Is Earth time speeding up?
In recent years, I’ve had the distinct impression that Earth’s time passage is speeding up. Today, I’m going to introduce a theory as to why this may be happening. Let’s explore.
Universe Expansion
It has been documented that the Universe is expanding at a specific rate. (via Space.com)
Scientists utilize telescopes to gather information to formulate hypotheses about the Universe. Keep in mind that any light received via telescopes emanated from those systems perhaps many thousands of years earlier (perhaps more). Meaning, scientists who formulate hypotheses based on light received by stars or galaxies are doing so based in exceedingly old data, perhaps dating back hundreds of thousands of years. Any expansion rate they formulate based on old starlight data is already years outdated. We need newer data.
One thing that hasn’t been postulated around this expansion is how this affects not only the rest of the universe, but how this rate of expansion affects the Earth itself.
As the Universe (and everything in it) expands, everything moves farther away from one another. Some postulate that gravitational bound celestial bodies do not expand away from one another or expand themselves. That presumptive stance might not be accurate depending on how and why the universe is expanding.
How does the Universe Expanding impact Earth?
Good question. Let’s dive right into the meat of this. As the Universe expands, so too do the galaxies themselves. While the galaxies get farther apart from one another, each galaxy and everything inside of may also be getting farther apart. This expansion may very well include everything inside of the Sol solar system (ours) also moving apart at specific rate, but perhaps infinitesimally small.
Time Dilation
What is time dilation? Time dilation is when two clocks measure time differently in two different locations. In one location, 5 minutes might pass. In a second location, 1 minute might pass. Time dilation illustrates the theory of relativity. Time passes relative to where you are. If you’re in the 5 minute location, you’ll feel 5 minutes pass. If you’re in the 1 minute location, you’ll feel only 1 minute has passed. One can only know that the time has passed differently between two locations if both locations are in real-time contact to state their own exact time passage to the other party.
What this dilation further means is that “something” is altering the passage of time between these two locations. Meaning, in the location where 1 minute has passed, time is running slower (viewed from the 5 minute side). In the location where 5 minutes has passed (viewed from the 1 minute side), time is running faster on the 5 minute side. This concept is known as relativism.
What we don’t know is whether that “something” is specifically affecting the 1 minute location, the 5 minute location or both. What we do know is that the the clocks are running at differing rates. As time progresses, the 5 minute location will get farther and farther ahead leaving the 1 minute location behind.
What this also means is that anyone who is in or around the 5 minute location will age faster than those in the 1 minute location. Once 2 minutes passes in the original 1 minute location, that means 10 minutes has passed in the original 5 minute location. Time will continue to “dilate” farther and farther away from one another between these two locations. For example, once 30 minutes passes in the 1 minute location, that would mean 150 minutes has passed in the 5 minute location. The more time that passes, the wider the dilation gets.
Why is Time Dilation Important?
In a gravitational universe, like the one we inhabit here, gravity directly impacts space and time; specifically time passage. Gravity directly influences how our clocks on Earth work. There are lots of gravitational variables and forces at play including the gravity that Earth imposes, the gravity that Sol imposes, the gravity that all of the rest of the planets impose, but it’s more than that. Every celestial body exerts some amount of gravitational force on each other, however small.
Many physicists believe that gravitational falloff eventually gets to be so small that it’s negligible or nonexistent when the celestial body is too far away. It is firmly believed that the center of the Milky Way is inhabited by a super massive black hole named Sagittarius A *; a black hole that imposes a large amount of gravitational force.
I’m not fully convinced of this gravitational falloff theory, specifically when considering Universe Expansion. A single celestial body might not exhibit much force on Earth, like Sagittarius A * at its distance. When combined with all of the other celestial bodies exerting gravitational force between Sol and Sagittarius A, there might be quite a bit less falloff than we think. In other words, the Earth might be impacted in a much larger way by the gravitational forces of all of the combined celestial bodies all the way to the center of the Milky Way than we think.
