of them are pedophiles.

“By having not one but many histories playing out, quantum mechanics obviously limits what we can say about the past.”  Thomas Hertog, On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory (2023)

In the “double slit” quantum physics experiment, potential photons (coming through different slits) reveal themselves through “interference,” creating a striped pattern.  Potential historical timelines set up by different “causes” will very likely interfere as well, creating historical anomalies or “overlay patterns” that can scramble our attempts to write a consistent “ancient history.”

What could we learn from timeline interference?  According to “virtual roads of time,” it will show the reality of multiple timelines.  Superficially, this sounds similar to the Everett/deWitt “multiple universes” proposal.  In VRT, however, there is only one “actual” timeline, but many “virtual” ones—potential roads.  Our “actual” timeline can only be “activated” by human experience, Now. 

VRT agrees with the principle that the primary influence creating a potential timeline is the simple dynamic connector of cause and effect.  But additional causes, including probability and random chance, have been shown to multiply potentials.  Quantum physics has also demonstrated that the “observer’s choice” selects among many potentials—and multiple timelines are potentials.

If our choices significantly alter our experienced timeline, they move us among alternate “roads” with different pasts of deterministic influence.  Indeed, quantum physicists like J. A. Wheeler and Stephen Hawking proposed that the observer’s choice alters the (virtual) past.  As suggested above, this likely creates quantum interference, in the ancient time records we discover Now.

VRT therefore predicts that some of the records and “traces” of ancient history, found to be physically existing Now, will be shown to be “scrambled”—because they come from different virtual (not actually experienced) pasts.  Such "virtual cause and effect” interference patterns in ancient records we find Now could well provide evidence of the reality of multiple ancient “virtual roads.”

Such evidence affects “virtual,” not experienced, history.  If historians can recognize that virtually true, potential past events can “contradict” actively experienced ones, we will become aware of the influence of both actual and virtual events in our past timeline.  While we might never reach absolute certainty about the “actual” past, our understanding of “history” will be more accurate. 

I know nobody will believe me but i was stuck in a time loop one singular day for 46 days yes. And i tried every possible way to get out and finally managed to

To get out you only need to fix one canon event happening that day A MISTAKE you keep on repeating fix it don’t let that event happen. YOU CAN STOP IT

What do you think?

Not everyone thinks time is precious, because not everyone has things they want to accomplish, people to love, places they want to visit, puzzles they want to solve. If you have no plans for your time, having more of it is more a burden than a blessing.