No, what your describing is more like a Klein bottle what I mean is like a Quaternion. For example there is no way to map the surface of a sphere to a 2D square using real numbers. But if you allow big dark imaginary spaces say, between Alaska and the eastern tip of Russia (Chukotsky) you can make it work. You just need to remember to drop imaginary solutions when you ask "what is 1,607 miles west of Juneau", or if you're a non-U.S. Slash Dotter "what is 2,586 km east of Anadyr."
As Hawking put it; asking what happened before the Big Bang is like asking what's north of the North Pole.
What I take from his statement is that the universe can possibly map to a system with complex numbers where concepts similar to north of the North Pole exist. However, time does not apply until there are particles interacting with each other at rates that can be described with probability functions.
The rates must be non-zero otherwise the universe would be over instantly. Going faster than the speed of light would be the same as going faster than the speed of time. Is this article claiming otherwise?
Slashdot Mirror
No, what your describing is more like a Klein bottle what I mean is like a Quaternion. For example there is no way to map the surface of a sphere to a 2D square using real numbers. But if you allow big dark imaginary spaces say, between Alaska and the eastern tip of Russia (Chukotsky) you can make it work. You just need to remember to drop imaginary solutions when you ask "what is 1,607 miles west of Juneau", or if you're a non-U.S. Slash Dotter "what is 2,586 km east of Anadyr ."
As Hawking put it; asking what happened before the Big Bang is like asking what's north of the North Pole.
What I take from his statement is that the universe can possibly map to a system with complex numbers where concepts similar to north of the North Pole exist. However, time does not apply until there are particles interacting with each other at rates that can be described with probability functions.
The rates must be non-zero otherwise the universe would be over instantly. Going faster than the speed of light would be the same as going faster than the speed of time. Is this article claiming otherwise?