How would lesser gravitational forces manifest on Earth?
Because the Universe is constantly expanding and because the Milky Way is likewise expanding with it and because the Sol solar system is expanding along with all of this, the Earth is seeing a reduction in the overall gravitational forces from its affected celestial bodies, not just within Sol, but in the Milky Way and everywhere else, all at the same time.
What does this reduction in gravitational force mean for Earth? Because we know that greater gravitational forces slow down time and because we likewise know that lesser gravitational forces speed time up, this indicates that the Universe Expanding means that time passage here on Earth will continue to increase.
Because time is relative to where we exist, we as humans won’t notice much difference being here on Earth. One (1) minute to us will always appear to be 1 minute. However, someone watching time from the Andromeda Galaxy would note a marked difference in time passage compared to someone watching time on Earth… particularly if they noted Earth’s time passage in the 1970s versus noting it in the 2020s.
The point here is that we as humans can’t see that the speed of time is increasing because we’re “too close” to it. The only way we can really see how fast our time passage is increasing is to place a satellite far enough away that we can have two points of time measurement reference. Then, we can calculate the time dilation differences over 1 year, 5 years and even 10 years or longer. We could then calculate the rate of increase in the dilation to better understand how time dilation impacts Earth and how quickly it’s occurring.
Sol and Earth
Many scientists assume that the Earth will die only after Sol dies. However, because of the ever increasing expansion of the Universe, the Earth could die because time speed increases. The question is, how fast can time passage increase and is there maximum limit? More than this, is the human body designed to handle this time passage increase when it reaches a theoretical maximum?
Human Body
The human body is an amazing piece of design, but it’s clearly not perfect. It is subject to diseases, viruses and sometimes can succumb to such diseases or viruses and fail, thus death. The human brain is, likewise, an amazing piece of design work. However, again, it is also not perfect.
One thing we’re not at all sure of is if the human brain can function when time speed passage reaches beyond a certain threshold. The body takes a certain amount of time to functionally store memories and process input and output. If the human brain is unable to function properly at the speed of time passage around the body, the human brain could fail to work properly. This could mean more and more human problems, such as psychosis, anger issues, memory problems and a myriad of other related human degenerative conditions.
For example, if the body has its own internal body clock to govern its workings, if that clock doesn’t align with time passage outside of the body in a mostly cohesive way, this could pose problems for each human and for humanity. It’s also possible that some humans could adapt to this new time reality, though.
It is and has always been assumed that relative time passage affects the body in a “normal” way. That the human body just “goes along” with whatever time speed is currently passing. That assumption could be incorrect. The human body might not be able to function properly if time passage becomes either too fast or too slow. Like too much radiation causes human sickness, too fast a time passage might disorient the body and brain perhaps leading to illness.
Universe Expansion and Humanity
This is where this article comes together. Because the Universe is expanding at a certain rate (possibly increasing) and because this expansion moves gravitational forces farther apart, this means that Earth’s time passage will only continue to increase (less grav forces = faster time passage). To put this in perspective, time during the 1970s ran slower than time during the 2020s because the universe has expanded some. Yes, Earth time speed has increased. Some have also noticed that the rotational speed of the Earth is also increasing. Some might argue that this increase in rotational speed is due to the Earth itself. However, I’d argue that this increase is due to the reduction in gravitational forces around the Earth, which is likely due to the Universe expanding.
As gravitational forces in the Universe continue to reduce due to the expansion, everything will speed up, including Earth’s rotational speed and time passage on Earth.
Killer Virus or Time Dilation?
Many scientists have been focused on a killer virus that might wipe out humanity. Yes, this scenario is entirely possible. It’s also entirely possible that the reduction in gravitational forces imposed on Earth as the Universe expands could lead to the demise of Earth and Humanity. The question is, which one is likely to happen first? The answer is, there’s no way to know.
