July 2.

2025-07-02T14:00:19Z

July 2. Today, metaphysics. Since the last post, I've been trying to figure out this new idea about the three dimensions of time, because the articles don't explain it well. In three dimensions of space, the third dimension is a whole new direction. But in time, they're saying that the third dimension is just a way to "access" the second dimension. Why can't you use the second to access the second, like you can in space?

Matt mentioned a train station, and the metaphor popped. The first dimension is a single train track, a normal timeline where a bunch of things happen in sequence. The second dimension is all the train tracks. And while it's possible in theory to switch from one train to another out on the tracks, in practice you always switch trains in the station, which is the third dimension. Just as the station is outside the tracks, the third dimension is outside time as we know it.

Donald Hoffman says that time and space are data structures and not the fundamental reality. The best explanation I've read, of how time and space are constructed out of consciousness and relationships, is in the 1982 book Physics as Metaphor by Roger Jones. And this is a cool Jaron Lanier piece from 2006, Does time come together like an island of boats floating on the open seas?

This also fits with many near death experiences that report a realm outside time. From Michael Talbot's 1991 book The Holographic Universe, lightly edited:

The Aboriginal concept of the "dreamtime" is almost identical to the afterlife planes of existence decribed in Western sources. It is the realm where human spirits go after death, and once there a shaman can converse with the dead and instantly access all knowledge. It is also a dimension in which time, space, and the other boundaries of earthly life cease to exist. Because of this, Australian shamans often refer to the afterlife as "survival in infinity."

Ran Prieur

July 2.