Bonus Content 1 —
The Curve of Time, Bonus Content —— in which Mica ...
Followed by ..
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Bonus Content
— 1 —
So, the book is done. Well, the solid first draft you’ve just listened to is. I’m happy to report that it’s already improved and still improving.
In the meantime, I thought I’d give you some of the extras that didn’t have a natural spot during during earlier commentary.
Today, we start some bonus content
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Maybe the embeddings aren't real and the world is just a slew of curves layered upon one another. A surface formed by lines. Actually a whole four dimensional space built up from lines. Think of it the way a collection of lines can make a surface.
Mica: "You're not making sense."
Wassily pulls up an image of a ruled surface on his phone. Even straight lines can make curved surfaces.
But the surface doesn't even need to be flat. Think of the cross-sections on a sphere. Level sets!
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There could also be the notion that space-time has a shape, the embedding space, and that our life curves sit inside that, sort of in the same way that a sticker sits on a balloon. A person could easily be confused with the balloon itself, especially if they were stenciled on, for instance. But they are distinct! % make this its own chapter titled: STICKERS?
This is obviously a contrast to the idea that the elements in our world have life-curves and that the world is just a tapestry of such.
"We think---well we'e been taught to think---of ourselves as part of the space-time continuum. But what if that's not how the universe works? What if we're just stickers adhering to the surface of space-time?"
Sticker metaphor begs the question of what is a sticker? Me? You? Anything I can change? Is there anything I can't change? What is space-time? And how do I know if I'm on another branch of it, as we call it? Indeed, given it's four dimensional nature, "branch" is an odd description.
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As Saskia is running time backwards, she muses that: Perhaps big sudden shifts in popular opinion can be seen as stemming from someone---another time traveler---going back and sacrificing themselves to shift public opinion by repeated ripples that generate a cumulative effect. Think gay marriage. Interracial marriage. Women's right to vote ....
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The blow ups model predicted that Saskia could go back and save the world by changing her timeline and thereby starting a new one.
Mica: "Well if you get back and make a change you'll know it works."
Saskia: "Unless something comes out of left field and proves us wrong."
Mica: "But it's math. If it's right, it's right."
Saskia: "Not necessarily ... just when you've nailed everything down, that's when you find an exception. describe the Euler Characteristic formula. ... And then contradictions. Balloon blow up proof; torus counter example."
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Until next week, be kind to someone and keep an eye out for the ripples of joy you’ve seeded.
Cheerio
Rufus
PS. If you think of someone who might enjoy joining us on this experiment, please forward them this email. And if you are one of those someone’s and you’d like to read more