If the rate of expansion is becoming exponential (or at least increasing in speed as it goes), then the reduction in gravitational forces could happen at a much, much faster rate than anyone expects. We assume that the universe expansion is slow and steady, but we have no way to know that. We’re one planet sitting in a sea of celestial bodies in this Universe. We have one vantage point from which to view what’s occurring in the universe. Because our single vantage point doesn’t afford us the necessary means to measure reduction in gravitational forces properly, we’re more or less flying blind. In other words, our single vantage point on Earth doesn’t give us the clarity needed to understand if the universe’s expansion is a significant problem in the making.
More than this, as Earth’s time passage increases in speed, we have no idea what the fallout of that will be not only on the human body, but on the plants, animals and other resources that humans require to survive.
This situation is a big picture problem with no big picture answers. I don’t even think any scientists are considering this big picture problem. Many scientists would likely discount that this idea is a problem at all because they personally consider the expansion rate of the universe too infinitesimally small. If that’s true, then why has the Earth’s rotational speed increased in just a few decades? Why does it seem that time passage is now increasing on Earth in actually humanly perceptible ways?
If the universe’s expansion is as slow as has been claimed, then it should take humanity millennia to notice changes on Earth, not decades. Decades implies that “something” is moving way faster than expected. What that something is, we don’t really know. It’s likely that the universe is expanding at a rate we aren’t expecting, simply because there’s no other rational explanation for the reduction in gravitational forces on Earth.
Of course, we can’t rule out a technologically sophisticated extraterrestrial intentionally reducing the gravitational forces being applied to Earth. We also can’t rule out one or more near celestial body/bodies having been “consumed” that has drastically reduced gravitational forces applied to Earth. However, these latter scenarios are way more far fetched than the universe expansion theory. It would take many years of research to uncover any answers involving questions postulated in this article.
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Why Star Trek Discovery is not canon
A lot of “fans” of the latest Star Trek TV series installment of Star Trek Discovery claim to love the show. They also claim that because the show runners have claimed Discovery is official canon, that the show is canon. But, is it? Let’s explore.
What is Canon?
Canon is previous story and characters that a show must follow so as not to contradict something that has come before. Yet, Discovery has contradicted established canon all along the way. The first contradiction was the Klingons with their … well, let me show a picture:
This is a Discovery Klingon. This Klingon above looks nothing like these 3:
or even this Klingon from a TOS episode:
The latter two having been Klingons in The Next Generation and in the Original Series, respectively. The “bonehead” Klingons became the norm from 1979 onward. It was the bonehead Klingon design that Gene Roddenberry himself approved.
With Star Trek Discovery, that all changed and now we have the Klingon pictured in the top most image. The difficulty is, “Where did this Klingon come from?”. It doesn’t match the canon approved and used throughout the 80s and 90s and even into the 00s with Star Trek Enterprise.
Now, Discovery appears and gives us this odd designed Klingon that has never been used in any previous series ever. It doesn’t much resemble a Klingon, even though they’re speaking Klingon and have a kind of “bonehead”. The question remains, what happened? Is this design canon or not? Before I answer that question, let’s talk about how this Intellectual Property has been fractured between studios.
Paramount versus CBS
When Roddenberry was alive and even up until not too long ago, Paramount was the sole rights holder of Star Trek. However, when Viacom bought and then split Paramount and CBS, this all changed who owned what and it fractured the Star Trek franchise in unnecessary and inexplicable ways.
A little history. In 1994, Paramount was purchased by Viacom. In 1999, Viacom agreed to purchase CBS. This means that from 1999 to 2005, Viacom owned both Paramount and CBS. In 2005, Viacom’s then board of directors voted to split Paramount and CBS into separate companies for better “shareholder value”.
When the companies split, CBS was given the rights to the Star Trek TV series universe and Paramount was given the rights to the Star Trek motion picture universe. Ultimately, this now gives two separate entertainment companies the rights to create and make up canon in their respective universes. This is ultimately where the fracturing of the intellectual property comes into play and why Discovery is such a mess when it comes to producing its series based on canon.
