Visualizing time and alternate universes

Can we actually travel backward or forward in TIME? I read this article regarding physicists stimulating time travel for the first time (I still do not know if this is in real life or just a computer simulation), and I realized how difficult it is to actually understand what “time” is, much less what time travel is. When we walk forward, it is easy for us to move faster or to move backwards or to just simply stop in place, but we have no such freedom with regards to “time”, and we seem to only be allowed to walk forward in “time” in such a steady pace. Although I do not have any advanced knowledge on mathematics or physics or anything related, there are some thoughts and perspectives I would like to share regarding the concept of “time”.

I have not read any articles about it yet, but I have heard so much about “time” being referred to as the fourth dimension. The first three dimensions, of course, being the dimensions of our space (or at least what we can perceive of it). For those who need further explanation, the three dimensions of our space may be more easily referred to as, 1.) moving forwards and backwards, 2.) moving left and right, 3.) moving up and down, although it really is not as simple as I just said it to be. Therefore the fourth dimension could be moving forward and backwards in “time”.

Now, in order to explain my perspective, let us look at a simple graph (drawn by yours truly).


In the two-dimensional universe, we can imagine the graph as the shape of an actual object, for example a piece of string, in the 2-D world. But this graph can also represent a change in position in the one – dimensional universe with respect to “time”. If the x-axis represents time, and the y-axis represents changes in the 1-D world (which is represented by just moving forward and backward), it is clear in the right portion of the image how the one dimensional world changes as it moves through “time”.  In the 2-D world, we have an object, a string, with two dimensions: 1.) going forward and backward and 2.) going left and right, while in the 1-D world, this object represents a timeline with two dimensions as well: 1.) going forward and backward and 2.) time. Seeing that one dimension is constant in both worlds, the second dimension in the 2-D world could be what “time” is for the 1-D world. Continue reading