What are the reasons we think we can only move in one direction in time?

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I recently was told that we know there’s only one time dimension because otherwise we’d pivot between different dimensions of time, as we are able to do in space. But I still don’t understand, other than paradoxes and causality, why we can’t move backwards in time.

Even on a 1D spatial plane [edit to say yes… a line, not a plane.] we would be able to move forwards and backwards.

But we can’t with time. Why?

In: Physics

7 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The increase of entropy (in simple, but slightly incorrect terms, chaos) is what dictates time. In a closed system, the increase of entropy is the only way to “see” time. Entropy can only increase in a closed system like the universe, it takes added energy to decrease entropy. Because we cannot add energy to the universe, like someone else said, entropy cannot be decreased, thus time cannot flow backwards.

If you want to dive WAY beyond “like I’m 5” statistical thermodynamics is what really put it into perspective for me.

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