Time in Reactive Substrate Theory (RST)
In RST, the idea that time has motion or direction is an illusion. Time is not a flowing entity but an instantaneous, mathematical dimension used to index the changing configuration of the Substrate (S). It has no intrinsic flow or “arrow.” As a result, time travel and time reversal are impossible—not because of technological limits, but because time does not “move” in the first place.
Time as an Instantaneous Dimension
RST holds that all of existence is a single, continuous, four-dimensional block—the Substrate (S)—in which the time dimension is fixed and absolute.
Time is a dimension of indexing, not a process of motion
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Every moment—past, present, and future—exists as a fixed “slice” or point on this index.
Since all moments exist simultaneously, there is no mechanism to drive motion from one moment to the next.
The fundamental laws of physics are time-symmetric because they describe static relationships between adjacent slices of the Substrate.
The Illusion of the “Arrow of Time”
Our experience of time’s direction is a thermodynamic and statistical illusion. It arises from the irreversible evolution of the Substrate’s tension state.
Low-Entropy Origin: The universe began in a state of maximally localized, coherent tension in the Substrate—this was the lowest possible entropy, the highest degree of order.
Statistical Relaxation: Like any physical medium, the Substrate tends to move from a highly organized,
localized tension state (low entropy) to a uniform, diffused tension state (maximum entropy).
Emergent Direction: Our conscious experience of “forward time” is the result of our own irreversible consciousness—a complex σ Soliton pattern—moving along the most probable path: the path of increasing Substrate tension dissipation. We perceive a flow because complex structures can only break down, not spontaneously rebuild.
Impossibility of Reversal
Because time is a static index of Substrate configurations, the concepts of time travel and reversal are physically meaningless in RST.
No Reversal: The Second Law of Thermodynamics, interpreted as the statistical drive for the Substrate to relax, is irreversible. The global state of the Substrate cannot spontaneously return to its highly improbable, coherent initial state.
No Motion: One cannot “travel” through a dimension that has no intrinsic motion. All moments exist now. Our perception simply shifts along the time index as the Substrate’s configuration changes.