The Space of All Possibilities

The Second Law of Thermodynamics and Timelessness

(chapter 12)

The imagination can easily create other worlds in fantasy. But do such worlds really exist? It seems that we have no way of knowing, unless perhaps there is an ultimate structure to the whole of all possibilities. We have already seen that the realm of possibilities is limited or bounded by the extremes of lpha and !mega. re there other limits? Indeed the whole of infinite possibilities has a distinct shape which can be understood. In fact there are boundaries in every direction of possibility, and such boundaries shape and guide the flow of time in our own universe. They influence and determine our entire lives. If we know what is possible we can determine what is probable. We all intuitively know this. If we could create a map of all possibilities such a map should tell us what worlds are probable and what worlds are improbable or impossible. We know that what is possible determines what actually happens in our own universe, but we only vaguely understand why. The physicist "udwig Bolt#mann was the first to imagine that an overall set of possibilities has a shape and structure that controls what happens in time when he developed an advanced theory of thermodynamics in $%&%. In his now famous book, A Brief History of Time, the physicist 'tephen (awking uses a pu##le to explain the basic principles behind Bolt#mann)s statistical version of the second law. (awking explains how the greater number of disordered states influences events. *ote that each possible pattern or arrangement is called a state, and the overall realm of possibilities is called state space. (awking writes+
Consider the pieces of a jigsaw [puzzle] in a box. There is one, and is only one, arrangement in which the pieces make a complete picture. n the other hand, there are a !ery large number of arrangements in which the pieces are disordered and don"t make a picture. #uppose the pieces of the jigsaw start off in a box in the ordered arrangement in which they form a picture. $f you shake the box, the pieces will take up another arrangement. This will probably be a disordered arrangement in which the pieces don"t form a proper picture, simply because there are so many more disordered arrangements.

,ach time we shake the box and look inside we discover a new uni-ue pattern where the pu##le is broken apart. In fact there is a seemingly endless number of possibilities which are more disordered than the one most ordered pattern where all its pieces are fit perfectly together. Bolt#mann believed this is the reason why increasing disorder is much more probable than increasing order, because in selecting the future, nature chooses among a larger pool of disordered states over ordered states. 'ome have even applied the thinking of Bolt#mann to the large.scale realm of all possibilities. In the book, /The ,nd of Time/, the ,nglish physicist 0ulian Barbour portrays timelessness as a wedge shape originating from

the lpha state. (aving named his model 1latonia, Barbour writes, /1latonia is necessarily skew. It is easy to imagine that the cone )funnels entanglement outwards), much like a trumpeter blows air from a bugle/ 2pg.34$5. This model of all possible states will be referred to as the wedge model. This is generally how we have come to view the general shape of all possibilities, dating back to the late $678)s when ,ddington proposed a relationship between thermodynamics and the cosmological arrow of time. 'everal scientists have modeled the realm of possibilities in this same way, however, it is important to consider that scientists today are usually only considering the possible states that are directly available to a system 2where the system obeys the laws of physics5 so they are not attempting to model all conceivable possibilities from a top.down perspective as we are doing here.

Improving the Wedge 9odel

What we are about to do now is take the wedge model and modify and mold it into a full and more detailed description of all possible states. The wedge model is very structured and precise in one direction, toward the lpha state in our past, but it is non.descriptive of the future. :oes the wedge accurately represent the structure of all possible states? Is there no structure or end to the measure of increasingly disordered patterns? The wedge model predicts the direction of time is toward disorder. ;or several years now scientists have been aware that time itself is accelerating toward absolute #ero, and yet our modern vision of all possible states does not yet include any representation of #ero. The wedge model obviously only includes one of the two cosmic absolutes which we know today exist in cosmology 2see part one5. The classic wedge model does not include the ultimate #ero of physics. 'o our first step is to integrate #ero into the wedge model.

That first step is easy enough, but it immediately leads to a few new -uestions. What is the shape of pattern space near #ero? 'uddenly we have to completely reconsider the wedge shape as a description of all possibilities. We know there exists an ever decreasing measure of states leading to the single lpha state in our past. Those boundary conditions near lpha actually are what define the wedge. They give shape to what is ultimately possible. Integrating #ero doesn<t challenge those boundary conditions. It =ust leads us to consider new boundary conditions in the direction of our future that come along with #ero. It is only natural that the same principles that apply to the lpha extreme also apply to a #ero extreme. >ero is also a single extreme state, a single condition, a singularity. It is a uniform state.

