Space-Time Dilemma
Space-Time Dilemma
Speeding into the future,
Einstein accelerates in his thought experiment
And approaches the speed of light.
The hands of time cease flight
(They cannot catch up), but back there,
The clock ticks away
As observed by the inhabitants,
Revealing truths hidden
(Sins of the parents are inherited by their children)
For past events and distances calculated,
Increasing increments
To understanding an expanding universe.
Dilemma: the faster the race through space,
The slower time progresses.
In a concluding hypothesis, time and space
Are relative, which introduces the concept
Of spacetime, a flexible fabric defining life itself,
And begs the question, “Is God present?”
But reality will challenge perception
Through instinctive reflexes
Or thought processes and the imagination
Laboured in literature or mathematical equations.
[Antigone suffers her brother’s desecrated body,
Which by decree must rot away in public display
As punishment for being disloyal to the king.
Right and wrong play in her mind,
Objectivity knows no morality.
She either accepts or defies the king’s wishes
And faces the consequences for her actions
Of disobedience and commit the act
Of honouring her brother’s death in burial
With justification of self-righteousness
For appeasing the gods.]
When Einstein steps off the bus, he has to
Hustle and bustle his way to his place of work,
The same as others of his species.
Social acceptance in tribal ritual
Warps religious and scientific beliefs.
Sexual pleasure is not about gratification;
It is entrapment to procreate the species
By repetitiveness from birth to death.
Einstein yearns for peer recognition
For his superior intellect and wisdom.
[Distraught, Antigone makes her decision
And buries Polynices, aware of the repercussions,
And so, in dramatic fashion, disavows time
And takes her own life.]
Meanwhile, Einstein contemplates the universe
And has his Eureka moment—the spark of life!
“The universe is coherent, expounded by mathematics!”
***
Notes:
“Antigone” is a tragedy written by Sophocles in the year 441 BC. It is a play about the two sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polynices, who fight for opposing armies and kill each other in battle. The new king and their successor, Creon, honours Eteocles (who fought for him) with a burial but punishes Polynices (who fought against him) for his disloyalty by not burying him properly. Their sister Antigone is grieved that Polynices is not given a proper burial and so disobeys King Creon (her future father-in-law) by burying Polynices.
Antigone’s dilemma is a moral dilemma in the struggle between human law and divine law.
Albert Einstein (1879–1955): For seven years (1902–1909), Einstein worked at the Bern, Switzerland, Federal Patent Office, during which time he developed his theory of relativity. In 1905, Einstein introduced the world’s most famous equation, E=mc2 (energy equals mass multiplied by the speed of light squared). This equation is arrived at after the “Twin Paradox” thought experiment.
The thought experiment involves identical twins. One of the twins travels through space at near the speed of light while the other stays on Earth; the paradox is that with respect to each other, each twin sees themselves as stationary and the other as moving and thus, they arrive at different conclusions, i.e., when the twin from space returns to Earth, it is calculated that he will be older than his sibling; however, while observing at the same time, the identical twin on Earth has physically aged more than his twin who has returned from space. Meanwhile, the twin on Earth also believes he will be younger than his sibling in space; however, according to the thought experiment involving the speed of light, he is older.
In conclusion, according to relativity, time stands still at the speed of light. This is known as time dilation. However, in reality, time never stands still. Speed is a scalar quantity having only magnitude, and velocity is a vector quantity having both magnitude and direction.
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