This split also means that the canon is now split between two separate companies. A franchise disaster, to be honest.
Motion Pictures versus TV series
The TV series includes Star Trek The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. These properties up to Enterprise existed at the time of the split. Discovery did not exist then.
The original cast motion pictures include Star Trek The Motion Picture, II, III, IV, V and VI. The Next Generation cast pictures include Generations, First Contact, Insurrection and Nemesis. The Kelvin time line pictures (i.e., J.J. Abrams) include Star Trek (2009 Reboot), Into Darkness, Beyond and there is a possibility of a fourth film which is in limbo as of this article.
This means that CBS owns the rights to the above TV series properties (in addition to Discovery) and Paramount owns the rights to the above Motion Picture properties. It also means that CBS can now ignore motion picture canon and Paramount can ignore TV series canon when producing future works.
Clearly, this is how CBS is proceeding with its latest TV series, Star Trek Discovery. One can argue, the “bonehead” Klingons appear in the TV series. They do. And, to a degree, the design above does appear somewhat like a bonehead Klingon, except without hair, much darker skin, odd shaped facial features and odd shaped outfits. However, no Klingon has ever appeared on screen in any way (TV or Movie) that looks like this Discovery Klingon. This Klingon type is actually the first of its kind… which means, it is NOT Roddenberry canon.
The Trouble with Tribbles
Or, more specifically, the trouble with double ownership of the Star Trek franchise means there is no effective steward maintaining canon. There can’t be. There are two separate companies competing for your almighty Star Trek dollar. One company can make shit up and the other company doesn’t have to use it. This is effectively what CBS is doing… making shit up as they go along because they don’t have to answer to canon placed into the motion pictures. Even then, they’re not following canon established by previous Star Trek TV series either. After all, Star Trek Discovery is clearly set at the same time as The Original Series.
The TV series timeline goes something like (timeline courtesy of Memory Alpha):
2151-2155 -- Star Trek Enterprise (Season 1 thru 4) 2254-2254 -- Star Trek The Original Series: "The Cage" (Episode) 2256-2257 -- Star Trek Discovery (Season 1) 2265-2269 -- Star Trek The Original Series (Seasons 1, 2 and 3) 2269-2270 -- Star Trek The Animated Series (Seasons 1 and 2) 2364-2370 -- Star Trek The Next Generation (Seasons 1 thru 7) 2369-2375 -- Star Trek Deep Space Nine (Season 1 thru 7) 2369-2370 -- Star Trek Enterprise: "These are the Voyages" (Episode) 2371-2378 -- Star Trek Voyager (Seasons 1 thru 7)
As you can see, Star Trek Discovery is actually set BEFORE Star Trek The Original Series, before The Animated Series and before any other series with the exception of one Star Trek TOS episode and Star Trek Enterprise which come before Discovery.
Basically, the canon that Star Trek Discovery must adhere to is what is seen in Star Trek Enterprise and in one episode of The Original Series (and, of course, anything in later TV series that corroborate Enterprise and TOS). Enterprise and this one episode of Star Trek TOS are both enough to set canon as to how Discovery should run. Discovery also occurs 9 years prior to The Original Series. However, The Original Series only showed the non-bonehead Klingons while Enterprise showed us both styles of Klingons. This means that both Klingon types already existed in the Roddenberry universe when Star Trek TOS existed. This also means that both Klingon types exist at the time when Discovery is operating. One could argue that Enterprise broke canon by showing us the bonehead Klingons that we wouldn’t see until Star Trek The Motion Picture in 1979 (picture to the left). However, Discovery’s Klingon type comes out of nowhere and goes back into nowhere because this Klingon type won’t exist after Discovery ends.
