Time as a currency

This is a story from my contemplations of time as a currency.

Its seems that time is itself nothing but a way to calibrate quality of movement in space. Time as a currency would be a dependent variable because speed of movement through space determines relative unit value of time, and therefore the total units needed to get to your destination.

You always need some units of time to get from point A to B so it is a currency of sorts and one that everyone needs. (Similar reason may be what led Einstein to tie space and time together a’la spacetime).

In this paradigm of thinking, it makes sense to see time as a non-existent thing until there is a context i.e. space to be travelled or existed in, or a quantity to be increased or decreased. The clock treats time as a separate additive scale for time but in this sense the clock is only meaningful when related to some quantity, similar to say a time-based bill counter in a taxi.

We know efficiency determines how much time you spend but wouldn’t it be great if time as a scale was not just additive but also subtractive when quantity is subtracted? For example, if you are filling a jar with sand, and incrementing a time counter, in this case you would be able to decrement that counter if you change your mind and scoop off some of the sand you had already added into the jar. That is a lot like the carbon emission problem (i.e. the forward motion quantum entanglement of free energy). With movement along time, backward distance covered is billed as forward distance on an inverted trajectory along a path previously travelled.

It seems that speed is a good variable to give more attention in contemplating time, since it is what we can tackle when trying to change the unit value of time.

Time gives a scale for reasoning about speed or efficiency and distance or quantity: E.g.

Time as a dependent variable with speed as independent: How much time is required to cover the desired distance at this speed?

Time as an independent variable with speed as a dependent: What is the speed required to cover the desired distance in the time available(In this case with time as an independent variable).

Both fixed: How much distance can be covered at this speed over the available time?

Both variable: What are the various time and speed combinations that can get me to this quantity or distance target?… this one would probably not be too meaningful a question because time is limited almost always. If nothing else, time to live even in the best case scenario is limited.

Since carbon is lost in exchange for space in mass-reducing-but-weight-increasing scenarios, one could argue that time and carbon are equivalent. This may or may not be related to why carbon-dating works, but that is reading for another day. Both free carbon and free time can only be spent once, hence they suffer similarly the problem of quantum entanglement to forward motion.

How can one solve that problem?… that I argue would be the answer to living an eternal life! Flipping back in time and hence regaining lost carbon by the act of retracing steps would allow us to grow old and then sit in a simulation lab and replay and walk back our years and then match out when we’re 21 or 16 again :).

Ah! the carbon emission problem it is then… maybe, saving our consciousness is one way to escape the carbon trap. That way when it’s time for your physical carbon to go, you can procure a different body and load up your consciousness, then repeat.

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Author: Nancy Mogire is a PhD student in Computer Science at UH