The Past...it isn't even past

theory
#1

That’s Faulkner, right? I think?

Anyway, here are some things you can do with The Past.

erasure of past
rewriting the past
explaining the past
accepting the past
reconciling the past
paying for the past
burying the past
denying the past
hiding the past
exposing the past
scoffing at the past
dismissing the past
loving the past
hating the past
disguising the past
making up the past
glorifying the past
denigrating the past
attacking the past
celebrating the past
spitting on the past
defending the past
apologizing for the past
refusing to apologize for the past
enamored of the past
obsessed with the past
repulsed by the past
terrified of the past
intimidated by the past
worried about the past
amused by the past
trapped in the past
freed from the past
moved by the past
indifferent to the past
hostile to the past
the past is the past is the past.

I just audibled Carlo Rovelli’s THE ORDER OF TIME, as read by Dr. Steven Strange, B. Cumberpatch.

It turns out there’s no such thing as Time’s Arrow. The past isn’t fundamentally different from the future, and the present is only a local phenomena. (There’s no such thing as a Universal Present–to ask ‘what is happening now on Alpha Centauri’ literally means nothing, and it’s not just a question of knowledge.) The only reason we perceive the past as ‘different’ is because some low entropy events leave traces in our mind, whereas high entropy events do not, because the way heat and cold work.

And that’s just on the gross entropic level. On the quanta level, time is particulate and consists only of events, not things. Things literally do not exist on the quanta level.

But listen to me. I’m on my third listen and my second read of the book. Maybe I’ll actually know something by next year.

My point is, a lot more is known about Time than when writing or Story was invented. What kind of responsibility do we as writers have to present an accurate and up to date view of Time? And how do we do it? If we don’t, aren’t we just promulgating a bric-a-brac antique-y idea of Time, when, if our educations were up to snuff, we’d know better than to believe in it? Time isn’t your grandfather’s Time anymore.

Sometimes I think Time is the only thing I have time to worry about.

Yeah, it’s that kind of morning.

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#2

Right. I think I agree with you, you’re right. I always found it fascinating that the four Variations underneath The Past are so future-oriented: Fate, Destiny, Prediction, and Interdiction. I think that’s because the past echoes forward into the present, the state of progress, and the future. Past-oriented stories are about the present–every story is “about” the present, since that’s the only time that exists in human perception–but in particular, they’re about the ways in which the past affects and lingers on in the present.

So contrary to what you said, the past is fundamentally different from the future, in that elements from the past exist to affect the future. While we’re in the present, attempting to manipulate the flow of progress, the future is only speculative, while the past is dead and gone. It’s up to the characters in a Past-oriented story to understand the past, reconcile their memories with it, and conceptualize a plan to move on from it.

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#3

Where is it that you think the past “exists”? And in that state of existence, how is there a causal relationship with the present or future?

#4

To quote the great scientist, Dr. Brown, “the question is not where, but when.” :stuck_out_tongue: But to answer your question, the law of causality creates a connection between the past, the present, progress, and the future–like how in science, we have a “dependent variable” and an “independent variable.” The past causes the future, not the other way around. A person in the present can’t use knowledge of the future to help them in the present, because the future hasn’t happened to them yet.

I know, I know, you’re such a smarty for learning about the crystal structure of time. (I literally just used that exact metaphor in a post myself.) But time… like, exists. I don’t need to explain that to you. For example, I’ll put a random code in my next post. You don’t know what that is in the present, because time… exists. :stuck_out_tongue: [EDIT: We can talk about quanta and crystals all we like, but in the end, Dramatica is designed with human perception in mind, and surprise! Time exists in human perception. So I suppose the answer to your question of where the past is would be, “It exists in human perception.”]

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#5

Hey, remember the last time we discussed time?

What you’ll hear on here is that time is a number. If I remember Melanie’s description of the quad correctly, Time describes the evolution of Space. Space is where Matter and Energy play out. Two different things. Might be interesting to discuss what that means for past vs future, but i’m not sure I’m up for it. [quote=“actingpower, post:2, topic:1901”]
the four Variations underneath The Past are so future-oriented:
[/quote]

I know I’ve read something about the model being spun 90 degrees because it’s like a helix. I don’t know how that spin works, but maybe that has something to do with it.

#6

In other words, in traces in the mind, and in traces in media, or in traces in the physical record. Reading Judah Pearls book new book about Causality right now, as a matter of fact. THE BOOK OF WHY, that’s the title. Argues that statistics and correlation was a timid devil’s bargain that undermined understanding of cause and effect over the last hundred years. We’re only facing it now because computers, ML, AI and so on.

#7

No, there are no low entropy chemical traces in my physical brain at present about a conversation.

#8

Remember your context. A storyform describes a story that has everything mapped out, including time. The past is RELATIVE past, such as history. Ditto for present, future, and progress. Time-related values mean little objectively without context. Once you stick a pin in what the present is, everything else falls into relative place.

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