Space-time emotional exercises Part 1

 Some people may find the following rudimentary at first, but the reader is urged to approach the following as a series of emotional or conceptual exercises that get more and more challenging. There is a certain amount of repetition so that the reader can develop a feel for newly introduced terminology.

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 We are going to work toward getting a sense of our Space-time Relativistic Universe in a number of steps. We are first going to imagine a Newtonian or classical universe or what we will be calling a Space Classical Universe, this is the universe we all thought we lived in before relativity. We are then going to imagine a Time Classical Universe which can't exist but is the "dual" of the Space Classical Universe. That is to say what goes for space in the Space Classical Universe goes for time in the Time Classical Universe and likewise, what goes for time in the Space Classical Universe, goes for space in the Time Classical Universe. This will become clearer later on.
  We are then going to combine those two universes and imagine a Space-and-Time Classical Universe which has symmetry between space and time as our present relativistic universe does, but doesn't yet have the required property that we will be calling "symmetry between reference frames". We will then finally move to the Space-time Relativistic Universe in which we live.
 In moving toward our relativistic Universe in this series of steps, besides getting a sense of the duality between space and time, we first get a sense of the characteristics of our universe's relative time, without the added complications of relative space.

 I must state again, what follows is a series of emotional or conceptual exercises that involve repetition, if you are serious about getting an emotion sense of spacetime then stick with it.

  First, in our relativistic universe imagine someone standing up in the back of a pickup truck as it is moving past us, toward the right. Imagine that it is a very smooth ride for him and that he's experiencing no wind. As he's facing us, he holds up one of his hands in front of his face and snaps his fingers twice. He will consider those two events to have occurred in the same place because to him the back of the pickup truck is a world of its own, as the interior of an airplane or the interior of a moving car is. However because there was a period of time between the two events, we on the roadside will consider the second event to have occurred to the right of the first. This is because during the period of time between the two snaps of his fingers, he and the truck will have, from our point of view, moved toward the right a certain distance.
  It turns out that in the relativistic universe in which we live there is a symmetry or duality between space and time. The following is the dual experiment, that is, the experiment with space and time interchanged.
 Imagine while the truck moves past us the man in the truck faces us and while holding his arms out to his sides, simultaneously snaps the fingers in each of his hands. That is to say, he snaps the fingers in each hand such that, from his point of view, there is no interval of time between the two events. In perfect analogy to the previous experiment, we on the roadside will consider the two events to have occurred separated in time. That is to say in the first experiment he considered the two events to have occurred at the same point in space, but because the two events were separated in time, we didn't. Likewise in the second experiment he considered the two events to have occurred at the same point in time, but because the two events were separated in space, we didn't.
  Specifically, in the second experiment, while he considered the two events to have occurred simultaneously, we will consider the event to the left to have occurred before the event to the right. That is to say we will consider the leftward event to have occurred and then the rightward one.
  Let me describe the two experiments again but this time I'll do it more concisely and in a way that brings out the duality between space and time.
  We will begin calling the two events in the experiments, event 1 and event 2. This is necessary because later, if we attempt to identify events by order of occurrence or by whether they occurred to the left or right we will simply run into all types of confusion. In the first experiment, the first event will be called event 1 and the second event will be called event 2. In the second experiment the leftward event will be called event 1 and the rightward event will be called event 2.

 The next two paragraphs match each other word for word except for the exchange of space and time, which is to say the second paragraph will be the dual counterpart of the first.
(You will have to slow down your reading speed at this point and take the necessary time to digest things)

 In the first experiment event 2 occurred forward in time relative to event 1 and, from the point of view of the person in the truck, in the same place. However because event 2 occurred forward in time relative to event 1, we, from the point of view of the roadside, considered event 2 to have occurred rightward in space relative event 1.

 In the second experiment event 2 occurred rightward in space relative to event 1 and, from the point of view of the person in the truck, at the same time. However because event 2 occurred rightward in space relative to event 1, we, from the point of view of the roadside, considered event 2 to have occurred forward in time relative event 1.

 Notice the duality between space and time, again the only words interchanged were space <=> time and rightward <=> forward.
 A common problem concerning simultaneous events is trying to determine the order of the events, in time, that a second observer will see them. However now rather than trying to remember the order, you can now figure out what that order will be. Recall that in experiment 1, because event 2 was forward in time relative to event 1, we, from our reference frame, seen it rightward in space, relative to event 1. We now know that in experiment 2, rightward and forward will be exchanged. That is to say because event 2 was rightward in space relative to event 1, it will be observed forward in time relative to event 1.

