Matts Ramblings

I remember watching a video of the marvellous Brian Cox describing the difference between”Time-Like” events and “Space-Like” events in relativity

He postulates that, if the sun explodes, it’d take 8 minutes for the radiation to get to us letting us know that the sun has exploded. and whilst he goes on to discuss that particular events may appear reversed in “time” during such “space like” events (which is equally fascinating) the general situation described has fascinated me ever since.

That some events could have such inevitability, is quite an interesting thought. The light at we humans use to see is always “from the past”, even fractionally or minutely. How amazing it is that the universe we perceive has already “happened”. it is, in a sense an inevitability. Even more so when we gaze upon the stars, and see light that is millions of years old, the past encoded in that radiation tells a tale which cannot be altered, we see the retelling of history at the speed of light. the future, which has already happened in that very far away place, is always inevitable.

I’ve also been pondering how some things in life seem to have their own inertia. some events seem to happen no matter how much you try to push them, or how much you try to stop them from happening. It’s as if the sun has exploded 8 minutes ago and there’s nothing you can do to stop it from happening, and you can see it all unfolding in front of you.

I’m almost certain that such things dont really exist, but are merely fabrications of the human condition, but its certainly fun to ponder. Maybe I’m just going through the motions convincing myself that the decision my brain made some time ago is what the voice in my head has actually consciously decided to do. oh. shit

The universe is an interesting place