Janus point: Conception of time
Sky world News / According to a British physicist, time flows in two distinct directions Since we are born we have learned and understood that time only flows in one direction, forward, towards destruction or towards death.
But this British scientist's theory calls into question our entire conception of Time and the Universe.
What if our conception of the Big Bang, the Universe, and Life was wrong? What if time does not flow in just one direction but in two opposite directions, giving us a brighter future? These are the questions raised by the research of Julian Barbour, a retired professor who taught physics at Oxford University and who turns our most fundamental views of the universe upside down. According to Julian Barbour, this image of Janus perfectly illustrates his theory of the Universe.
To follow this scientist's reasoning, we need to understand two concepts: entropy and the second law of thermodynamics. What are these notions? Entropy is, in physics, the measure of disorder.
Take the example of a glass. This object has many possibilities of shattering and when it does, there is no way that it can be restored to its former state.
Thus, its destruction is an irreversible process, it is entropy.
The second law of thermodynamics reinforces the idea that entropy can only increase and never decrease.
In other words, a system is always headed for destruction and never the other way around.
This is why the longer you leave a glass on the table, the greater the risk of that glass being destroyed, due to a misstep, clumsiness or the like.
The same concepts would also apply to our universe, say several scientists.
They do believe that the entropy of the Universe will increase incessantly over time and then reach its maximum entropy state to the point where one day we would reach "thermal death" or the "big freeze".
But this is precisely the theory that Barbour disputes. One thing is certain, our life is shorter than that of the Universe Indeed, this scientist asserts that the arrow of time does not inevitably advance towards destruction.
Barbour thus argues that the Universe is not only increasingly complex andand structured, but in addition, its borders are unlimited. According to him, the Universe is becoming more and more varied and dynamic, and heat and energy will always continue to grow in all directions of time and space.