If you had trouble digesting the above, everyone does. Usually understanding something is a process of taking what you know and building upon it, understanding relativity however, is a process of letting go of the things you thought you knew. In order to make your way in the universe, you have been making assumptions about the nature of time, it turns out those assumptions are wrong, specifically, there isn't a thing called time, or more accurately there isn't a thing called absolute or universal time. That is to say just as position depends on time, time depends on position. In fact it's better to not think in terms of space and time but to develop a new concept that physicists are calling space-time.

We are about to perform the first experiment exactly as before but this time in a Space Classical Universe. A Space Classical Universe (or Classical Universe) is the familiar universe we imagine Newton's laws operating in, it has relative space but universal time. A Time Classical Universe on the other hand is the dual of a Space Classical Universe so with regards to space and time things are reversed. In a Time Classical Universe time is relative instead of space and space is universal instead of time. Again you will understand as we go.
 Now that second experiment that we performed was the dual of the first one in that space and time were interchanged. We are going to perform that second dual experiment in a second dual universe, the Time Classical Universe.
  So to recap just to make sure, we will perform that first experiment in a Classical Universe and then perform the second dual experiment in a second dual universe.

 In a Space Classical Universe imagine someone standing up in the back of a pickup truck as it moves past us toward the right. As he is facing us, he holds up one hand in front of his face and snaps his fingers twice. He will consider the two events to have occurred in the same place because to him the back of the pickup truck is a world unto its own. What's meant by this is that he is looking out at the world from a different frame of reference than us.
 Because there was a period of time between the two events, we on the road side will consider the second event to have occurred to the right of the first, this is because during the period of time between the two snaps of his fingers, he and the truck will have moved, from our point of view, to the right a certain distance. Let me note that our frame of reference is no more valid then his, in this experiment he could just as well be moving in the rightward direction relative to us because he is standing on a different planet.

We will now perform the dual experiment in the dual universe.

 In a Time Classical Universe imagine someone standing up in the back of a pickup truck, there is no relative movement between the truck and the roadside. That being said the person is still viewing the universe from a different frame of reference, that is to say, with regards to time he is "living in a world that is different then ours", or more accurately, observing the universe from a different point of view. As he is facing us, he holds his arms out to each side and from his point of view snaps his fingers simultaneously that is he will consider the two events to occur at the same point in time. However because there was an interval of distance between the two events and because we are viewing the universe from a different frame of reference or point of view, we will consider the left event to have occurred before the right one. That is from our point of view he will have snapped the leftward hand and then the rightward one. The reason why has simply to do with the nature of the Time Classical Universe and the relationship between our two points of view. We will be discussing that relationship a length.

 We are now going to perform those same two experiments a number of times before moving on, and each time we are going to refine the language that we use. This is necessary because imbedded in our language, are a lot of false notions.
 Again understanding relativity has a lot to do with letting go of accepted beliefs. The first thing we have to do is get out of the habit of thinking that the planet earth and its frame of reference is special. We on earth consider our trees and boulders to be stationary. However a fictional society on the planet mars which is moving relative our planet, would consider their own trees and boulders to be stationary. If we picked up a rock and threw it we would view it as moving through space, however from the point of view of someone on mars that rock, before we picked it up was already moving through space (along with the earth). It turns out there isn't, strictly speaking, a thing called space which things move through, what we really have is only relative motion between objects. That is to say, what we and the society on mars will only agree on is the relative motion between the rock as it was picked up and thrown, and the earth. Specifically, while the rock was on the ground there was no relative motion between the two and while the rock was in the air there was. There is not a space which things move through, a rock can't be moving through space and not be moving through space at the same time. So with regards to the truck and the earth, the truck is not moving to the right through space, the truck is moving to the right relative to the earth. Since size is not an issue, it can also be said that the earth is moving to the left relative to the truck. The wheels can be viewed as necessary so that the truck doesn't get pulled along. Anyway . . .

