The Block Universe - the True Nature of Time

    
   
So what about our 'boys' ?
They seem to be nicely settled in some Everett type 'world', far way from all the trauma of the first century Roman Empire.
But how did it happen, and what's the situation back in Baiae and Rome ?
Were they missed ?
Were there Munera and spectacular funerals ?
Or are they still there - as if nothing had happened ?
Or perhaps everyone' mind was wiped of all memory of them.
Or could they go back - that is if they wanted to ?
As we have already said - 'time is and illusion' - but time seems, to us, to occur - so what is it really.
So here's another one of those theories.....

Ready ?.....

Eternalism - it's a comforting word - isn't it ?
Eternalism - is a philosophical approach to the ontological nature of time, which takes the view that all existence in time is equally real, as opposed to 'Presentism' or the 'Growing Block Universe Theory' of time, in which at least the future is not the same as any other time.
Some forms of Eternalism give time a similar ontology to that of space, as a dimension, with different times being as real as different places, and future events are 'already there' in the same sense other places are already there, and that there is no objective flow of time.
When Faunus transpose the 'boys' to an alternative 'Everett World', that 'world' is in the 'future' (say 2,000 years) and is already there - 'Eternalism' ?
'Eternalism' is sometimes referred to as the 'Block Time' or 'Block Universe' theory due to its description of Einsteinian 'Space-Time' (see below) as an unchanging four-dimensional 'block', as opposed to the view of the world as a three-dimensional space modulated by the passage of time.

PAST PRESENT & FUTURE ?

Conventionally, time is divided into three distinct regions; the 'past', the 'present', and the 'future'.
Using that representational model, the 'past' is generally seen as being immutably fixed, and the 'future' as at least partly undefined.
As time passes, the moment that was once the 'present' becomes part of the 'past'; and part of the 'future', in turn, becomes the new present.
In this way time is said to pass, with a distinct present moment 'moving' forward into the 'future' and leaving the 'past' behind.
Within this intuitive understanding of time is the philosophy of Presentism, which argues that only the present exists.
It does not travel forward through an environment of time, moving from a real point in the 'past' and toward a real point in the 'future'.
Instead, the 'present' simply changes.
The 'past' and 'future' do not exist as such, and are only concepts used to describe the real, isolated, and changing 'present'.

EINSTEIN & RELATIVITY

This conventional model presents a number of difficult philosophical problems, and seems difficult to reconcile with currently accepted scientific theories such as the Theory of Relativity.
Einstein in the De Lorean
Albert Einstein
The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and General Relativity. Special Relativity applies to elementary particles and their interactions, describing all their physical phenomena except gravity. General Relativity explains the law of gravitation and its relation to other forces of nature. It applies to the cosmological and astrophysical realm, including astronomy.
Professor Dean Rickles
Many philosophers have argued that Einstein's 'Theory of Relativity' implies 'Eternalism'.
Philosopher of science Professor Dean Rickles disagrees in some sense, but notes that "the consensus among philosophers seems to be that Special and General Relativity are incompatible with Presentism".(see below).

Professor Christian Wüthrich
Professor Christian Wüthrich argues that supporters of 'Presentism' can only salvage absolute simultaneity if they reject Relativity, which we can't do, because atom bombs do work.
It's the same with Quantum Physics - required for the Everett 'Many Worlds Theory'.
Some deny the reality of Quantum Physics, but without Quantum Physics, your mobile phone wouldn't work, along with many other modern gadgets !



PRESENTISM

Philosophical 'Presentism' is the view that neither the future nor the past exist.
In some versions of Presentism, this view is extended to timeless objects or ideas (such as numbers and Plato's 'Forms')).
According to Presentism, events and entities that are wholly past or wholly future do not exist at all. 'Presentism' contrasts with 'Eternalism', and the 'Growing Block Theory' of time, which hold that past events, like the Battle of Waterloo, and past entities, like Alexander the Great's warhorse Bucephalus ('Ox-head'), really do exist, although not in the 'presen't.
Eternalism extends to future events as well.
to be continued........


this is an additional article for your further enjoyment of


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