Member-only story
Thinking about time, our brains can wag the dog.
Scientists claim that time is not the same everywhere. Atomic clocks were sent into space and they found the evidence scientists were looking for. However, they did not take any wagging the dog into consideration. When a clock returns from outer space and shows a different time compared to a similar clock here on Earth, there are two options to interpret the data.
When the assumption is accepted that the clock’s functioning is the stablest functioning of matter we know, then we can declare that time is different out there, far away from Earth.
Yet when the assumption turns out to be not that sturdy, we can declare instead that not even the most stable material can withstand an outer-space position and not change its behavior.
Either the clock ended up warping, or time ended up warping. One of these options is ‘wagging the dog’.
—
There is actually no evidence that can say which one is which. The most proper conclusion is then obviously that the human brain is the weakest link in this dilemma.
Still, we can use Occam’s razor and pick the simplest explanation. Picking time as the aspect that got warped is a rather extreme conclusion. It is far more within normal range to say that matter behaves differently when placed in a…
