It’s About Time

I was watching videos on YouTube with Michio Kaku about the latest findings of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The point that he made is that we may be forced to conclude that time does not exist! Certainly he assumes that these discussions are being viewed by his peers as nobody in their right mind would say such a thing to a group of brick layers who are paid by the hour!

His name may not be familiar to you, but his face surely would. He’s one of those one-size-fits-all scientific experts (theoretical physicist at City College of New York) who reporters flock to any time they need intelligent commentary on a scientific issue. You know, hurricanes, earthquakes, military research, and the like. He’s the go-to guy. You’d recognize him by his white hair, the same way you immediately recognize a picture of Albert Einstein or Don King.

Now, to be honest, you really need to watch some of these videos for yourself as there is just so much information and controversy that I’ll just mention two things that made a great impression on me.

The first is that the images and the conclusions drawn from them are leading to the possibility that Einsteins Space and Time Theory might be wrong! Again, this is not my field, so find some time and watch a video or two.

The second is that the “Big Bang” theory might also be wrong! Think about that. I recall, on many occasions over thew years, being told that the “Big Bang Theory” is, in fact, a fact, and at other times that theories are as valid as facts. So what are we to think when suddenly a great fact is no longer a fact? The simple fact is that these were never facts, just what some experts wanted to believe are facts, and the rest of us were to “shut-up” and go along for the ride. Indeed, it was admitted that, of 17 predictions based upon “Big Bang”, 16 are turning out to be wrong! Now, you might pass certain courses with 16 out of 17 wrong at UC Berkely, but not where I studied.

Do you remember those two mantras of not-so-long-ago?

“Follow the science” and,

“The science is settled”.

Just who do these people think that they’re kidding?

Oh yes, along with the Big Bang Theory, a brief mention of the “Big Crunch Theory” was made. If the “Big Crunch Theory turns out to be correct, then, according to our current understanding of things, it would follow that if and when this happens, time would go in reverse! (If it exists that is.)

This reminded me of a physics lecture that I saw many years ago (35?). In it, entropy (not to be confused with enthalpy) was discussed, and, at that time, there was an idea, or theory, that entropy controls the flow of time itself, for as entropy increases, time moves forward, and if time would move backwards it would necessitate that entropy is decreasing.

Now, a simple objection to this is to say that this is a coincidence and not a case of cause and effect.

It’s true that correlation does not prove causation, but we often forget the corollary which is that all causation has a correlation.

Well, I do know one very important fact about time, and that is, that it’s time that I wrapped this up and got myself a beer.

We’ve covered a lot of territory (the universe) in a short time.

So, until next time…it’s something to think about.