This is the problem with calling time a dimension. It's useful, but it makes it natural to talk moving forwards and backwards in time. Error.
This is the problem with calling time a dimension. It's useful, but it makes it natural to talk moving forwards and backwards in time. Error.
3D spacetime behaves mathematically exactly the same as 4D space, it is a construct to make it easier to analyze and do physics calculations of 3D objects over time, by setting time as the 4th dimension, thereby giving every object a position in time as well.
But the visualization is completely different, and the things you can do are completely different. If I have a 3D left-hand glove in a 4D space, I can "turn" it in the 4th dimension and end up with a right-hand glove. But if I have the same glove in spacetime, it doesn't matter how much I wait around (i.e. move in the 4th dimension), my left-hand glove will never turn into a right-hand glove.