The Naked Mirror
Created | Updated May 15, 2006
Suppose that there was a very large mirror placed at a certain angle x light years away from Earth. Suppose that a person were to look in the direction of the mirror on January 1st, 2000 at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. That person would theoretically see a scene enacted 2x years ago. The light from the scene would travel x years out to the mirror, be reflected, and then travel x years back to Earth. So to watch what happened on January 1st, 1999 at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, our person would merely have to have a mirror placed .5 light years away. Imagine, if this were possible, what effect it might have on murder investigations, when a murder had happened outside. Imagine what battles Historians might witness, as it were, first hand.
Now imagine that every point in time is represented by a still picture. To see what happened on January 1st, 1999 at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, our person of 4pm January 1st, 2000 would have a mirror placed .5 light years away. At 4:01, the mirror would have to be .5 light years and .5 light minutes away to view the same scene. At 4.02, the mirror would be .5 light years and 1 light minute away, et cetera. So theoretically, it would be possible to veiw that still through the mirror, for a continuous time, provided that the mirror was able to smoothly move away from Earth at the speed of light. However, once the light from that point in time hit the mirror, would not it be reflected and sent on its merry way back to Earth? There would be no more light coming from the exact point in time, and the next split second of light would not be able to catch up with the mirror. Therefore, one would see no reflection at all. What would one see, then? Mirrors take on the appearance of that which is before them. To see a naked mirror, I suggest, would be to see truly nothing. Not air, not space, not darkness, but true nothingness.
Now imagine that every point in time is represented by a still picture. To see what happened on January 1st, 1999 at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, our person of 4pm January 1st, 2000 would have a mirror placed .5 light years away. At 4:01, the mirror would have to be .5 light years and .5 light minutes away to view the same scene. At 4.02, the mirror would be .5 light years and 1 light minute away, et cetera. So theoretically, it would be possible to veiw that still through the mirror, for a continuous time, provided that the mirror was able to smoothly move away from Earth at the speed of light. However, once the light from that point in time hit the mirror, would not it be reflected and sent on its merry way back to Earth? There would be no more light coming from the exact point in time, and the next split second of light would not be able to catch up with the mirror. Therefore, one would see no reflection at all. What would one see, then? Mirrors take on the appearance of that which is before them. To see a naked mirror, I suggest, would be to see truly nothing. Not air, not space, not darkness, but true nothingness.
