Multiple time dimensions

The possibility that there might be more than one dimension of time has occasionally been discussed in physics and philosophy. Similar ideas appear in folklore and fantasy literature.

The possibility that there might be more than one dimension of time has occasionally been discussed in physics and philosophy. Similar ideas appear in folklore and fantasy literature.

Fiction

Multiple independent timeframes, in which time passes at different rates, have long been a feature of stories. Fantasy writers such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis have made use of these and other multiple time dimensions, such as those proposed by Dunne, in some of their most well-known stories. It has been argued that Tolkien borrowed his ideas for Lórien time in The Lord of the Rings, and that Lewis adopted them for his Chronicles of Narnia. Science fiction author H. Beam Piper, in his Paratime series of short stories and novel that multiple timelines exist as "worlds of alternate probability on the lateral dimension of time". Science fiction author Greg Egan wrote the hard science fiction novel Dichronauts, in which the metric signature is (2,2). The characters experience one time dimension perceived time, and the other time dimension as a spatial dimension with geometry distorted by the metric, and strange relativistic effects. In a similar fashion, his series Orthogonal is set in a universe where all 4 dimensions are equivalent, and can all serve as time dimensions. In this series, the relativistic effects between the 4 time-like dimensions is a major plot point.

See also

Dimensions of spacetime relating to the anthropic principle Multiverse, parallel universes Time Cube, a pseudoscientific model of time

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