Is Spacetime Fundamental?

Science finds that it might not be

Hiya!

Oh gosh, it seems like time is a hot topic as of late. I’ve stumbled upon all sorts of exciting new discoveries about time. I mean, it makes sense. If we want to progress in physics and many other fields, then we need to understand time better. And what we’re learning will take humanity to the edge of incredible intellectual advancements.

Up until now, we’ve considered time as fundamental in our existence. Yet, recent findings literally transform everything we ever thought about time and how it operates. Some discoveries give us a better idea of how time behaves once it occurs. Now scientists believe that time is emergent, and this next era could rival all significant turning points throughout history.

Time in Quantum Physics

First, let’s review a couple of recent discoveries about time that we’ve already discussed. Let’s start with something we’re probably all familiar with — the concept of cause and effect. It’s one of the most basic ways to describe our material world. It’s also responsible for most patterns we witness — as complicated as photosynthesis or as simple as tossing a ball. In a rudimentary way, cause and effect is similar to the Butterfly Effect.

As far as I can tell, the difference between cause and effect versus the butterfly effect lies in the complexity of chain reactions. For instance, we can predict outcomes to a certain point when we make choices. Like, preparing the night before for the next day will inevitably help your mood in the morning by decreasing stress caused by rushing.

Whereas the butterfly effect includes the ripples that become too voluminous to calculate. To continue our watered-down example; by having everything ready when you wake up, you start your day with more confidence and in a better mood. Being in a better mood means you’re nicer to others, and being nicer to others makes them want to be nice in return. This boosts your confidence, and if someone notices, they might initiate a conversation that could alter the course of your life.

These ripples go on and on. All as a result of spending twenty minutes preparing for the morning the night before. But at a certain point, there are too many variables, and things become unpredictable  —  every choice you make has its own ripple effects. This is also why it’s also known as chaos theory.

The butterfly effect has remained one of the issues regarding time travel. The reason countless science-fiction stories involving time travel advise altering anything in the past is that any changes could result in an unrecognizable future once or when the traveler returns to their own time.

Well, in July of 2020, researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory published research showing that on a quantum level, the butterfly effect doesn’t exist — at least when it comes to time travel. They discovered this by using a quantum computer to simulate time travel. The paper summarizes,

In the research, information — qubits, or quantum bits — “time travel” into the simulated past. One of them is then strongly damaged, like stepping on a butterfly, metaphorically speaking. Surprisingly, when all qubits return to the “present,” they appear largely unaltered — as if reality is self-healing.

This totally alters what we know about time and how it works. Then, a few months later, an undergrad at the University of Queensland mathematically solved a paradox surrounding time travel that reached the same conclusions. I wrote about both of these findings a while back if you want more details.

Most research focused on time revolves around time travel, and both of these discoveries give us a better idea of how time behaves once it occurs. But what about the future? So far, we believe that space and time are intrinsically linked, that one can not exist without the other. So, theoretically speaking, if time solidifies (for lack of a better word) once events play out, then doesn’t it stands to reason that time itself is emergent, too?