Play 332: Special Relativity Blows My Mind

CHARACTERS
1
2

1
Special relativity is some strange shit.

2
Yeah.

1
This one part of it I find especially crazy.

2
What?

1
Our common perception that the past is set, and the future is fluid is false.

2
What do you mean?

1
We like to think that the past is set in stone and is unchangeable, and the future hasn’t been determined yet.

(Beat.)

2
And that’s not true?

1
No.

2
Why?

1
Because one of the consequences of special relativity is that simultaneity, and time, are relative.

(Beat.)

2
What does that mean?

1
It means that time is different to people in different situations.

(Beat.)

2
What?

1
It’s hard to explain, but it’s true.

(Beat.)

2
So what does that have to do with the past and future and all that?

1
Since people have different concepts of time, one person’s past could be another’s future.

2
So?

1
So if everyone’s past is set, and someone’s past is another’s future, then the other person’s future is set too.

2
Okay.


(Pause.)

2
So what is true?

1
Well, either the past and future are both set, or both are fluid.

2
I get them both being set, I mean, I like to think the future isn’t, but that makes sense.

(Beat.)

But what would it mean that the past is fluid?

1
It means that your actions in the present can effect the past.

(Beat.)

2
That makes no sense.

1
At first it sounds weird, but it actually does.

2
How?

1
If the past changed, it would change everything that occurred after it, including the present and your memories of the past.

(Beat.)

2
So?

1
So it’d be different, but to you, it’d seem like it had always been that way.

(Beat.)

2
Okay…I think I get it.

(Pause.)

2
So either everything’s fixed, or everything’s not?

1
Yeah.

(Beat.)

2
That’s so strange.

1
Indeed,

(Blackout.)