Time, Consciousness and Moments of Truth
Some time ago, there was a call for papers on the subject of Action at a Distance, to collect various views in a book. At the time, I wrote an article speculating that action at a distance may be due to instantaneously linked non-physical patterns at the base of physically manifested matter, a non-physical morphogenic field. (Action at a Distance - A question of viewpoint)
The article never did get into that book but reading it on line, Richard Cattermoul commented as follows:
Now I am no great expert on relational databases, but as a software engineer, I have discovered that the time to access any particular word or piece of information in a database does not dependend on the location of the data. Indirect addressing and truly ingenious data organisation allow us to access data stored in any part of a computer's memory location or disk location without recourse to time or distance considerations or constraints.I suspect the Universe is similarly organised in ways that can only currently be dreamed about. Stars and galaxies and other planets may appear to be a long way off, and may appear to require the elapse of long time frames to reach them, but I would not be surprised if contained within the fabric of the universe are plenty of short cuts, only of course we don't know about them yet.
Universe
Reason tells me we live in essentially a 6 dimensional world - 3 spatial dimensions and 3 temporal dimensions, ten dimensional strings notwithstanding. I am reading many accounts by physicists who are now convinced that intelligence - consciousness - God? are the source rather than the endproduct of evolution.
That being the case, He had his work cut out, though I am sure that rapid access to any point in the universe, both spatially and temporally would have been child's play in deciding on method and design. I believe physics has stymied itself by forever thinking in one time dimension only. Physics wants to forbid the existence of negative energy particles - tachyons - that can theoretically travel backwards in time. But I believe that if we are to arrive at a comprehensive theory of everything, they have to exist.
All points in space and all moments in time - past, present and future - must be accessible in the here and now and instantaneously if the universe is supposed to have somehow evolved out of zero point from wavelike possibility to particle actuality with the collapse of the primary Shrodinger wave function. God would never allow the past to simply slip through his fingers.
My reply to Richard was...
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I think you are right about there being shortcuts that we don't (yet) know, to arriving at or at least observing distant places in the universe. Some say the universe is holographic, which would mean we have everything right here on this planet to know everything about the most distant places.I am not so sure about dimensions, which I think are arbitrary constructs to explain to ourselves and to facilitate work with space and time, but they are not set in concrete. What we call spatial dimensions are merely degrees of freedom in the extension of space in a mutual relation of 90 degrees. We could very well choose a different system of co-ordinates. There is an article on my site about tetrahedron-based (instead of cube-based) co-ordinates. My point is that none of our possible choices of a system of co-ordinates is inherent in nature herself. It is merely our attempt to explain what we perceive.
In that sense, I would say that space is characterized by omnidirectional extension, while time might be said by omnidirectional duration. If this seems to make matters more complicated rather than simplifying them, it may well be. We lose our familiar reference points. But to make progress in understanding, we have to venture into the unknown.
To which Richard came back with the following:
Thank you very much for your reply. I came across your article as a consequence of reading John Richardson's fascinating and thought provoking essay entitled 'Being Consciousness and Everything' that also features on http://twm.co.nz/ind3.html.
I have spent many years trying to come to grips with whatever it is we are struggling to determine, and am very keen to get in touch with him in order to discuss his work. However, his email address - j-richardson [at] raytheon.com - appears to be no longer recognised by the server; perhaps it is just possible you know of his whereabouts?
In order to acquaint you with my thoughts and ideas, I attach two essays that I have written. Your comments would be especially welcome. Neither has been published yet, though it is my hope that they might one day form part of a book that I have written.
'Moments of Truth' should be read before 'The Point Of It All'.
If you liked reading Richard's essays and want to comment, by all means contact him by email or leave your comment here...
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