Louisville Process Theology Network

What if Time Dilation was Perceptible in our Daily Lives?

May 03, 2010

From Page 155 ---


?“In this (theoretical) world, time is a local phenomenon. Two clocks close together tick at nearly the same rate. But clocks separated by a distance tick at different rates, the father apart the more out of step. What holds true for clocks holds true for the rate of heart beats, the pace of inhales and exhales, the movement of wind in the tall grass.

In this world, time moves at different speeds in different locations . . .

The separation between cities is too great. For if the time needed to count a thousand Swiss Franc notes is ten minutes in Berne and one hour in Zurich, how can two cities do business together? In consequence, each city is alone . . . Each city must live on its own.

On occasion, a traveler would venture from one city to another. Is he perplexed? What took seconds in Berne might take hours in Fribourg, or days in Lucerne. In the time for a leaf to fall in one place, a flower could bloom in another . . .

Yet the traveler is unaware of these discrepancies. As he moves from one timescape to the next, the traveler?’s body adjusts to the local movement of time. If every swing of a pendulum, every unfolding of wings of a cormorant are all harmonized together, how could a traveler know that he has passed to a new time zone? . . .

Only when the traveler communicates with the city of departure does he realize he has entered into a new domain of time. Then he learns that while he has been gone his clothing shop has wildly prospered and diversified, or his daughter has lived her life and grown old . . .

It is then the traveler learns he is cut off in time, as well as space.

Some people delight in isolation . . . Such people stand on their balconies at morning, as the sun rises over the mountains, never look past the outskirts of town.

Others want contact. They endlessly question the rare traveler who wanders into their city, ask him about places he has been, ask him about the color of the other sunsets . . .

This world of the locality of time, this world of isolation yields a rich variety of life. For without blending of cities, life can develop a thousand different ways . . . Just beyond a mountain, just beyond a river lays a different life. Yet these lives do not speak to each other. These lives do not share. These lives do not nurture each other.

The abundances caused by isolation are stifled by the same isolation.?”




From Page 178 ---


?“Einstein walks back to his desk, sits down for moment, and then turns to the window. He feels empty. He has no interest in reviewing patents or talking to Bresso or thinking of physics. He feels empty and he stares without interest at the tiny black bird and the Alps.?”




Basic Definition of Time Dilation -- The slowing of time in a frame of reference moving at nearly the speed of light relative to an observer, as predicted by the theory of special relativity.
From Dictionary.com