Some physicists and philosophers believe that the material world we observe with our senses is emergent. If matter is not fundamental to a universe, the materialist model we currently use is insufficient or perhaps even fundamentally incorrect.
What if matter and energy exist on a scale, and are different densities of the same thing: light. The Big Bang put matter on the inside, and energy on the outside. But what if time, in a sense, reverses the Big Bang. Matter accelerates and expands; energy decelerates and contracts.
While inside time, we see through a glass darkly—partially. We don’t see yesterday—the moon behind the sun (dark matter). Nor do we see tomorrow—the sun around the moon (dark energy).
In other words, when we see the explosion, we don’t see that which was exploded. Our mortal eyes cannot see both sides of time at once.
Here’s another way to think about it. The sun and moon are different sides of the same 2D plane. When we see the sun, we are beneath it, and it’s concave. When we see the moon, we are above it, and it’s convex. When we reach the speed of light (sunset), our perspective flips.
This post is peppered with language that suggests linear movement through time. I apologize. I believe that model will ultimately be proved false; these phrases are misleading and I use them primarily as linguistic convention. In this model, time is simultaneous; all time happens at once. It is only our viewpoint that shifts.
The moon is light speed zero. The sun is light speed c^2. We—light speed c—sit between them.
What if, in one direction, when we travel halfway around a circle, light’s speed is c/2.
But in the other direction—when we transit back across the diameter—light’s speed is instantaneous.
Einstein’s stipulation that light’s speed is the same in both directions is just that—a stipulation.