In the future, to help us from falling into this "moving through space" way of thinking, I am sometimes going to have us imagine two platforms, out in empty space, moving past each other. We will be on one platform and someone else will be on the other, the second platform will be moving in the rightward direction relative to ours. That is, from our point of view or frame of reference, we will be stationary and he will be moving in the rightward direction, however from his point of view or frame of reference he will be stationary and we will be moving in the leftward direction.
 Note there is also frames of reference where both platforms are moving, for example, them moving in the rightward direction and us in the left. Or we could both be viewed as moving toward the right where they would just be considered to be moving faster. Note again that none of the frames of reference are more "true" then the others, all that has existence is the relative motion between our platforms.
 It is common to use in place of the phase "frame of reference" the term "reference frame", I will begin using both.
 As an aid, imagine the rightward and leftward directions to be directions toward specific constellations in the sky, this will help distinguish them as unique directions in their own right, as compared to being directions to the left or right of any individual facing in a particular direction.

 The reference frames that we will be considering will all be moving at a constant speed in a constant direction. Such frames are often referred to as Inertial reference frames. However in a relativistic universe in a region where gravity is "warping space-time" the term inertial reference frame takes on a broader meaning.

 With regards to our two reference frames, the people on each of the platforms are mentally living in their own little world, they are choosing to contemplate their platform and the objects on it in the way that is the most straightforward for them. They are choosing to look at the universe from a frame of reference in which their platform and the objects sitting on it, are stationary. There were an infinite number of frames of reference for them to choose from but they picked the simplest for them. Note that a frame of reference, or reference frame, does not necessarily have to have anything "in it", the platforms did not create the frames of reference. Reference frames are points of view from which we look out at the universe to help us better understand what is going on in it.

 If you agree that, in a Space Classical Universe, there is no meaning to the word "stationary" in an absolute sense, you will have to also agree that, in a Time Classical Universe, there is no meaning to the word "now", in an absolute sense. That is to say two people in a Space Classical Universe can choose to look at the universe from the same frame of reference and agree that a particular object or flashing light is remaining stationary, but that sense of stationary is specific to their choice of reference frame, and has no universal meaning. In the same way two people in a Time Classical Universe can choose to look at their universe from a specific frame of reference and agree that two events separated in space occurred at the same time but again that sense of "sameness of time" is specific to their choice of reference frame, and has no universal meaning.
 The relativistic universe in which we live is a kind of union of the Space Classical Universe and the Time Classical Universe and so it goes that just as there is no absolute sense to the concept of "stationary" there is no absolute sense to the concept of "now". Just as absolute or universal space doesn't exit, neither does absolute or universal time. That being said something does transcend all frames of reference and that is space-time and the space-time intervals in it. A Space-time interval in space-time plays the same kind of role as the time interval does in a classical universe, that is to say both intervals are the same for everyone.

 Something else we are going to do as we go along with our experiments is instead of imagining the person on the other platform snapping his fingers in front of his face twice, we are sometimes going to imagine two flashes of light. The reason is that we also need to get out of the habit of thinking that events occur in reference frames. The tendency would be to think that because the person in the back of the truck caused the two events, his point of view is somehow more valid. But every event, whether it's the snapping of someone's fingers or a flash of light that has no apparent source, occurs in the universe and not in a particular reference frame. Everyone looking at the universe from their own particular frame of reference sees the same event, that is, every event in the universe occurs in each and every reference frame. For example say that an atom is going through some cyclic change and it is periodically reaching a maximum state. We would consider the reaching of those maximum states to be events. If you were going to consider the inner workings of the atom, you would likely choose a reference frame in which each of those events occur in the "same place", it would however be wrong to consider those events as occurring in one particular reference frame more than another. The maximums as well as all the other events that "are" the atom are simply different series of events and again they are occurring in a universe, not in a reference frame.

  Let me note that in our universe there are three spatial dimensions, we will be considering only one of them, that is to say we will only be considering "rightward" and "leftward" motion, we will be ignoring the opposing distance between the two platforms as they pass each other. I will also sometimes be referring to the "rightward" direction as the "positive" direction and the "leftward" direction as the "negative" direction. As well I will sometimes be referring to the forward direction in time as the "positive" direction in time and the direction of the past, the negative direction of time. The reason is to help keep the different directions straight and better bring out their different relationships.

