Beneficientor
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To be a Photon/The nature of Spacetime
« on: 2004-09-24 20:54:44 » |
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I've recently been reading some interesting books on Relativity, the nature of Time, Space etc.
I understand that it is accepted scientific fact that photons- that is electromagnetic quanta or particles of light, experience no sense of space or time. Owing to their velocity (light speed), all distances are infinitely contracted to them (no sense of space), and time comes to a halt (no sense of time).
This brings up very old questions that have been discussed since the time of the ancinet Greeks.
On one side we have schools of thought, such as the Eleatics for example, who posited that the void, being nothingness, does not exist. If it does not exist, space has no meaning and must be illusory, implying existence is in actual fact whole and undivided.
On the other side were the atomists, who insisted the void did exist, and that matter resided in it (in various states of motion), matter being composed of tiny indivisible elements- atoms.
Time serves all the same purposes as spatial dimensions in that it operates as a void or space- in its particular case the gap between events, so the Eleatics would probably argue that time didn't exist as well.
Given our comparitively recent Relativistic insights about Space and Time, particularly electromagnetic radiation and photons in this case, perhaps both were right.
We appear to exist in an atomistic, quantised universe, but travel fast enough, or "Be a Photon", and time and space becomes meaningless. All locations in the universe exist within the same point, a singularity, and time stands still.
In practical terms it is perhaps misleading to talk about what one might experience if accelerated to light speed given it's impossible to ever reach C, but as a thought experiment it's an interesting diversion.
When trying to describe what space or time "is", the best and simplest description is the distance between two points. However, that description is relativistic, seeing as spacetime becomes variable when relative motion is introduced. Space isn't static or absolute- it changes, and so does time.
In fact, space only has any meaning if I have to do work in order to get from A to B. A photon has no sense of space because it is massless. It travels at the speed of light, and has no inertia to slow it down. Therefore everywhere is "Here" and everywhen is "Now". We, that is objects with mass, only experience time and space because we are held back by inertia. Take away the inertia, and we accelerate forcelessly to the speed of light, we know what it is to experience existence as a photon would if it could experience, that is, without space or time.
I ascribe to the view espoused by scientists such as Puthoff that inertia is a by-product of the Zero Point Field quantum fluctuations. Apparently there is experiemntal evidence that this field can be technologicially controlled to a certain degree. In theory it might be possible to reduce the intensity of the field as much as is desired.
Whether it is indeed possible or not, I reason, if you can remove the Zero Point Field Fluctuations in a region of spacetime (thus nullifying inertia), then spacetime ceases to exist within that region! Any mass entering a region devoid of ZPF fluctuations loses its inertia and accelerates to light speed in the same manner as a photon, and therefore time stops and all distances contract to zero.
Perhaps spacetime is inextricably linked, then, to the Quantum Fluctuations in the Zero Point Field.
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