That time is a dimension like space denies causality and choice, so there is no time travel. That time, the measure of all change, can itself change defies logic, but Einstein showed that it does. How can what defines change itself change? In calculus, that change is dt/dt, a constant, so time itself shouldn’t change. That it actually does has led some to conclude that time and space aren’t as fundamental as Newton thought:
“… many of today’s leading physicists suspect that space and time, although pervasive, may not be truly fundamental.” (Greene, 2004), p471.
This lets us reverse engineer time but to do so, its nature must be specified. In the traditional view, time is:
“… a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.” M. Aurelius, Meditations, Book IV, (43).
If time is a river of events, those events specify time. A time like ours then requires events that are:
- Sequential. Events occur one after another.
- Lawful. Current events lead to future events.
- Indeterminate. Future events vary in unexpected ways.
- Irreversible. Events that have occurred can’t be reversed.
A river presents a sequence of events that lawfully relate, but are never the same, and can’t be reversedIf our time requires events that are sequential, lawful, indeterminate, and irreversible, for quantum events to create physical events, they must be the same. If quantum events aren’t sequential, the physical events they create won’t be either. If quantum events aren’t lawful, the physical events they create won’t be either. If quantum events aren’t indeterminate, the physical events they create won’t be either. If quantum events aren’t irreversible, the physical events they create won’t be either. To create a time like ours, quantum events must be sequential, lawful, indeterminate, and irreversible, but are they? Quantum theory gives the answer.
Sequential
Events are sequential if one event follows another, like a river flowing, and in quantum theory, quantum waves:
“… evolve to a finite number of possible successor states” (Kauffman & Smolin, 1997) p1.
Note that for one quantum event to follow the next, they must be finite. In an infinite event sequence, one can’t follow the other, because other events are always between them. In quantum theory, one event follows the next in a discrete step, so two physical events can’t occur at the same point. Assuming time is continuous leads to Zeno’s paradoxes, but a quantum network with a finite event sequence can create a time that ignores them, as ours does.
Lawful
Events are lawful if each set of events can be related to the next by general laws. In quantum theory, quantum events evolve in a lawful manner, as waves spread, overlap, and collapse to physical events only as quantum laws permit, so physical laws can arise from quantum laws. A quantum network that operates lawfully can create a time that flows lawfully, as ours does.
Indeterminate
Events are indeterminate if they can’t be defined beforehand, just as what a river does next is unknown. Now a choice, by definition, has a known before but an unknown after. Before a choice, the options are known but not the result, or it wouldn’t be a choice, so it is an indeterminate event. In quantum theory, a photon approaching a screen is a wave that collapses at a point chosen from the possibilities in a physical event. No physical history can explain where the photon will hit the screen, so it is a choice. Quantum theory adds that every physical event include such a choice, so if our world is a quantum machine, it is one with:
“…roulettes for wheels and dice for gears.” (Walker, 2000), p87.
Where and when a quantum wave collapses and restarts is random to us because it isn’t a physical choice, but it gives a physical event with a lawful history that can’t be defined in advance. A quantum network with random events like this can create a time whose future is indeterminate, as ours is.
Irreversible
Events are irreversible if they can’t be undone, like a river that can’t run backwards. All the laws of physics are time reversible, so reversing time doesn’t break any laws of physics. Why then can’t time reverse? Quantum theory describes waves that collapse to give irreversible physical events. It doesn’t say why this is so, but if quantum waves are processing waves, it could be because quantum collapse is a reboot.
In computing, a reboot is when processing restarts from scratch. Turning a device off and on reboots it, so any ongoing work is lost unless you saved it. Processing is sequential, as one step leads to the next, but a reboot can’t be undone because the restart loses the past events. The events before a reboot are gone forever, just as the collapse of a quantum wave destroys its previous distribution. A quantum network whose points reboot can create a time that is irreversible, as ours is.
Quantum processing that spreads down every network path until it restarts in a random reboot allows a time that is sequential, lawful, indeterminate, and irreversible, just like ours.