A Layman's Definition of Imaginary Time
Just watched a clip of John Oliver interviewing Stephen Hawking. When he asked Hawking which of his concepts he would most like the public to be able to appreciate and understand, Hawking responded that he would like it if more people got on board with the concept of “imaginary time.” So I researched it – hoping to come across a layman’s explanation – and came instead to the conclusion that genuinely understanding the concept renders a person incapable of ever describing it in a way a non-physicist or non-mathematician can comprehend. Whereupon, I tried a different approach: opening my mind in the hopes of understanding it wholistically. I imagined Heraclitus standing in the river – when he was struck by his famous “I can never step into the same river twice” epiphany. You can you imagine that, right? Maybe you’ve even thought about the philosophical ramifications of that observation (ie shortly after you first encountered it) while looking into a stream – and have a memor...