'o as we might expect, in moving toward that single extreme there is another wedge, a reversed wedge, on the other side of the great bulk of diverse states.

>ero is perfect symmetry. It is perfectly flat. It is the same everywhere. It is the template of sameness and symmetry. This necessitates that there are increasingly fewer states that are #ero. like, that are almost flat, that are almost uniform. ?onse-uently as we move nearer to #ero the shape of state space closes and narrows inward toward the single state of #ero. The overall measure of possibilities decreases. This forms a closing of possibilities in the direction of our future. "et<s recall here 'tephen (awking)s analogy of the pu##le in the box. ,very time we shake the box there is a new pattern. nd there is only one pattern where all the pieces of the pu##le fit together. But there is also only one pattern where the box is empty. ;urthermore, if we consider patterns where there are =ust two or three pieces in the box, there aren<t nearly as many uni-ue patterns as there are with ten or fifty pieces in the box. s we take away pu##le pieces, there are fewer and fewer uni-ue configurations, until finally there is =ust the one state of an empty box. It follows that the measure of possible states is naturally greatest when the box is not too full and not too empty. The same is true for the universe outside of the box. We can imagine that a large measure of uni-ue possible states exist for the amount of galaxies that presently inhabit the universe, keeping in mind there are wide expanses of empty space between those galaxies, and that empty space would remain a constant for each possible state. If we then imagine adding galaxies into the measure of empty space, so that there were more galaxies in the same volume, as is increasingly true of the distant past, then we can easily recogni#e there would be a larger measure of possible states, since there are more galaxies in the same volume to alter into uni-ue configurations. It follows that the measure of possible states is greatest somewhere in the middle in between lpha and !mega where the greatest measure of diversity exists. In considering the distant future the same principles which define the shape of the wedge model in our past apply also to the shape of state space near #ero. s matter is stretched flat and the density of space approaches #ero there is an ever decreasing measure of uni-ue patterns in that direction. The nearer we are to #ero the fewer possibilities exist that are #ero.like. wedge shape that contracts toward !mega is the most important conse-uence of integrating #ero into the set of all possible states. The shape of all conceivable states is defined by two extremes, not one. nd now we can see that there is a wide spectrum of patterns ranging from infinite density to the #ero density. This creates a density gradient.

@ecogni#ing the reversed wedge shape of possibilities out there in our future is a big step forward. It carries with it some profound implications that are even immediately visible. ?onsidering we are moving directly toward #ero, even presently accelerating in that direction, a narrowing structure of possible states means that our universe is increasingly influenced and focused by the final condition at the end of time. It means that time will eventually be forced into a very limited and defining number of future possibilities. This funneling of time not only creates a considerable restriction to what is possible in the distant future, this funneling of time<s direction would even be influencing our present at this stage of cosmic evolution. @egardless of how many possibilities there are, if time is faced with ever fewer choices in the direction toward #ero, then the future will naturally become increasingly determined or shaped by the availability of a fewer measure of patterns that exist in that direction. ?onsidering how flat and empty the large.scale universe is at present, in the same way the past was focused outward by lpha, as Barbour put it, Alike a trumpeter<s hornB, our future is being increasingly channeled inward toward > T, so it is increasingly focused by, and made to be like #ero, simply due to the narrowing of possibilities. !f course we are accustomed to the way #ero is effecting our universe. In understanding that #ero is the symmetry order extreme, and remembering how symmetry order supplies the component of balance to all patterns, we can reali#e that increasing balances are the result of time moving ever nearer to #ero.

Figure 6: The shape of State Space near Zero. Acknowledging zero leads us to recognize that there is a decreasing measure of possibilities in the future.

!mega is full and not empty. 'o what the narrowing wedge in our future means is that the universe and we ourselves in various ways are presently feeling the influence of the balanced whole. @ather all the various paths of time all have the same beginning and the same final destination. ?onse-uently #ero is influencing the present universe. !ne force of nature in particular, the great balancing force of electromagnetism, is clearly the product of our moving ever nearer to the balance and symmetry of #ero. "ater we shall give this focusing to the direction of time a great deal of further study since this influence from the future, combined together with the influence of the grouping order of our

past, creates a wonderfully simple way of comprehending the forces of nature. (owever, before we are ready for that insight, we first need to more fully understand the shape of the possible realm. *ow that we have considered the past and future, let<s take a look at those possibilities that exist ad=acent the presentCCC This was a fact that had inspired me in my life and I, who is $3 years old is doing a study on this topic. Its really interesting when you come to know that the world is hidden with such facts