  We will now define some terms.
 Any two distinct frames of reference in a Space Classical Universe will have a particular relationship with each another. When, for example one frame of reference is associated with the planet earth and the other with a truck, we say the truck and its frame of reference has a velocity, that velocity describes the relationship of the trucks reference frame to that of the earth's reference frame. The greater the relative motion of the earth and truck, the greater the velocity.
  If the truck and its associated frame of reference are moving in the rightward or positive direction relative to our frame of reference on the earth, we will say that the truck's frame of reference has a positive velocity relative to our own. If the truck and its frame of reference are moving in the leftward or negative direction relative to our frame of reference, we will say that it has a negative velocity relative to our own. Note that in the first case when the truck has a positive velocity relative to the earth, the earth and its reference frame has a negative velocity relative to the truck's.
For reasons you will soon see I will sometimes refer to "velocity" as "spatial shift"

 In a Time Classical Universe there is no motion, however there are different frames of reference in which to view the universe and these different frames of reference will have a relationship to each other just as the reference frames in a Space Classical Universe do. We will be using the term temporal shift to describe the relationship of these different frames of reference just as we will be using "velocity" or "spatial shift" to describe the relationship of different frames of reference in a Space Classical Universe.
 I will be introducing these and the following new terms slowly in order to give you a chance to get use to them.
  Recall that a Space-and-Time Classical Universe is a direct union of a Space Classical Universe with a Time Classical Universe and is a step toward a Space-time Relativistic Universe.
  In a Space-and-Time Classical Universe and a Space-time Relativistic Universe we will need yet another term to describe the relationship between frames of references. We will be using the term beta shift to describe these relationships as in the sentence, the beta shift of the second frame of reference relative to the first is such and such. Beta is usually pronounced bay-ta and is the name of a Greek letter commonly used when dealing with very large speeds.

Note: Spatial shift ,temporal shift and beta shift are terms that has been specifically created for this document. For a listing of all the terms that have been "specifically created" go to this link Specifically created terms

I want to again stress that while I will be referring to reference frames as moving, it is important not to think of them as things that are "our there" and have a reality of their own. They are simply different points of view which we take in order to digest different aspects of the universe.

 I will now describe the first two experiments again using the newly introduced terms.
 Imagine in a classical, pre-relativistic universe, which we are calling a Space Classical Universe, a guy is standing on a platform that is out in space and moving in the rightward or positive direction relative to a second platform which we are considering our own. The frame of reference from which he is viewing the universe probably views his platform as stationary. That frame of reference has a positive velocity relative to our own, which means, from our point of view, events occurring in the forward or positive direction of time relative to other events, will be shifted in the rightward or positive direction of space. At this point I will have you note that from his point of view we are moving in the leftward or negative direction, which means that our reference frame has a negative velocity relative his reference frame. It is defined as negative because if we were to snap our fingers twice the second snap, the one in the positive direction of time, would, from his point of view, occur in the negative direction of space, relative to the first.
 As the guy is facing us two flashes of light occur in front of his face, as far as he is concerned they occurred in exactly the same place. We are calling the first event to occur event 1 and the second to occur, event 2. Since his platform is moving to the right relative to ours, it is not hard to appreciate that, from our frame of reference and because of the delay between the events, we will consider event 2 to have occurred in the rightward or positive spatial direction relative to event 1.
 The other guy disagrees with our interpretation in that he views the two events as having occurred in the same place. That being said he from his point of view sees us moving in the leftward direction and can appreciate why we are viewing things as we do. The point to be made is that the two views of ours are not contradictory if a broader view is taken. That is to say we are each seeing the same two events but putting them in a different context. This is the way it is with all events in the universe as we observe them from the different frames of reference. The same things are being "seen" by everyone, we just arrange them differently in our minds using self created concepts of space and time. Now we are very familiar with this difference in point of view when it comes to space but as it happens it's the same case with time in a relativistic universe, that is to say in our relativistic universe it is best if we also take different points of view with regards to time. Why will become clearer as we go along.

