Part II: The Nature of Time

What Time Is

Time is not a dimension, a property, or an independent phenomenon. Time is spatial densification — identical to entropy increasing. This occurs everywhere, uniformly, at rate c, whether matter is present or not. A region of empty space with no matter densifies just as a region full of matter does. Nothing needs to "experience" time for time to proceed; densification is not contingent on observation or presence.

When we measure time with clocks, we count cycles of matter maintaining equilibrium through densifying space. The clock does not measure an external flow; the clock is densification occurring, enumerated. But the densification would proceed identically without the clock.

Simultaneity and "Now"

There is no privileged reference frame for time. Every location has a "now" — the current density state at that location. To be separated in space is to be separated in time, not because time is a dimension with offsets, but because each location’s "now" is its own local density state within the universal densification process.

Simultaneity across distance is undefined. Each location’s "now" is valid; none is privileged; none requires an observer to make it real.

Just as every observer is at the center of their own Hubble sphere, every observer has a "now" that is just as valid as any other observer’s. These "nows" cannot be synchronized into a universal present — not because of measurement limitations, but because there is no universal present to synchronize to. There is only densification proceeding everywhere, locally.

Time Dilation as Density Displacement

Time dilation is not caused by velocity. Time dilation is caused by acceleration — which is identical to gravitational displacement in a density field. The equivalence principle in PSK is not merely an equivalence but an identity: being deep in a gravitational well and having accelerated are the same phenomenon — displacement in spatial density.

When you accelerate, you displace yourself in the density field. You push yourself into a different density state relative to where you were. That displacement is what causes time dilation.

Velocity is a consequence of having accelerated. If you are moving at constant velocity, you accelerated at some point. The time dilation accumulated during the acceleration — the displacement in the density field — persists. But the velocity itself does not cause dilation; the acceleration that produced the velocity does.

The Experience of Time Dilation

No one ever experiences time dilation. Time is always "now" for you. Your clock ticks normally. Your thoughts proceed normally. You do not feel time running slow.

When you are proximal to a density wake — on a planet, near a black hole — time may run slower for you according to a distant observer, while remaining constant and "now" for yourself. The dilation is not something happening to you. It exists only in the comparison between your clock and a clock at a different density state.

The phenomenon is relational. It exists in the comparison, not in either clock individually. Both clocks tick normally from their own perspective. The difference emerges when they are compared across a density displacement.

The Twin Paradox Resolved

In the standard twin paradox, one twin travels at high velocity and returns younger. The usual explanation attributes this to velocity.

PSK attributes it to acceleration. The traveling twin accelerated — multiple times: departure, turnaround, return. Each acceleration event displaced them in the density field. The stay-at-home twin did not accelerate and experienced no displacement. When they reunite and compare clocks, the difference reflects cumulative density displacement from the acceleration events, not from the velocity between them.

This is why the paradox is not symmetric: one twin accelerated, one did not. The asymmetry lies in the acceleration, not the relative motion.

Hubble Velocity vs. Inertial Velocity

A critical distinction: Hubble velocity is not inertial velocity.

A distant galaxy 13.8 billion light-years away recedes at Hubble velocity c relative to us. But this is not because it accelerated away. It is because space between us is densifying — metric expansion. The galaxy sits in its location, traversing densification as all matter does. The accumulated metric expansion across 13.8 billion light-years sums to recession velocity c. No acceleration occurred.

Therefore, there is no time dilation from Hubble recession.

The distant galaxy is not time-dilated relative to us despite its Hubble velocity. A rocket that accelerated to near c would be time-dilated — because it accelerated, displacing itself in the density field. The distant galaxy never accelerated; it was always approximately that far away.

The redshift we observe from distant galaxies is not velocity-based time dilation. It is density-state differential — the state-mapping comes from a sparser past density state when we were more nearly contiguous. Redshift reflects the density difference between emission and observation, not a Lorentz factor from relative motion.

The Supernova Challenge

This claim faces a significant empirical challenge. Observations of Type Ia supernovae at high redshift show light curves stretched by a factor (1+z)—precisely what standard cosmology predicts from time dilation due to Hubble recession. If PSK is correct that Hubble velocity produces no time dilation, this (1+z) stretching requires alternative explanation.

Possible PSK resolutions:

1. The stretching reflects density-state differential effects rather than time dilation (mechanism not yet developed)

2. The interpretation of supernova light curves contains model-dependent assumptions that PSK challenges

3. PSK’s "no time dilation from Hubble recession" claim requires modification

This represents the strongest empirical challenge to PSK’s cosmological framework and is discussed in detail in Part VI and Part XVI. Until resolved, it remains an open tension between PSK’s predictions and observations.

Summary: Two Kinds of Velocity

Hubble recession: Caused by metric expansion (densification). No acceleration. No time dilation. Redshift reflects density-state differential.

Inertial velocity from acceleration: Caused by acceleration events. Displacement in density field. Time dilation proportional to cumulative displacement.

Gravitational well: Identical to acceleration (equivalence principle as identity). Displacement in density field. Time dilation proportional to depth in wake.

This separates two phenomena that standard cosmology conflates. Recession velocity at cosmic scales and velocity from acceleration are not the same thing. Only acceleration — displacement in the density field — produces time dilation.