⏳ Time
A Foundational Page of Similarity Theory
By Simon Raphael
🔹 The Nature of Time
Time, at its core, is the structure that allows movement through different moments of existence.
In physics, time is considered one of the four dimensions of spacetime, interwoven with space into a single continuum as described in Einstein’s General Relativity (1915). Relativity revealed that time is not absolute but elastic: it slows near massive bodies and at high velocities. This overturned Newton’s notion of a universal clock, showing instead that time is perspective-dependent, inseparable from the fabric of reality.
In Similarity Theory, time is not only woven with space — it is also interwoven with consciousness. Without awareness to illuminate the frames, time is not experienced at all. Consciousness is what turns the potential of time into the lived reality of becoming.
🪞 Echoes of the Self
As we live and make choices, each decision leaves behind a version of ourselves — not merely as memory, but as a complete and ongoing existence within that moment.
This resonates with the Many-Worlds Interpretation (Everett, 1957) of quantum mechanics, which suggests that all possible outcomes of a quantum event occur in parallel. Physicist Max Tegmark later described this as Level III of the multiverse.
But here Similarity Theory adds nuance: the universe is structured, but not fully predetermined. Many outcomes are set by natural law, yet consciousness retains the power to diverge within those boundaries.
Think of flushing a sink. The overall structure is predetermined: all the water will flow toward the drain. But the details are open: some droplets rush down first, some cling to the basin, some spiral differently, and some catch on the edges before eventually letting go. The pattern is guided, but not absolutely fixed.
So it is with time. The structure exists, but freedom lives in the details.
📽️ Frames of Time
Every moment is a frame, a still imprint that exists whether we pass through it or not. In loop quantum gravity, time may even be granular — made of indivisible “planks” at the Planck scale (~5.39 × 10⁻⁴⁴ s) (Rovelli, 2004). Each plank is like a frame of film: frozen, eternal, but capable of becoming part of a sequence.
Physicist Julian Barbour has argued that time is an illusion: all possible configurations of the universe exist timelessly, and the “flow” of time is simply consciousness moving across them.
Similarity Theory agrees in part — frames exist, and they hold their own versions of awareness. But unlike a static reel of film, new frames can be added. Consciousness is not just a viewer of time — it is also a contributor, expanding the sequence through every act of choice.
🌌 Predetermination and Freedom
Time can be understood as a dance between structure and freedom.
Predetermination: Like water following gravity toward a drain, the universe has laws and patterns that shape its flow. Stars burn out, entropy increases, and rivers always flow downhill.
Freedom: Within those laws, divergence appears. Droplets splash sideways, cling to the rim, or spiral unpredictably. Small differences in initial conditions — what chaos theory calls sensitivity to initial states — create wholly different outcomes.
Even electrons reflect this paradox. When observed, they behave as expected, collapsing into definite states. When unobserved, they spread out as probabilities, as though exploring possibilities.
Another way to imagine this is through the body itself. Our cells normally work together in harmony, following the structure of the whole. But sometimes, cells begin to diverge, breaking free from the patterns that bind them. This kind of breakdown — like a terminal disease in the body — disrupts the system that sustains them. For the body, it is destructive; yet for the cells, it is a new kind of existence. They no longer follow the rules of the whole, but pursue their own path.
In the same way, parts of the universe may one day diverge from its governing structure. This can bring dissolution to the host system, but not an end to existence itself. For those elements, time flows differently — what is a moment for us may be millennia for them. Structure collapses, but transformation continues.
In Similarity Theory, this balance is essential: the universe is not a rigid machine, nor a blank canvas of infinite freedom. It is a structured field in which consciousness bends, branches, and sometimes breaks the rules — yet always moves forward into new forms.
👁️ Time as a Landscape
For beings of higher dimensions, time itself may appear not as sequence but as terrain. Rudy Rucker (1984) and Brian Greene (2004) describe this perspective: all of time — past, present, and future — laid out like a landscape. To such a being, our linear lives might appear as grooves etched across a surface, guided by law yet open to variation.
Just as a plant cannot grasp our world of books, rockets, and language, so we cannot grasp theirs. And yet, their perception of time does not cancel our own — it reframes it.
🌀 Beyond the Eleventh Dimension
M-theory (Witten, 1995) proposes 11 dimensions. Within its mathematics, time is just one strand. But Similarity Theory suggests this is not the end. Dimensions extend beyond mathematics, into realities where new kinds of time may exist: multi-directional, recursive, or layered.
Our models, however elegant, are shaped by our perspective. Just as flushing water looks smooth from above but chaotic in detail, higher dimensions may reveal complexities in time that escape our third-dimensional thinking.
📌 Structured Freedom: Divergence in Similarity Theory
Most multiverse models in physics suggest that all possibilities already exist. Similarity Theory reframes this:
The structure of the universe is indeed predetermined — laws, boundaries, and flows guide existence.
But consciousness introduces freedom within that structure. Choices are like droplets diverging in the sink, or cells straying from their host system: some outcomes are inevitable, others are contingent, and some are birthed in the very act of choosing.
Thus, reality is not a fixed archive, nor a limitless blank. It is a participatory structure — patterned yet open, predetermined yet alive.
🔥 Time as a Doorway
Time, then, is not just the ticking of a clock. It is the first doorway in an infinite corridor of dimensions, each one stranger and more profound than the last.
Entropy provides the arrow, but consciousness provides the path. Together, they weave a universe that is at once structured and free — a cosmos where droplets fall, cells diverge, and yet no two journeys are ever quite the same.
📚 References
Einstein, A. (1915). The Field Equations of Gravitation.
Everett, H. (1957). “Relative State” Formulation of Quantum Mechanics. Reviews of Modern Physics.
Tegmark, M. (2003). Parallel Universes. Scientific American.
Rovelli, C. (2004). Quantum Gravity. Cambridge University Press.
Barbour, J. (1999). The End of Time. Oxford University Press.
Linde, A. (1986). Eternal Chaotic Inflation. Mod. Phys. Lett. A.
Susskind, L. (2003). The Anthropic Landscape of String Theory. arXiv:hep-th/0302219.
Rucker, R. (1984). The Fourth Dimension: Toward a Geometry of Higher Reality.
Greene, B. (2004). The Fabric of the Cosmos. Alfred A. Knopf.
Penrose, R. (1989). The Emperor’s New Mind. On entropy and time’s arrow.
