CHAPTER XVI
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT OF REVERSAL

This matter brings up the question as to how the
pseudo-living analogue of a mind, this "machine for
doing nothing," would conceive of its one portion of the
universe. In trying to solve this question, we must
remember that its memory is directed not toward the
past but toward the future; because, memory being the
stored-up feeling in a higher form of development, and
feeling being that of reserve energy, it follows that
feeling and energy must, in any organism, be directed
towards that direction in time in which that organism
had less reserve energy, and away from that direction
of time in which the organism acquires more available
energy.
Now, we know that the method by which we really
distinguish between the past and the future is by the
fact of our remembering the past, while the future to
us is an uncertain matter. It follows, therefore, that to
the pseudo-living mind, the past will be conceived of as
future, and the future as past. An organism conceives,
therefore, of the flow of time, in the inverse direction to
that in which its memory is directed, that is, in the
direction of time in which that organism builds up
reserve energy into available energy. Or, since organic
phenomena are founding the minority tendency of a
given section of the universe, such an organism must
conceive of time as flowing in that direction in which the
majority tendency, that is, the general surrounding world,
decreases the amount of available energy and increases
the amount of reserve energy. In other words, an organic
being, whether living or pseudo-living, must conceive of
time as flowing in such a direction that the second law of
thermodynamics prevails, independently of whether that
conclusion is correct or not.
This arises from the fact that the pseudo-living
organism, though existing in a world in which the second
law of thermodynamics is regularly reversed, does not
perceive its surroundings as they are, but, on account of
the fact that it is not life, but reversed life, it perceives the
world as reversed in time, its perceptions form a sort of
time-mirror, which would thus produce the illusion of
reversal, with the result that such a perception would
show the organism itself as alive (not as a pseudo-living
organism) and the surrounding world, which is really
alive, as lifeless and following the second law of
thermodynamics.
Thus, if we were pseudo-living organisms in a universe
the exact reverse of ours, that is to say, in the corresponding
part of the reverse universe, we should, as pseudo-living
organisms, be under this reversal delusion and conceive
of the world and of ourselves exactly as we do now, and,
in fact, we would have exactly the same ideas as now in
relation to everything. Thus there is actually no way for us
to tell whether we are living organisms in a positive universe
or pseudo-living organisms in a negative universe; in both
cases, the former would be the apparent situation. Under
the conditions under which a complex organization like a
mind can be produced, that mind must conceive of its
surroundings in such a way that the second law of
thermodynamics would follow. It may be that the law is or
is not a physical fact in that particular part of the universe,
but conceiving of things in that manner is a necessity
for an organized mind. In other words, the second law of
thermodynamics is not a physical but a mental law.
However, this must be construed with limitations.
There are certain physical facts as to whether the second
law of thermodynamics is actually true or not in any given
part of the universe. We cannot say that the real universe
and the reverse universe are one and the same on the
strength of this reasoning; for were we transported into the
reverse universe, we should notice the difference; and
similarly the pseudo-living organisms transported into our
real universe would also easily perceive the difference.
But the difference rather suggests the difference between
right and left rather than anything else. There are many
substances which form two species, one with right-handed
molecules and one with left-handed molecules. The
reaction of two right-handed substances is the same as
that of two similar left-handed substances; but we get
entirely different reactions if a right-handed substance of
one kind is brought into contact with a left-handed
substance of the other kind.
We must regard similarly the difference between any
possible combination of events and its reverse with
respect to time. They are similar, and at the same time
different, in much the same manner as right and left. There
is really no essential difference between the forward and
backward direction in time, any more than the essential
difference between right and left is an essential one. Time
is really a two-direction phenomenon, and the two directions
are practically interchangeable, instead of being a single
direction flow with one direction essentially different from
the other. The fact that the two directions of time appear
essentially different is due to the fact that our mind is so
constructed as to face one direction. There might seem to
us to be an essential difference in space between the
forward and backward directions, if not for the fact that
we are able to turn around.
