3 ms·

Interesting explanation. What happens at the other end of your example? If you reduce movement through space to zero, would time move infinitely fast?

by pyoung 13y ago

opminion 13y ago
You move through time at the maximum speed, c. If it makes any sense ;-)
drdaeman 13y ago
Obviously finitely, at constant speed.
lisper 13y ago
No. That is your normal state of affairs: when you're "sitting still" in space, you're "moving through time" at the speed of light. I'm using scare quotes here because, of course, there is no such thing as "sitting still in space" because all motion is relative. The point here is that "light is always moving at the speed of light relative to you (no matter how you're moving)" is the same as saying "you are always moving at the speed of light relative to light (no matter how you're moving)". The way that works is, as I said, that this constant speed is a measure of your motion through spacetime, not through space alone or time alone.
- pyoung 13y ago
  I get the space-time vector thing. You said that, when moving at the speed of light, one moves through time at a velocity of zero, thus giving the appearance of infinitely fast movement. So if one was able to achieve zero movement (which would probably require achieving zero energy?), wouldn't time also appear to be moving infinitely fast (even though it was actually moving at the speed of light).
  - lisper 13y ago
    > when moving at the speed of light, one moves through time at a velocity of zero When moving through space at the speed of light one moves through time at speed zero. Likewise, when moving through space at speed zero one moves through time at the speed of light, which is one second per second. This is the normal state of affairs that you experience day to day. It is not possible to achieve zero movement through spacetime. In this universe, everything is always moving through spacetime at the speed of light. The only thing that changes is the direction of motion: more through space, less through time, and vice versa.

Interesting explanation. What happens at the other end of your example? If you reduce movement through space to zero, would time move infinitely fast?

by pyoung 13y ago

Interesting explanation. What happens at the other end of your example? If you reduce movement through space to zero, would time move infinitely fast?

opminion 13y ago

You move through time at the maximum speed, c. If it makes any sense ;-)

drdaeman 13y ago

Obviously finitely, at constant speed.

lisper 13y ago

No. That is your normal state of affairs: when you're "sitting still" in space, you're "moving through time" at the speed of light. I'm using scare quotes here because, of course, there is no such thing as "sitting still in space" because all motion is relative. The point here is that "light is always moving at the speed of light relative to you (no matter how you're moving)" is the same as saying "you are always moving at the speed of light relative to light (no matter how you're moving)". The way that works is, as I said, that this constant speed is a measure of your motion through spacetime, not through space alone or time alone.

pyoung 13y ago
I get the space-time vector thing. You said that, when moving at the speed of light, one moves through time at a velocity of zero, thus giving the appearance of infinitely fast movement. So if one was able to achieve zero movement (which would probably require achieving zero energy?), wouldn't time also appear to be moving infinitely fast (even though it was actually moving at the speed of light).
- lisper 13y ago
  > when moving at the speed of light, one moves through time at a velocity of zero When moving through space at the speed of light one moves through time at speed zero. Likewise, when moving through space at speed zero one moves through time at the speed of light, which is one second per second. This is the normal state of affairs that you experience day to day. It is not possible to achieve zero movement through spacetime. In this universe, everything is always moving through spacetime at the speed of light. The only thing that changes is the direction of motion: more through space, less through time, and vice versa.