  We are now going to imagine the "dual" experiment occurring in the dual Time Classical Universe. In the previous experiment conducted in the Space Classical Universe the observer in the other reference frame seen no interval of distance between the two events but did however see an interval of time. In this experiment, in a Time Classical Universe, the observer in the other reference frame will see no interval of time but will see an interval of distance. That is to say things will be reversed.
  We will be imagining ourselves on a platform while someone else is on a platform directly opposite us. Their platform will not be moving relative to ours but they will nevertheless be looking at the Time Classical Universe from a different point of view or frame of reference.
 The temporal shift between reference frames is defined differently in a Time Classical Universe then the velocity between reference frames in a Space Classical Universe is defined. As you might guess, space and time are interchanged.
  So that we can latter "unite" these two experiments in a Space-and-Time Classical Universe, lets say that the direction of the temporal shift we are about to discuss "corresponds" to the direction of the previous velocity we discussed. What this means is that the temporal shift here will be positive as the velocity or spatial shift previously discussed was positive.
 Imagine in a Time Classical Universe, a guy standing on a platform that is out in space, his platform and corresponding reference frame have a positive temporal shift relative to our own. What this means, as we will see, is that events in the rightward or positive direction of space will be shifted in the forward or positive direction of time.
Note again there is no motion between our two platforms.
 As he is facing us, it happens that two flashes of light occur, one in the leftward direction and one in the rightward direction, it happens that from the frame of reference he has chosen to view the Time Classical Universe from, the two events occur at the same time. We will call the leftward event, event 1 and the rightward event, event 2. Because the frame of reference he has been choosing to look at the universe from has a positive temporal shift relative to the one we've chosen, we will see the leftward event, event 1 occur before the rightward event, event 2, so imagine the leftward event occurring and then the rightward one. Note, in the Space Classical Universe, the reason we observed event 2 as occurring in the positive direction of space relative to event 1 was because the other frame had a positive velocity relative to ours and event 2 occurred in the positive direction of time relative to event 1. In this Time Classical Universe because of the positive temporal shift of his frame relative to ours and because event 2 is in the positive direction of space relative to event 1, we from our frame of reference, will view event 2 as occurring in the positive direction of time relative to event 1.

 In a Space Classical Universe the interval of time between any two events is the same for all observers irrespective of any separation in space between the events, which is to say time is universal and when it comes to time, position in the universe is irrelevant. And so for the dual case in a Time Classical Universe the interval of distance between any two events is the same for all observers irrespective of any separation in time between the events, which is to say space is universal and so when it comes to position, time is irrelevant. Another way to put it is that everything is stationary, there is no movement of objects, no movement between the different frame of references from which we choose to look at the universe.

 In a Space Classical Universe the spatial shifting effect is reciprocal and they see our frame of reference as having a negative velocity or spatial shift relative to theirs, which is to say if in our frame of reference we saw two events occur at the same place but separated in time, they from their frame of reference would see the event that was forward in time occur to the left of the first.
 And so it is the same way with time in a Time Classical Universe...
 In a Time Classical Universe our frame of reference would have a negative temporal shift relative to their frame of reference. That is to say if we were to hold our arms out to each side and snap our fingers simultaneously they would determine that the rightward event occurred before the leftward one, which is to say they would determine the rightward event occurred and then the leftward one.
 We will be sorting out later how the two different points of view mesh together as seamlessly as in the Space Classical Universe case.
 I want to point out that I above used the word "determine" instead of the word "see". For example, I use the phase "they would determine the rightward event occurred and then the leftward one" instead of "they would see the rightward event occur and then the leftward one". Distinguishing what one determines from what one sees will become relevant later on because if we were to determine which events occurred when by what just what we see, would have to take into account the time it took the light to travel from the event to our eyes. The difference in times that we are talking about are very small and the light travel time is very relevant. During our day to day lives we tend to unconsciously assume that we are seeing events as they occur and do not think about the time delay. As we go on I would suggest that you practice making the distinction in your mind.

 So again just as in the Space Classical Universe there is no contradiction in this reciprocal effect, and the two points of view mesh together seamlessly, in the Time Classical Universe the two points of view also mesh together seamlessly. And note again that just as in the Space Classical Universe, in the Time Classical Universe the events are just being arranged differently in different minds using a self created concept time.

  I need to point out that people nor atoms can exist in a Time Classical Universe this is just a visualization exercise, we are going to study the Time Classical Universe in great detail and then merge it with the Space Classical Universe to eventually get the Space-time Relativistic Universe in which we live. But then again I would also point out that people and atoms, as we know them, can't exist in a Space Classical Universe either, the things we call an atoms and the laws governing them are very much relativistic phenomena. For example, since magnetism is a relativistic effect light is a relativistic phenomena.

 To help us get a sense of how time is a self created concept we will introduce, and talk for a while, in a highly refined language called Vector language.

