Alex McColgan

The only difference is that in this model we're just exploring a 2D object stretching, so the stretch is only in one direction, while in real life it's 3D, which means it stretches in two directions instead.

But that is what you might expect as you turn away from our conventional three dimensions and start orienting yourself away from time.

But if this is correct, so what?

Why does it matter?

If time is truly a direction, then it deepens our understanding of the universe.

It also raises more questions.

What is the force that pushes us ever forward in time?

Why does it seem that we can never move against it?

Although in this model there is no reason why a vector could not point downwards, in real life that doesn't seem to ever happen.

This model also answers the question of, if time is a direction, what is our shape in time?

Does part of us protrude into the past or into the future?

According to this model, that does not happen.

We are flat pancakes in the fourth dimension, pennies that look round when you look at us head on, but revealing our thinness when we turn away from you.

That's a strange thought, but it may just be true.

This might explain why we are unable to see through time.

We just don't extend enough in that direction for it to be visible.

Your form might be quite different than you first thought.

Of course, this model is just a theory of ours, although we have tried to base it on scientific observations and conventional theory.

But what do you think?

Does this model help you make sense of time as a fourth dimension?