The pseudo-living mind is one in all aspects like ours,
with the difference that it is so constructed as to face the
other direction in time; and it has the illusions of difference
between the two directions accordingly. To any mind, the
past is merely the direction of time which the memory faces,
and the future is the opposite direction of time. Hence the
pseudo-living mind will see past where we see future, and
vice versa. "The first shall be the last, and the last shall be
the first" - for the pseudo-living mind. And the reason that
there is no way of telling whether we are living organisms
in a positive universe, or pseudo-living organisms in a
negative universe, is that the difference is really one merely
between the two directions of time, and, though those two
directions are opposite to each other, they have no physical
properties which are in any way different.
There are other cases of such conjugate relations, where
two phenomena are different, but can be mutually interchanged
without the possibility of any test to indicate the difference. The
case that is nearest to that which we are considering, is that of
any two opposite directions in space. If two opposite directions
in space were interchanged, we should merely have a mirror world,
but no different physical properties; and, if we were to suppose
that, in that world, we should conceive of right as left and vice versa,
there would be no way to tell such a world from the one we live in.
A much more clear-cut case of such a conjugate relation is to
be found in the domain of algebra, when dealing with imaginary
quantities. The quantity i is defined as the square of -1, but we
might remember that any quantity except zero has two square
roots, each the negative of the other, so it is with -1; and we thus
get two quantities, i and -i. Now, it makes absolutely no difference
to any possible formula in connection with the theory of the
imaginaries, which of the quantities we call i, and which -i; they
are absolutely interchangeable; and yet the two quantities are
anything but identical. For instance, the difference between two
identical quantities is zero; and yet the difference between these
two quantities is anything but zero, but is twice one of the quantities.
The difference can be made to be twice either of the quantities,
according to which is subtracted from the other.

In fact, we may notice that perfect interchangeability is not identity.
The test of identity is, not that the two things may be interchanged
in any statement without vitiating the truth of the statement, but rather
that either may be substituted for the other in any statement without
vitiating the truth of the statement. In applying this test for identity of
A and B, we should substitute A for B without at the same time
substituting B for A.
We may then say that the mind conceives of time as flowing,
because the mind is not symmetrical with respect to the two
directions; it faces one direction, according to the laws governing
the special machines that would have to pump reserve energy,
and therefore according to the phenomena manifested by reserve
energy; and, under the conditions which produce such mechanisms,
the resulting law is that an organized mind must conceive of time as
flowing towards that direction in which is more reserve energy in that
particular part of the universe. This may be either direction in time,
either that which is, in our particular minds, forwards or backwards;
but, if we conceive of past and future with this mental definition, the
second law of thermodynamics follows as a necessary mental law.
True, were we transported to negative section of the universe, we
should not see things as conforming to the second law of
thermodynamics; but the chances are very small that we would be
able to live under those special circumstances, under which a
sensitive, living air might take an aversion to our breathing it, or,
what would be more likely, would send us its carbon dioxide and
leave the oxygen for itself, as it would do to the pseudo-living
organisms.
If we represent the percentage of "available energy" in a
given part of the universe by a curve showing the variation of
that percentage through time, we get a wavy curve, resembling
somewhat the sinusoid. If the past is placed at the left, and the
future at the right, then, as we go along the curve from left to
right, the upward sections of the curve represent the negative
portions, and the downward portions the negative sections.
Time, then, is a two-dimension affair, like the bottom axial line;
but a mind in any part would conceive of that time as a flow
towards the lower part of the curve, thought that may actually
take it towards the past instead of towards the future. To that
mind, however, no difference is noticeable.

