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Could time be 2D? (Or 3D?)

@tibees
28.1K views3.0K likes1:51ENOct 29, 2026
279 words1576 characters22 sentencesReadability: Middle School

Transcript

So what if there were two dimensions of time? What does that even mean? Well, in our current theory of space time, there are three dimensions of space and one dimension of time. That's four total dimensions. But you've probably heard me talking about fantasy worlds that have four dimensions of space. In these, time is still one-dimensional. So there's really five dimensions in total. With time being one-dimensional, it's like a line that our space moves along. Two-dimensional time would be like a flat plane that our space can move around on. It might look like being able to leave our timeline exist on a parallel one and then return back. Our 3D space could travel perpendicular to the ordinary timeline or loop back or trace out strange shapes. Traveling sideways in time would let us visit every possible world line. It's a fun idea, but there's no evidence behind this idea. And it doesn't have any testable claims. In fact, take a look at the forces in our world. They do dilate in space, but they don't dilate in time. And that would mean that time is only one-dimensional. There's a paper by physicist Max Tegmark, which considers higher dimensions of time and space, but concludes that three space dimensions and one time dimension is the only viable combo that could support life. Everything else would be too unstable and unpredictable for life to emerge. But if we want to suspend reality and have fun with the idea of higher dimensions, well, there's no need to stop at 2D time. What do you think a world would be like? Where time itself were 3D or even 4D?