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Thursday, October 19, 2006

You can remember your future !


Reversal of Time

Well, humans might be able to remember events in the future. This means if you placed a bet with your friend, you will surely win because you would know the result beforehand. Sounds little absurd, eh? I will try to answer this question in very simple words and easy logic.

One thing we have to agree with is that there are always more disordered states than the ordered ones. Consider a Jigsaw puzzle. There are many disordered states but the ordered state is only one i.e. only one arrangement will complete the puzzle.

Now, suppose that a system starts with small number of ordered states. Eventually, as time progresses, it will evolve according to laws of science and will become disordered because disordered states are always more in number for the system. This means that with increase in time, disorder will tend to increase. In simple words, disorder of a system increases as time progresses obeying the initial condition of high order.

Consider that god wants to finish the universe in a state of high order. Now, the situation is totally opposite to what we have seen in the above paragraph. Universe has to “end” in a state of high order and it is for sure that in “early stages” of universe, it would have probably been in a disordered state. As the time progresses, the end of the universe comes closer. In other words, disorder will decrease, as the universe will approach its end. We can also put it like this – “Disorder is decreasing with time.” Now, keep this statement in mind and read further.

This means that we would see broken tea cups pieces gathering together and jumping back on the kitchen shelf.

A human living in the same universe would see this and this would have a psychological impact on his mind. He will remember events in the future, and not the events of the past. When the teacup was broken, he would remember it being on the shelf, but when it was on the shelf, he would remember it being on the floor in the broken form. So, every event that he will remember is in a way “of the future”. It is difficult to talk about human memory and perception as we don’t know its working in thorough detail.

If the universe begins to contract, we can say that the universe is nearing its end and disorder is decreasing with time. Now, would we be able to remember events in the future ? Would we be able to remember tomorrow’s prices and make a fortune on stock market ? The problem is we can’t observe this because the universe would not contract for at least another 10,000 million years. But there is a way out to check this: Jump into a black hole. Entering a black hole is same as experiencing a collapse of the universe. Suppose an astronaut enters a black hole, he would be able to make money at roulette by remembering where the ball would go before placing the bet. But, unfortunately, he would not be able to bank his winnings, as there is no way out from a black hole.

The idea is attractive because it means contracting phase of the universe will be reverse of expanding phase. Therefore, people would die before they were born in a contracting universe.

I know the entry has exceeded the word limit (as our English teachers say – “Marks will be deducted for exceeding the word limit.”) but I hope it has put the point across.

9 comments:

RG said...

Yeah. Well. Very Nice.

Except for that god doesn't exist. And there is no one to maintain your order. And that there can be no end, ever - so there is no question of ending in high order.

Apart from all that, your post is flawless...er, not really.

Varun Khetarpal said...

Hi Rohit !! Thanks for the comment.

Well, I believe in god and its existence.BTW, there needs to be an end if everything evolves scientifically.Maybe my next post will be abt existence of god !

RG said...

If it is, then expect to see one on my blog afterward.

Varun Khetarpal said...

Ok. So maybe we both can put forward our points in our respective posts.Lets see who is able to convice the audience in a better and more scientific way !!

Manas said...

"psychological impact on his mind"

Stargazer said...

Contracting phase of the Universe is opposite to the expanding Universe in the sense that all the thermonuclear reactions that have taken place to produce elements other than Helium and Hydrogen will reverse. Atoms will break into electrons and nuclei. Then nuclei will dissociate into protons and neutrons and ultimately these would further dissociate into constituent quarks. The Universe will heat up again to several million degrees. This however does not mean that life will reverse!!

And of course, no one is sure if the contraction will actually take place. It depends more on the mass of the Universe at this time. And the Universe could either contract and heat up, or could go on expanding forever and get colder and colder. If Big Bang is true, then it is more likely that the latter is the case. And we are getting more and more evidence that the Universe will expand forever. Sad but true.

Stargazer said...

That was Aditi, by the way.

Dhruv said...

Look, the second law of thermodynamics (law of entropy) is going to be defied. It just isnt gonna happen, God or no God.
And yes, hypothetically even if it defied, it just means that thermodynamically unfavourable processes can take place. It does NOT mean that the reverse of every favourable process will be invoked.
Yes, if the law of entropy is defied, theoretically the reverse of a lot of processes will be possible. However, it is close to impossible that these processes (although possible in the absence of the second law of thermodynamics) will actually take place. They will be possible, but will still not take place.
This is, however, deviating from the fact that the second law of thermodynamics will not be defied, despite the existence of God (which I personally doubt).
Anyhow, its good to read theories, so keep posting stuff. I like intellectual discussions.
Cheers, Varun.

Pallab said...

Law of entropy, yes, entropy is defined as a measure of uncertainty, irregularity, haphazardness... and the law says that the entropy of the universe is ever increasing with time, no chance to decrease or remain the same.

This is science !

When you are speaking to technically illiterate people you must resort to the plausible falsehood instead of the difficult truth.

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