Hacker News Reader

I know it's about programming, but I have a thought experiment I think about occasionally. Imagine a universe with one point particle. There's no time or space. Add another particle. The particles can either be separate or at the same point. So in some sense there is time, since we can go between separate and together states. There still isn't space, I think? Is this a philosophical subject I can read about?

View on HN

Why would there be no time and space just because there's only a single one point particle? The empty space around the particle would still exist. Why would there be no time? Time could still be moving forward even if the universe consisted only of a single particle.

Edit: Unless you're saying that the coordinates system is such that the universe literally consists only of that single particle and has no time dimension, in which case your thought experiment is inadequately specified because you need to say how the expansion of the universe happens such there is something for another particle to come into existance in.

Only replying because playing same thought in head. Once two points relation exists. Simplest form distance. Either may be considered centre. Infinite points exist along that relation. And more can be imagined. The set of all points having the same distance from A as the distance from A to B etc.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com