How To Break Anything

The 2-Dimensional Arrow of Biological Time

Biological time is best described by a two-dimensional surface that takes the shape of a second order helix, according to a new theory of time

It's tempting to think of time as a linear sequence of events best captured by a straight line, the x-axis on a graph for example. But physicists have never felt constrained by such a definition, on the contrary they've never hesitated to mould time to their own ends.

In thermodynamics, for example, the arrow of time comes about because of irreversible phenomena such as phase transitions, bifurcations and chaos. In relativity, space and time are as one, and Minkowski, in his famous formulation, used the idea of a 'causality cone' to explain the correlation between physical objects.

In quantum mechanics, the notion of time becomes even more strange. Time is sometimes two-dimensional, sometimes reversible to maintain CPT (charge, parity, time) symmetry and at other times discontinuous and fractal-like.

In short, physicists reformulate time in whatever suits them, or at least in whatever way provides the best predictive or explanatory power.

One way to think of that last line is in the context that we think of time as a uniform straight line in large part because of Newton. Newton needed this conception of time as a way to reconcile the thinking that surrounded F=MA. Before this, time was largely relational, conceived of as existing in the relationships of the movement of objects. Newton made time a standard so that the movement of objects could be explained independently; people like Leibniz argued him down heavily for it.

Of course, the point is that for all the progress we've made under the Newtonian model, we're finding that it doesn't account for a good number of phenomena, namely most everything that quantum physics approaches.

And the larger point is more relevant to the types of things I tend to talk about here. We typically feel that the linear model is fundamentally true, because it 'feels' true. But really theres no reason we should feel that way, except that Newton happened to be so influential. Note: not 'right,' just influential. Influential for good reason of course, but just a thought that not even our deepest and most basic conceptions are immune to this dynamic.