Reversible Physical Laws
If society is to progress on a truly humanistic basis, without being subject to mental epidemics and virulent social diseases to which the subconscious falls an easy victim, the personal consciousness of every individual should be cultivated to the highest degree possible.
Boris Sidis
The man of genius whether as an artist or thinker requires a mass of accidental variations to select from and a rigidly selective process of attention.
Boris Sidis
William James Sidis died hidden, largely. A former child prodigy in mathematics and polyglotism, purportedly. Many myths exist about the man. Nonetheless, he represented a social scientific experiment by his father, Boris Sidis, M.D., Ph.D., to see the capacities of the mind stretched to a limit at an early age.
The Animate and the Inanimate remains the main work publicly counted as part of the canon of Sidis. In this text, he proposes something of a twin-universe inversion thought experiment with, on the one hand, an ‘ordinary’ universe, such as our own, and, on the other hand, a reverse universe or an opposition universe to the ‘ordinary’ universe vis-à-vis the variable of time.
One of the earliest sections covers reversible physical laws. The “physical” seems disputable to me. However, the reversible physical laws appear rather apt as a descriptor of the situation at hand. By and large, the dynamics of the universe remain the same, surprisingly, in such a thought experiment upon reading and reflecting on Sidis.
The reversal of the known laws in the 1920s, or the time of the publication of the text, would result in a frame rate of the same gaps, scale of the same size, and cause-and-effect cosmos of the current order, merely in reverse order.
Bill was an avowed atheist on a first-order analysis, did not believe ‘in the big boss of the Christians,’ and believed, potentially, in something beyond the human. In some sense, one can consider a matrix of beliefs with a panendeistic view as a more in-depth perspective while an atheistic view, as a first approximation, seems reasonable too.
The difference between no gods and one that doesn’t personally care seems nil on an individual basis. The reversal of velocity, acceleration, effects on constituent parts of atoms, of mass, and the like, would appear the same in the original universe and in the reverse universe. Reversible physical law seems set here.
Any consideration of a change of an object or a force in the real universe must correspond to a change of an object or a force in the reverse universe in like manner while in opposition to the axis of time.
In this, any alteration of a velocity will require a countermanding velocity. The change of velocity requires another velocity. All forces in either universe remain the same and, therefore, the changes in the force in one make for a change in the other in the reverse time direction. The first law of thermodynamics, by logical deduction, remains the same in the reverse time universe as in the real universe.
A change of momentum is proportional to the force impressed in the second law of motion. Whether a reverse time universe or the real universe, the momentum does not change, thus the second law of motion retains fundamental character.
The third law of motion is every action has an equal and opposite reaction. With the first two established, we come to the factuality of the third. The three laws of motion retain their character in a reverse time universe.
Wherein, the laws and forces of the real universe exhibit a universal quality to them. For the conservation of energy and matter, Bill Sidis explains, laws of attraction and repulsion, of refraction and reflection, can be reversed; all can be made in a fake universe with only a reversion of the factor of time while retaining their fundamental character.
At one basic level, physical laws with the capability of reversion through time are a powerful thought experiment on the nature of time and the relation of law to reality.
Opinions and Perspectives
The distinction between theoretical possibility and physical reality is important here
I keep coming back to how the conservation laws would work. It's surprisingly elegant
This whole concept really challenges our basic assumptions about cause and effect
The way Sidis connects this to broader philosophical questions about reality is quite profound
We might be looking at time all wrong. Maybe it's not as linear as we think
What I find most interesting is how this challenges our intuitive understanding of time's direction
The mathematical consistency is impressive, even if the physical reality seems impossible
Surprised how well this holds up against modern physics concepts, considering when it was written
The implications for causality are staggering. Really makes you question our assumptions about time
Just imagine running all our experiments backwards and getting the same results. Mind-blowing!
I think this theory works better as a philosophical tool than a physical model, but it's fascinating either way
Makes you wonder what other fundamental properties of our universe might have mirror images we haven't discovered
The way he connects time reversal to conservation laws is quite brilliant, especially for the 1920s
I've read The Animate and the Inanimate, and this article barely scratches the surface of Sidis's ideas
The symmetry of physical laws in both directions of time is beautiful from a philosophical standpoint
Anyone else notice how this ties into the first law of thermodynamics? Really clever observation there
I wonder what modern physicists think about these ideas. Some of it seems surprisingly relevant to current theories
The fact that Newton's laws would still work in reverse really drives home how fundamental they are
This reminds me of some modern theories about multiple universes, just with a different twist
I appreciate how Sidis kept his theory grounded in established physical laws while exploring such an outlandish concept
The article could have explained the implications for quantum mechanics better. That's where things get really interesting
Just trying to imagine what it would be like to experience time in reverse gives me a headache!
The connection between reversible laws and conservation principles is really clever. I never thought about it that way before
Would anyone in the reverse universe even know they were going backwards? From their perspective, we might be the ones going backwards
The more I think about it, the more I see how this could work mathematically, even if it seems counterintuitive
This is why I enjoy theoretical physics. It pushes the boundaries of what we think is possible
I love how this challenges our perception of cause and effect. Makes you question everything we take for granted
The idea of momentum being conserved even in reverse time is mind-boggling. Really shows how fundamental these laws are
Interesting article, but I wish it delved deeper into how consciousness would work in a reverse universe
This makes me think about entropy differently. Would entropy decrease in the reverse universe?
The article specifically addresses that point. The laws of attraction, repulsion, reflection, and refraction would all work the same way
I'm not convinced that all physical laws would remain unchanged in a reverse universe. Surely some processes are inherently directional?
His father's social experiment in early education produced some fascinating results, even if it was ethically questionable
Does anyone else find it ironic that a child prodigy ended up theorizing about time running backwards?
The mathematical elegance of reversible physical laws is beautiful, even if we can't directly observe a reverse universe
I've always struggled with thermodynamics, but this reverse universe concept actually helps me understand conservation laws better
The part about panendeism versus atheism in his beliefs really caught my attention. Seems like he was open to multiple interpretations
You raise a good point about it being a thought experiment. It really makes you question our assumptions about how time works
I think people are missing the point that this was meant as a thought experiment to explore the nature of time, not necessarily a literal proposal
The concept reminds me of watching a movie in reverse, but on a universal scale. Pretty mind-bending stuff
Reading about Sidis's background as a child prodigy makes me wonder how much his early education influenced these theories
What interests me most is how Sidis connected this to his atheistic worldview while leaving room for something beyond human understanding
Not necessarily! The article explains that the scale and gaps would remain the same, just in reverse order. Everything would still follow predictable patterns
I'm still trying to wrap my head around how cause and effect would work in a reverse universe. Wouldn't everything feel completely chaotic?
Actually, from a mathematical perspective, most physical laws work perfectly fine when time is reversed. That's what makes Sidis's theory so intriguing
The whole concept seems a bit far-fetched to me. How could a universe possibly run backwards and still make any logical sense?
Incredible to think that even in a reverse universe, Newton's laws would still hold true. The conservation of energy and momentum really are universal principles
I find it fascinating how Sidis suggests our universe could have a twin operating in reverse time while maintaining the same fundamental laws of physics