However, in the Enterprise episode “Affliction” in the 4th season, I guess this episode is supposed to explain the difference between the bonehead and non-bonehead Klingons and the reasons why the non-bonehead Klingons appear in The Original Series. I think it was a cheap cop-out episode, but hey, at least they held true to the TMP and TOS Klingon designs… which is more than I can say for Discovery.
Discovery, on the other hand, doesn’t hold true to either design. They made their own Klingon canon. They made a Klingon design that has never exited before or after… not in ENT, TOS, TNG, DS9, TAS or Voyager. They’re clearly, “making shit up”.
Additionally, there’s the Spore Drive. Yet again, Discovery is found “making shit up”. This drive type has never been discussed either before or since, yet Discovery has introduced this propulsion system as some experimental thing that only existed during Discovery’s existence. I’m sorry, if the spore drive were a real thing in the Roddenberry universe, there would have been talks of it both in Star Trek TOS and likely Star Trek Enterprise and even in TNG, DS9 and Voyager (it would have at least come up, particularly in Voyager when looking for a way home). That no information was ever discussed regarding this drive system, Discovery is simply creating things out of thin air to make their series more watchable (and make more money). However, there may be another reason… so, keep reading.
Because “The Cage” episode shows us that the Federation chain of command already exists in a formalized and hierarchical command structured way, having Discovery show its characters as chaotic, insubordinate and outright informal makes me believe that the Discovery creators had no intention of following established Roddenberry “Federation” canon. In fact, I will go so far as to say that Star Trek Discovery is actually operating in its own universe. Perhaps it exists in the Kelvin universe along side the reboot Star Trek motion pictures, but I believe it lives in its own new CBS universe. But, Discovery does not live in the same universe as the Roddenberry universe TV shows do.
CBS Universe
Because Star Trek Discovery lives in its own universe, the creators of Discovery can literally make up anything they wish and it will be canon. It’s canon because the show isn’t set in the Roddenberry universe. It’s set in a CBS offshoot universe where everything can and does exist if the creators want it to. In this universe, weird shaped Klingons, spore drives and insubordination are all accepted because in this universe it’s all there.
In the Roddenberry universe, Discovery never existed and couldn’t exist. The spore drive doesn’t exist. The weird Discovery Klingons don’t exist. The F-bombs don’t exist. The nonsensical highly sophisticated NCC-1031 starship doesn’t exist with its operating panel designs that don’t exist on the Federation’s flagship Enterprise NCC-1701 just 9 years later.
Discovery living in a CBS Universe is the only explanation that can possibly work for this TV show. When a show runner says it’s canon, well it is. But, it’s only canon if you consider that Discovery is a show created in an offshoot CBS universe that has never before existed. It is not canon were it to exist in the Roddenberry universe. Obviously, the show creators aren’t going to make this distinction because they don’t want viewers to understand the difference between the CBS universe and the Roddenberry universe. They just want the viewer to believe it somehow magically exists in the Roddenberry universe when this show clearly cannot.
It’s clear, Discovery does not exist in the Roddenberry universe. It can’t. That universe ended with the close of Star Trek Enterprise. It remains to be seen if the new Patrick Stewart series will be set in Discovery’s CBS universe or if CBS will try to set that series in the Roddenberry universe. My guess is that CBS may want to attempt some type of crossover episodes between Discovery and the as yet unnamed Patrick Stewart series. However, that would be a feat considering that Discovery occurs 98 years earlier from the original TNG series (see timeline). Considering Patrick Stewart’s age now, they’ll have to age forward the new series to have it make sense with Stewart’s current age… which means this new series must occur over 100 years in Discovery’s future. It will then be difficult to have a crossover without time travel. However, they can engineer dual episodes which causes something to happen in Discovery that impacts the Picard series 100 years later. This is akin to a crossover and would establish both series being in the same universe; the CBS universe.
Personally, I’d rather the two series remain entirely independent. No crossovers. No incidental references to prior events in Discovery. This means that Discovery can officially be announced as operating in its own CBS universe and that the Picard series will be set in the Roddenberry universe and no crossovers will be possible.
