Q&A: Symmetry Between Space and Time
Symmetry Between Space and Time
Question
In Talmudic Logic, vol. 4, you brought in the name of Rabbi R. Taylor that the asymmetry between time and space (it seems to us that the particle moves through space over time) is illusory, and that any claim that can be formulated in the usual way (“At 11:00 I was at such-and-such a location”) can also be formulated in reverse (“At such-and-such a location, the time was 11:00”).
One point is not clear to me: after all, the function from time to space is not one-to-one, so it can’t be inverted, because I can be at the grocery store at 11:00 and also at 12:00. So then the statement (“At the location of the grocery store—I was there at 11:00”) is not precise, because I was there also at 12:00, and therefore one must use time for the x-axis and space must be the y-axis?
I hope I phrased it correctly,
Answer
This is not an inversion of a function, but of two variables within a function. One moves from
f(x,y)
to the function:
f(y,x)