 Vector language will allow us to properly discuss, interpret and put in the proper context what is really going on. It will eventually help us make the transition to space-time, if it is not entirely necessary to make the transition to space-time. I will by no means only talk in vector language from this point on, it is just a very good language to use at times to express a point of view.

  Vectors are things that can have components. I will immediately describe an example.
  A sheet of glass in a window has an up direction and a right direction, imagine drawing on the glass two arrows in each of those two directions. Now imagine an arrow drawn in some sand and the sheet of glass, with the arrows drawn on it, laid down over top of it. The arrow in the sand will generally not be pointing in either the up direction or the right direction of the glass. The sheet of glass however could be rotated so that the up direction pointed in the same direction that the arrow in the sand does or it could be rotated so that the right direction pointed in same direction as the arrow in the sand. That being said, for any general position of the glass, the sand arrow will point in a "mixture" of the two directions. To describe this "mixture", we use the concept of components.
 If the up direction of the glass and the sand arrow were to point in exactly the same direction, the direction of the sand arrow would have an up component but no right component. If the up direction of the glass were to point in the opposite direction of the sand arrow then, for that position of the glass, the sand arrow would have a negative up component and again no right component. If the sand arrow were to point a bit in both the up direction and the right direction, the sand arrow would be said to have, for that position of the glass, both an up component and a right component. The sand arrow in this case is called a vector, it has a length or magnitude and a direction independent of the sheet of glass, however to describe or talk about its magnitude and direction a "frame of reference" or sheet of glass is used. For each different orientation of the glass or frame of reference, the sand arrow or sand vector has a different up component and a different right component.  If two sheets of glass were laid over the same sand arrow, we would have two sets of up and right components. If one knew the relationship between the orientation of the two sheets of glass one would be able to predict the set of components seen by one sheet given the set of components seen by the other. The relationship of two different frames of reference in a universe is somewhat like the relationship between the two sheets of glass in the sand. Each sheet of glass is "looking" at the sand arrow from a different perspective.
Note again that a component may be negative as well as positive.
 So again, for practice, imagine there exists a sand vector in the sand, a person lays a marked sheet of glass over it, and determines that from his frame of reference the sand vector has a positive up component but no right component. Another person lays a marked sheet of glass over the sand vector and observes that from his frame of reference the sand vector has an up and right component. Neither is right or wrong they are just looking at the same thing from a different perspective. Note that the mathematical relationship between the sheet of glass reference frames is not the same as mathematical relationship between the different universe reference frames. That being said when the Vector is a Space-Time Vector in a relativistic universe the relationship is startling close, mathematically speaking.

  We will, for a time, be using the term Space-and-Time Vector, to describe the relationship between two events in a universe. Like the arrow in the sand, it's true "direction" will be independent of the reference frame from which it is viewed. However given a specific frame of reference, a Space-and-Time Vector will have a specific spatial component and a specific temporal component.
 A Space-and-Time Vector will be defined by two events. We will imagine the vector starting at event 1 and leading to event 2. People from different frames of reference will generally see this vector with different spatial and temporal components; however, they will indeed be looking at the same thing. For example if you were to see two events as having occurred in the same place but at different points in time it would be said that the Space-and-Time Vector from your reference frame has no spatial component but a some specific temporal component. Another person in another reference frame may very well view the same Space-and-Time Vector as having both a temporal component and a spatial component.

  I should note that when we begin discussing events in the true relativistic universe in which we live I will begin using the term Space-time Vector instead of the term Space-and-Time Vector. The term Space-time Vector is being reserved for the true universe in which we live, it along with it's corresponding Space-time interval has properties far above beyond that of the Space-and-Time Vectors which we will be initially discussing.

  For practice let me describe the first experiments again but this time using the terms, Space-and-Time Vector, spatial component and temporal component. (Again note: If you have trouble following the below do not give up, we will be returning to English soon.)

Notice below the perfect duality between the two experiments.

