# All of time didn’t stop at Isaiah- did it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 8, 2022, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504 "2022-04-08T06:44:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/21 "2022-04-08T15:21:37Z")
> [@MarkSh](#): > > I’m not a lunatic Objection! Assuming facts not in evidence. ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/22 "2022-04-08T15:26:14Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > her world existed in time and endured in space Oh, hey, I remember coming up with something similar: spime! A dimension mainly used for faster-than-light travel (you enter spime and wait millions of miles while going a few minutes forward, then you return to normal space). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/23 "2022-04-08T17:03:56Z")
It’s rather morbid to think that we’re “ancient Jewish men and women sitting around” imagining that we’re dead, and out children are dead, and their children are dead, and so on and so forth, completely lost and forgotten, not even dust but a scattering of atoms. Although it does explain why sometimes we seem to bump up against something and we look down and nothing is there. And why cats are always staring off into corners and dogs howl at invisibilities. Wait, are the cats and dogs of 730BCE also imagining our modern world? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/24 "2022-04-08T19:06:20Z")
> [@MarkSh](#): > > All of time didn’t stop at Isaiah- did it? No, it didn’t. > [@MarkSh](#): > > I’m not a lunatic- I hope 🤞 If you have to ask, it’s a step in the right direction . ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/25 "2022-04-08T20:28:37Z")
Phil, is that you? “I have gazed at a constantly changing world and declared that underneath it lies the eternal, the unchanging, the absolutely real. but how has this come about? If the real time is circa A.D. 50, then why do we see A.D. 1978? And if we are really living in the Roman Empire, somewhere in Syria, why do we see the United States?” Philip K. Dick [https://urbigenous.net/library/how\_to\_build.html](https://urbigenous.net/library/how_to_build.html) ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/26 "2022-04-08T20:29:52Z")
If enough of us “remember” the alternate ending to Big, will it come into existence? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/27 "2022-04-08T22:34:34Z")
Didn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![MarkSh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/278dde/32.png) [@MarkSh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarkSh)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/28 "2022-04-08T22:51:18Z")
This is the best answer I’ve gotten so far; perhaps Philip K Dick and I both came up with kind of the same idea. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/29 "2022-04-08T23:12:23Z")
Drugs will do that. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/30 "2022-04-08T23:47:29Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Drugs will do that Especially if you see pink light. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/31 "2022-04-09T00:03:42Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Drugs will do that. Do not take the brown acid! ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/32 "2022-04-09T00:23:39Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > I remember a Spider-Man issue from the 70’s where an alien woman explained to Doc Sampson (the Robert E. Howard version) that **whereas Earth existed in space and endured in time, her world existed in time and endured in space.** That concept stuck with me throughout the years, and explained why prophecy could be interpreted the wrong way. Bolding mine Also, what? > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > We are all living in an **autistic child’s** snow globe. Bolding mine Also, what? > [@k9bfriender](#): > > If enough of us “remember” the alternate ending to Big, will it come into existence? > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Didn’t it? Someone certainly thinks so. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/33 "2022-04-09T00:41:18Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > > > We are all living in an **autistic child’s** snow globe. > > Bolding mine > > Also, what? Isn’t that the ending of the last episode of **St. Elsewhere**? ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/34 "2022-04-09T00:50:19Z")
Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/35 "2022-04-09T02:12:31Z")
The wave equation and the spacetime metric work just as well with three time dimensions and one space dimension. Everybody say: wut? ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/36 "2022-04-09T14:20:29Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > > [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > > > I remember a Spider-Man issue from the 70’s where an alien woman explained to Doc Sampson (the Robert E. Howard version) that **whereas Earth existed in space and endured in time, her world existed in time and endured in space.** That concept stuck with me throughout the years, and explained why prophecy could be interpreted the wrong way. > > Bolding mine > > Also, what? If it helps, her narrative was accompanied by a diagram. Her world was an endless flat plane that only existed in one point of time, but it was also chaos, where the unstable environment changes the environment, instead of it changing through passage of time. Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/37 "2022-04-09T14:39:43Z")
I think that you’d have to have a brain that exists in time and endures in space to fully grok that. ---
**Author:** ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/38 "2022-04-09T14:43:23Z")
Well, you can be in my dream, if I can be in yours. I said that! ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/39 "2022-04-09T15:01:26Z")
I think the problem with understanding is a weird word choice. Does “Earth existed in space and moved through time, her world existed in time and moved through space” sound more clear? Swapped dimensions isn’t a unique concept in SF. This trilogy comes to mind, for instance: > **[Orthogonal (series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthogonal_(series))** > > Orthogonal is a science fiction trilogy by Australian author Greg Egan taking place in a universe where, rather than three dimensions of space and one of time, there are four fundamentally identical dimensions. While the characters in the novels always perceive three of the dimensions as space and one as time, this classification depends entirely on their state of motion, and the dimension that one observer considers to be time can be seen as a purely spatial dimension by another observer. > The ... ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504/40 "2022-04-09T16:40:30Z")
At the end of “Starmaker” (Olaf Stapledon’s 1937 novel), there’s a surprisingly sophisticated discussion about dimensions and time, as in this brief excerpt > In his maturity the Star Maker conceived many strange forms of time. For > instance, some of the later creations were designed with two or more > temporal dimensions, and the lives of the creatures were temporal > sequences in one or other dimension of the temporal “area” or “volume.” > These beings experienced their cosmos in a very odd manner. Living for a > brief period along one dimension, each perceived at every moment of its > life a simultaneous vista which, though of course fragmentary and > obscure, was actually a view of a whole unique “transverse” cosmical > evolution in the other dimension. In some cases a creature had an active > life in every temporal dimension of the cosmos. The divine skill which > arranged the whole temporal “volume” in such a manner that all the > infinite spontaneous acts of all the creatures should fit together to > produce a coherent system of transverse evolutions far surpassed even > the ingenuity of the earlier experiment in “pre-established harmony.” > > In other creations a creature was given only one life, but this was a > “zig-zag line,” alternating from one temporal dimension to another > according to the quality of the choices that the creature made. Strong > or moral choices led in one temporal direction, weak or immoral choices > in another. > > In one inconceivably complex cosmos, whenever a creature was faced with > several possible courses of action, it took them all, thereby creating > many distinct temporal dimensions and distinct histories of the cosmos. > Since in every evolutionary sequence of the cosmos there were very many > creatures, and each was constantly faced with many possible courses, and > the combinations of all their courses were innumerable, an infinity of > distinct universes exfoliated from every moment of every temporal > sequence in this cosmos. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-time-didn-t-stop-at-isaiah-did-it/962504.md?page=3)