The Tri-space Laboratory

The "Tri-space" theory of how time works

Time in the theory of relativity can never actually elapse, making history. The same is true of time in quantum mechanics and in quantum field theory. These theories are time-reversible.

If we describe Nature using a connected, multi-metrical structure (which can be constructed to be consistent with all of the above theories), this difficulty can be resolved. Here, time is the primary dimension of the global, driving metric, to which all distinct processes must be independently connected (by oscillatory wave functions). The driving frequency of oscillation defines the total energy. By Einstein's equivalence principle, this corresponds to the total mass of the system.

Time elapses as the connected wave functions evolve (as in quantum mechanics), but history is made when the driving metric re-connects. This is described in Metrical Re-connection on the Collective Properties page. It occurs when any independently-connected object joins with another, at an external interaction.

This resolves the evolving wave functions into definite, internal energy states and it allows fragments from the interacting objects to become independently-connected to the driving metric. Such events are discrete and time-irreversible, selecting the unique course of history and breaking the spatial symmetry in an inherently unpredictable manner.

How time works example - A system containing A + B evolves, producing the possible outcome C + D, from which D is resolved (absorbed) by observing detector O. After the re-connection, D + O are driven by one tempospace connection, with C only driven by the other. No alternative outcome can be simultaneously driven, after the external re-connection has occurred.

(Click Here to download in .AVI format.)

This theoretical approach provides a logical completion of the quantum philosophy, with which it is inextricably involved. For more on the Tri-space theory of time, please read my article "It's about time", available from the Free Articles page.

Consciousness and free will

If the future is determined at random, then what enables conscious decision-making? Surely this is not just a random outcome?

Free will is the resultant of genetic predisposition plus acquired experience, expressed as chemical weighting in a neurological network. This network (the brain) is otherwise just a random, decision-making engine, converting free energy into definite output signals.

Due to genetics, no two human brains are the same, even without the differences acquired by experiences. The effects of repeated experiences (training) cause the brain to develop thought pathways that are probably more than just chemicals deposited within brain cells.

I am not aware of any evidence that conscious thought involves anything more than the processes outlined above.

Robert Herrod
Copenhagen, September 2010