  In a Space Classical Universe, two flashes of light occur, we'll call the first, event 1 and the second, event 2. They together form what is called a Space-and-Time Vector, we will say that the vector leads from event 1 to event 2. Every individual in the universe looks at the two events from a particular point of view or frame of reference. However the individual "in the back of the pickup truck" looks at the Space-and-Time Vector from a frame of reference in which the vector has no spatial component. That is to say from that individual's point of view, the two events occurred in the same place. As the events did not occur at the same time, the Space-and-Time Vector has a temporal component, in fact because event 2 occurred in the forward or positive direction of time, relative to event 1, the temporal component is positive.
  Another individual looking at the same Space-and-Time Vector from a different frame of reference, such as the roadside, views the Space-and-Time Vector as having a spatial component as well as a temporal component. Because the velocity or spatial shift of the first reference frame is positive relative to the second and the mutual temporal component is positive, the resulting spatial component observed from the road side will be positive.
 Both observers, in fact all observers in the Space Classical Universe would consider the time between the events to be the same, that is to say, in a Space Classical Universe the temporal component of a Space-and-Time Vector has the same magnitude and direction in all frames of reference. This is yet another way of saying that time is universal.

A point to be made again is that the Space-and-Time Vector exists independent of any a particular viewer, though the magnitude of its spatial and temporal components do however depend on one's point of view or frame of reference.

Now we will consider the dual experiment in the dual universe.

  In a Time Classical Universe, two flashes of light occur, we'll call the leftward event, event 1 and the rightward event, event 2. They together form what is called a Space-and-Time Vector, we will say that the vector leads from event 1 to event 2. Every individual in the universe looks at the two events from a particular point of view or frame of reference. However the individual "in the back of the pickup truck" looks at the Space-and-Time Vector from a frame of reference in which the vector has no temporal component. That is to say from that individual's point of view, the two events occurred at the same time. As the events did not occur at the same place, the Space-and-Time Vector has a spatial component, in fact because event 2 occurred in the rightward or positive direction of space, relative to event 1, the spatial component is positive.
  Another individual looking at the same Space-and-Time Vector from a different frame of reference such as the roadside views the Space-and-Time Vector as having a temporal component as well as a spatial component. Because the temporal shift of the first reference frame is positive relative to the second and the mutual spatial component is positive, the resulting temporal component observed from the road side will be positive.
 Both observers, in fact all observers in the Time Classical Universe would consider the distance between the events to be the same, that is to say, in a Time Classical Universe the spatial component of a Space-and-Time Vector has the same magnitude and direction in all frames of reference. This is yet another way of saying that space is universal.


 Now I will quickly restate the above experiments but strip away the extraneous information. I encourage you to mentally "over lay" the below paragraphs on a "real life" situation.

The below paragraph will be followed by its dual counterpart.

 In a Space Classical Universe a Space-and-Time Vector is viewed from two different frames of reference. The second frame of reference has a positive spatial shift relative to the first. Viewed from that second frame of reference, the Space-and-Time Vector of the two events has a positive temporal component but no spatial component. Since we are in a Space Classical Universe the temporal components of a given Space-and-Time Vector will, in all frames of reference, be the same. However since the spatial shift of the second frame is positive with respect to the first and the temporal component of the Space-and-Time Vector is positive, the Space-and-Time Vector will, as viewed from the first frame of reference, have a rightward or positive spatial component.

Now we will consider the dual experiment in the dual universe.
 In a Time Classical Universe a Space-and-Time Vector is viewed from two different frames of reference. The second frame of reference has a positive temporal shift relative to the first. Viewed from that second frame of reference, the Space-and-Time Vector of the two events has a positive spatial component but no temporal component. Since we are in a Time Classical Universe the spatial components of a given Space-and-Time Vector will, in all frames of reference, be the same. However since the temporal shift of the second frame is positive with respect to the first and the spatial component of the Space-and-Time Vector is positive, the Space-and-Time Vector will, as viewed from the first frame of reference, have a forward or positive temporal component.

Now I've used the highly "technical" language of the physicists in the above paragraphs and it is to your emotion advantage to work at interpreting it. Again while I plan to stop using it for a time it does get across how physicists look at things, they strip away all extraneous information leaving only the relevant. However in doing this one is left with little to imagine and things end up seeming remote from ones experiences. I will be attempting to superimpose this language on "real life" examples, as an aid in getting you to understand the vector point of view.
 One must appreciate that the Special Theory of Relatively can't be imagined in the sense that one would probably like; the main reason being that light has a finite speed. What one can imagine however is the results of experiments, and those results are very accurately expressed using the language of vectors and components. That being said, experimental results are most accurately and efficiently expressed using mathematics.

Note by author:

 This is the amount I have written which is in, more or less, in final draft form. I have 3 times as much again in first draft form.
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