Odd Musings — Time & infinity
I’m starting a new series — Odd Musings. Unlike the other articles, there’s no real takeaway from these musings. Rather, they are topics that I find interesting & on whom I may have a unique perspective. My hope is to get you to think about these topics as well. Why? No reason, it’s just fun to think about things.
In the first Odd Musings, I want to talk about two topics — infinity & time. Often both concepts come together to really take things to the next level.
So let’s start.
TL;DR Notes:
- The real-world (atomic & molecular permutations) interpretation of infinite space is the same as those of infinite time
- Infinite time lines can be open ended on both sides (past and future) or one side (past or future). All timelines have the same real-world interpretations
- Humans love the concept of more time, but as soon as they get it, there is an overwhelming desire to do everything to forget about it
Time and space are the same
Here’s a well known science fact that still doesn’t make sense to me — we live in a 4-dimensional world : the 3 dimensions of space, plus the time dimension. Furthermore, physicists agree that time and space are deeply linked and can’t be separated from one another.
Whaaaat? While this conclusion may be mathematically sound, it doesn’t fit well with our day to day experiences. We experience a clear separation between time and space in our daily lives. How can you begin to internalize that they are the same thing?
Allow me to give a perspective that could help you become more comfortable with that idea (without all the math).
Let’s start with the strange implications that would follow from our universe being infinite.
What implications? If the universe is infinite (in space), we can be sure that there are other versions of you (yes YOU!) out there somewhere.
The gist is the following:
- Let’s assume that matter is distributed similarly across an infinite universe (a reasonable assumption).
- All realities you can perceive (both physical and mental) have an underlying physical basis (atoms, molecules, quarks etc.). Therefore it follows that the current reality you are perceiving is a very VERY specific combination of sub-atomic/atomic particles.
- What does this mean? That even though there may only be a 1 in trillion chance of the current reality you’re perceiving to exist; there could still be a billion copies of that reality in an infinite universe.
That’s the thing about infinity — it never ends. To put it slightly differently, infinity contains infinity within it.
Of course there will be also be many more realities that don’t mean anything — but the point here is not the percentage of “sense making” realities, but rather the absolute number of them.
To many, this idea seems so preposterous so as to make them believe that infinite space has to be an incorrect hypothesis.
But here’s an interesting thought experiment: we can get the same implications from a finite space model as well.
How? By assuming that there is a concept of infinite time. Basically let’s assume our universe follows the following pattern (the latest in science seems to confirm this) :
- Big bang occurs, our universe is formed,
- Universe expands (for a long time) and then contracts (for a long time);
- We get back to conditions similar to the big bang,
- The cycle repeats itself.
If this were to happen an infinite number of times times, you would undoubtedly get universes that follow the same laws of physics as our (if it happened once, it’ll happen again). Zooming in on this subset, you will also get similar universes where the physical atoms/particles have rearranged themselves in ways that are identical to your current reality.
Given that as living beings, our only method of interacting with the universe is perceiving it, it is interesting to note that infinite time and space have the same implication on conscious perception of the universe.
If you make either time or space infinite, it will lead to millions of copies of identical (along with millions of very similar and millions of very different) copies of you perceiving reality.
There’s not much else that would get you to the same place of having multiple clones out there. Personally this helps me see the deep inter-connectedness of time and space — without the maths.
What is a truly infinite universe
Consider the following 2 scenarios:
Scenario 1: You live in a universe that has no beginning or end

Scenario 2: You’re two days away from the universe ending (you know this for sure). Your universe also stretches back infinitely.

Do you intuitively feel that the two universes are different? That the 2nd universe is “smaller” than the first (because it won’t be around next week after all). I know I do — but that may not be true!
As I mentioned above, conscious beings can only ever perceive (including imagining past and future forms of) the universe. Furthermore what we perceive is a physical reality based on subatomic particles.
Time is just a convenient unit of measurement for identifying changes in the configurations of these particles. What gives meaning to the concept of a perceivable universe are the particle configurations (and their rates of change)— not the concept of time itself. By itself, and in isolation, time ceases to lose all meaning.
From this perspective, there should be no difference between the first and the second scenario. They should be of equal “grandeur”.
Why? Because if the universe was truly infinite (albeit only in the past), then it stands to reason that it would have hit every single permutation & combination of sub-atomic particles imaginable.
Therefore, even though the universe would end in two days, it should have already experienced the same particle permutations as a universe that will go on forever.
In such a case, it is impossible to say which universe is “bigger” or “smaller”. They are both identical — even though we know one is ending in two days.
The love-hate relationship humans have with time
The final bit I would like to discuss has nothing to do with infinity, but with humans and their love-hate relationship with time.
I find it very strange that modern humans always desire more time BUT we get very uncomfortable with free time as well.
Why do I say that?
From an existential perspective, much of our wiring is done to avoid death and survive. Avoiding death simply means that you give your consciousness more time to perceive things.
But now, take a look at what happens when you actually give people more time. In today’s hyper-competitive urban environments, the idea of success seems to be intricately linked with busyness. You can’t just “waste” time — only losers do that! You must use your time wisely.
Most people are afraid of idle time, because they either (a) would get bored, or (b) may start to have uncomfortable questions about the world. Thus, life (for a lot of us) becomes an attempt at filling up all the free time with plans and other things to do — ambitions, passion, netflix…anything, so we don’t have to think about free time.
It’s a real chicken-and-egg sort of situation. You want more time to do the things you want to do, but often you make plans/things to do simply because you have time on your hands.