Kelvin Universe
When J.J. Abrams became part of Paramount’s efforts to reboot the Star Trek movie franchise, he decided to create an entirely new and separate universe. In that effort, he had elder Spock (from the Roddenberry universe) fall through a time hole and land in an alternate universe much earlier in its unfolding life. Elder Spock then meets up with his much younger alternate version of Spock along with younger versions of Kirk, Sulu, Chekov, Uhura, Bones and so on. Basically, these alternate versions of these main characters set the tone of this alternate universe’s ‘Five Year Mission’, set in an alternate Enterprise, set in an alternate timeline known as Kelvin. It’s named after the USS Kelvin, the ship which fell through the time hole with elder Spock. Why is this important?
It’s important to understand this Kelvin alternate universe idea because it appears CBS has done the same exact thing with the Discovery TV series. Instead of trying to disturb and hold true to the Roddenberry universe canon, it’s far easier to create a brand new offshoot universe set in its own time line. This then means the writers can write anything they wish, on any ship they wish, with any technology they wish. Because Paramount has already established their own playground universe for the movies to live in, it appears CBS is also running with this idea and has done the exact same thing with Discovery. Even the name ‘Discovery’ hints at the existence of this alternate universe.
In fact, I believe that this alternate universe will reveal itself and will likely become a big part of Discovery’s future stories. I’m assuming that the writers are holding this point back until just the exact moment when they can reveal a character like Picar… er Spock falling through a time distortion and we can clearly see that Discovery is not set in the Roddenberry universe. It makes for a good plot twist, don’t you think? Holding this point back allows the Discovery writers to craft and unfold an entire season long story arc about this new CBS universe (or whatever name they decide to give it). For now, I’m calling it the CBS universe, but it will likely be named differently after someone from the Roddenberry universe falls into it.
I’d suspect it might be a TNG character who falls through this time. Perhaps Q created this universe? I’d steer clear of Q as using this character always feels like a cop-out. Because Wesley had become a kind of universe traveler, I’d like to see him return a bit older so we can finish out his story arc that never really closed properly in TNG. I might also like to see Kess show up as she also didn’t get proper closure in Voyager. Seeing a new Dax might also be a good way to handle this reveal also. Dax’s immense knowledge and age would allow for some very good stories. Even Guinan might be a good choice to land in Discovery’s alternate universe.
For this reason, I believe that Discovery’s writers and creators are holding back on this idea, but will eventually reveal it. For this reason, the show runners can say that Discovery is canon, because it is, in its own universe. They just haven’t revealed this alternate universe point in the TV series yet. They can string the fans along making them think it’s in the Roddenberry universe when they haven’t yet unveiled the story. It’s still too early in this TV series to reveal a story point this big.
Canon or not?
Because I surmise that Discovery is set in its own CBS universe, which is entirely separate from the Roddenberry and the Kelvin universes, Discovery can be its own bubble show and do whatever it wants with its stories. It doesn’t need to follow any Trek lore or, indeed, anything to do with Trek. It can feel free to “make shit up” however it wishes. I’m fine with that as long as the show runners finally fess up to this. As it is now, trying to shoehorn Discovery into the Roddenberry universe where it doesn’t belong is just stupid.
To answer this Blog’s ultimate question, Discovery is not canon for Roddenberry’s universe. It is canon for its newly created CBS universe. It’s possible that Discovery exists in the Kelvin universe (doubtful) where it may or may not be canon. The difficulty is that, as I said above, the motion picture canon is operated by Paramount. The TV series canon is operated by CBS. This means that never the twain shall meet. This fracturing of intellectual property rights was a horribly bad idea for Star Trek. It has now left this franchise with a fracture right down the middle of its canon. Show producers for Discovery can now claim canon when what they’re doing clearly isn’t canon and cannot possibly be unless the show is set in its own CBS universe (which the CBS universe ultimately has no canon except for what Discovery has created so far).
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