Section 2: The Theory of Temporal Consequentialism (-353)

Imagine an empty box—a cubic vacuum. There is no light, no matter, no energy of any kind within it. Now imagine that we introduce a particle into the box. It crosses the border into the vacuum at t_0 and exits the other side at t_1.

This is the thought experiment Kierthrin Maestrid proposed to the world in her -356 paper. A simple enough question, but for the revolutionary conclusions she drew from it.

Consider the following dilemma: how do we define t_0? It can only be defined as the point in time when the particle entered the vacuum. Working within the system solely of the vacuum, there is no extraneous reference point with which to make a definition. t_0’s very existence then is entirely dependent upon and involved in the particle. How do we define t_1? It is the point in time after the particle has travelled across the box and reaches the far border. Mathematically expressing it relative to t_0, we can say it is the distance the particle travels divided by the velocity (assuming no acceleration). Mathematically, it has then a definition of its own that relies not simply on the presence or absence of the matter but some characteristic of the particle (velocity) and the box (physical dimensions).

Now let us say that we introduce the particle a hundred years after we had originally intended. In this case, neither t_0 nor t_1 are changed in the slightest. Over this span of time in the external system, the vacuum is identical to the previous period. t_0 can still be defined as the moment when the particle entered, with no way to distinguish between these two conditions.

The conclusion that Maestrid drew was that time does not exist within the vacuum. Time was only introduced into the system with the entrance of the particle. Through a series of mathematical proofs, Maestrid proposed a model in which time is a property of matter (and energy, though in the famous maxim, the latter is often neglected) and exists as a unit of change. She advanced the idea that time exists not as an additional dimension as had been proposed by previous physicists, but as temporal fields generated by the change inherent to matter and energy. 

At t_0, when the particle entered the box, a temporal field is generated along its movement vector, or the path it will take through space. This is based on the directional velocity at t_0, which remains constant as it travels along this path. It is important to note, however, that this temporal field is a prediction. It comes into existence before the particle travels this path, based on the direction of the box’s movement at t0. 

This was the hypothesis that Maestrid proposed in her first article. Two years later, the discovery of particle multiplicity was unveiled, and the eager quest for its solution began. Amid all the excitement, Maestrid herself read the paper and made the quiet realization that her theorem published two years previously could in fact explain the discovery. In the following year, -353, Maestrid published the paper that would change the world.

She expanded her previous mathematical model to describe what happens in cases of non-zero acceleration along perpendicular axes of motion. She determined that the temporal fields are generated in the same way: based on the directional velocity and not the acceleration. Therefore, they are a prediction of the particles movement should it continue to move as it is in that moment. Every sequential point in time, the previous temporal field collapses and a new one is generated along this alternative line of motion.

In the suction rotar, particles were accelerated at speeds up to 8000 m/s^2 in any direction. Maestrid proved through her equations that at an acceleration of 7432.393 m/s^2, the temporal fields cannot collapse fast enough before the next one is generated. This allows for multiple temporal fields existing at the same time, with phantom clones of the particle travelling along these vectors. These are the multiple particles that the scientists were detecting within their suction rotar.

This second paper, entitled On the Theory of Temporal Consequentialism, reached immediate acclaim. Realizing that Maestrid’s theory had predicted this behaviour and could provide an explanation, not only for the multiplicity but for the existence of time itself, scientists leaped at pursuing it further. New laboratories were created. Funding flowed in.

Chronology, the study of time, had been born.

Continue on to Section 3: XXX to learn more about the aftermath of chronology’s inception.