[Just below the above text there is a diagram. We will not reproduce it here. The diagram shows the first quadrant of a standard X-Y graph (X>0, Y>0). On the ordinate (or vertical, Y-axis) there are five numbers in percent: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%. On the abscissa (horizontal, X-axis) there are the words "TOWARDS THE FUTURE" with an arrow after the words pointing to the right. The actual function graphed looks like a sine wave, with 5 minima and 4 maxima, the minima being greater than 0% but a little less than 25%, the maximal greater than 75% and less than 100%. On the decreasing (negative by standard texts) slope he has written positive, on the increasing (positive by standard texts) slope he has written negative. Above the middle minima on the graph Sidis has an arrow pointing straight down into but not touching it. There is writing on either side of the vertical arrow that is illegible.-Jason Stanfield]

In the diagram the abscissa represents time, and the
ordinates the percentage of available energy in the particular
section of the universe. The law then is, that whatever kind of
mind would be produced under the various circumstances
would be so constructed as to conceive of time as flowing
towards the lower part of the curve, that is, towards the troughs
of the waves in the diagram; while memory would always look
towards the crests of those waves. It makes no difference
whether either of those directions is actual past or future, that is,
on the diagram, whether these directions point towards the left
or towards the right (left, on the diagram, representing past, and
the right representing future). In relation to the physical time, the
second law of thermodynamics may or not be true; but, as far as
concerns the mental conception of time, the second law of
thermodynamics must be true as a majority tendency in that
particular section of the universe. Hence,in the last analysis, the
second law of thermodynamics is to be interpreted as a mental
law, as the law determining the direction in which a given mind
will conceive of time as flowing.
It must further be remembered that time itself is not a mental
phenomenon, but only the appearance of flow. There is actually
no more flow in time than in space, and either direction in time
may be called past and the other future, without any difference
in the properties of the universe. But the actual existence of
intervals of time we must assume as being a physical reality,
and absolutely necessary for the explanation of physical
phenomena.
Inasmuch as it makes no difference in which direction we
suppose time to be running, and we may fix either direction
arbitrarily without changing the physical properties of the
universe, it is more convenient, in order to avoid any dispute
as to the nature and direction of time, to cal thatdirection past
in which our memory points, and to call that direction future
towards which we conceive time as flowing. In relation to this
direction of time, then, we may say that our own section of the
universe is positive, and that in that section the second law of
thermodynamics prevails.
In fact, we may readily conceive of time as a sort of fourth
dimension of the universe. This could readily be done
theoretically, only there is a different relation to physical objects.
If we used such a conception, we should have to imagine each
particle as a sort of thread infinitely extended in the time-
dimension. And, further, measurements in time cannot be
compared with space measurements. But, although we should
not suppose that what we have is a network of threads in a four-
dimensional space, yet we can use this as a possible illustration
to show what a two-dimension time is.
Suppose, then, a four-dimensional space with a perfectly
stationary loom, full of threads entangled in all sorts of ways.
The ends of the loom we must suppose to be removed to infinity
in their respective directions. If, then, we suppose a three-
dimensional film to be moved downwards through this loom, the
cross-sections of threads would change about so as to appear
as the motion of particles. If, now, we suppose that certain
sections of thread have some sort of consciousness, and can
perceive what is in the film when the film passes them, and their
previous condition (or, in other words, the conscious section just
above that part), we should have the effect of mental activity. If
instead of supposing this film, we now simply suppose that
certain sections of thread are conscious, and that each cross-
section can perceive only the surrounding objects of its own
level and the higher cross-sections of itself, then we may say
that each cross-section can perceive the higher cross-section,
but not vice-versa. This would give the impression of a flow
from the higher to the lower cross-sections, thus giving the
illusion of one flowing and three stationary dimensions; in
other words, of one dimension of time and three of space.
Probably this is not the correct explanation of the conception
of time, but it illustrates the fact that the two opposite
directions in time are no more different than two opposite
directions in space.
If we suppose, in the illustration, that any conscious
bunch of thread always perceives parallel cross-sections
in the direction in which the threads are less entangled,
it will give the illusion of flow of this fourth dimension, but
in such a direction that motion of particles will always
seem to scatter. That is, if the threads in this illustration
are constituted to perceive in that manner, they will not
merely conceive of one dimension as being time instead
of space, but they will actually conceive of that time as so
flowing that the second law of thermodynamics will be true.
Though all this is but an illustration, we may conclude:
The second law of thermodynamics is really a mental law
indicating the direction of the illusory flow of time. Time
itself really exists as a two-direction affair, and really has
no more flow than space.