Beyond the dynamical universe. Unifying block universe physics and time as experienced

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-190
Author(s):  
Oscar Rosas-Ortiz
Keyword(s):  
Block Universe

Relational Blockworld and Quantum Mechanics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Silberstein ◽  
W.M. Stuckey ◽  
Timothy McDevitt
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Measurement Problem ◽  
Quantum Nonlocality ◽  
Global Constraints ◽  
Quantum Superposition ◽  
Delayed Choice ◽  
Counterfactual Definiteness ◽  
Main Thread ◽  
Block Universe ◽  
Contextual Emergence

The main thread of chapter 4 introduces some of the major mysteries and interpretational issues of quantum mechanics (QM). These mysteries and issues include: quantum superposition, quantum nonlocality, Bell’s inequality, entanglement, delayed choice, the measurement problem, and the lack of counterfactual definiteness. All these mysteries and interpretational issues of QM result from dynamical explanation in the mechanical universe and are dispatched using the authors’ adynamical explanation in the block universe, called Relational Blockworld (RBW). A possible link between RBW and quantum information theory is provided. The metaphysical underpinnings of RBW, such as contextual emergence, spatiotemporal ontological contextuality, and adynamical global constraints, are provided in Philosophy of Physics for Chapter 4. That is also where RBW is situated with respect to retrocausal accounts and it is shown that RBW is a realist, psi-epistemic account of QM. All the relevant formalism for this chapter is provided in Foundational Physics for Chapter 4.

Time and Truth: The Presentism-Eternalism Debate

Philosophy ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Stoneham
Keyword(s):  
Open Future ◽  
Equal Footing ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Events ◽  
Growing Block ◽  
The Open Future ◽  
Block Universe ◽  
The Way

AbstractThere are many questions we can ask about time, but perhaps the most fundamental is whether there are metaphysically interesting differences between past, present and future events. An eternalist believes in a block universe: past, present and future events are all on an equal footing. A gradualist believes in a growing block: he agrees with the eternalist about the past and the present but not about the future. A presentist believes that what is present has a special status. My first claim is that the familiar ways of articulating these views result in there being no substantive disagreement at all between the three parties. I then show that if we accept the controversial truthmaking principle, we can articulate a substantive disagreement. Finally, I apply this way of formulating the debate to related questions such as the open future and determinism, showing that these do not always line up in quite the way one would expect.

II. Your Present Moment in Spacetime

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (06) ◽  
pp. 0626
Author(s):  
Conrad Dale Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Distributed Processing ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Measuring Instruments ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Local Measurement ◽  
Hyperbolic Structure ◽  
Objective Reality ◽  
Block Universe

This essay extends the argument begun in "Why Quantum Mechanics Makes Sense," exploring the conditions under which a physical world can define and communicate information. I argue that like the structure of quantum physics, the principles of Special and General Relativity can be understood as reflecting the requirements of a universe in which things are observable and measurable. I interpret the peculiar hyperbolic structure of spacetime not as the static, four-dimensional geometry of an unobservable "block universe", but as the background metric of an evolving web of communicated information that we, along with all our measuring instruments and recording devices, actually experience in our local "here and now." Our relativistic universe is conceived as a parallel distributed processing system, in which a common objective reality is constantly being woven out of many kinds of facts determined separately in countless local measurement-contexts.

The Unchanging Universe

2020 ◽  
pp. 72-86
Author(s):  
Demetris Nicolaides
Keyword(s):  
Space Time ◽  
Sense Perception ◽  
Theory Of Relativity ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Time Continuum ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Block Universe

Heraclitus declares the being (that which exists, nature) but identifies it with becoming, but Parmenides declares just the Being; only what is, is, what is not, is not. All “follows” from that: change, he argues, is logically impossible and so what is, is one and unchangeable! This dazzling absolute monism is in daring disagreement with sense perception, but curiously it has found a well-known genius as a supporter. Emboldened by his theory of relativity, Einstein considers the universe as a four-dimensional “block” (a space-time continuum like a loaf of bread) which, remarkably, contains all moments of time (of past, present, and future) always, and where change is an illusion. He said, “For we convinced physicists, the distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion, however persistent.” In the block universe, the past is not gone, it is present; and the future, like the present, is, well, present, too.

The Block universe

2013 ◽  
pp. 27-43
Author(s):  
Barry Dainton
Keyword(s):  
Block Universe

scholarly journals The Relativity of Indeterminacy

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 1326
Author(s):  
Flavio Del Del Santo ◽  
Nicolas Gisin
Keyword(s):  
Special Relativity ◽  
Classical Case ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Philosophical Literature ◽  
Relative Property ◽  
Block Universe

A long-standing tradition, largely present in both the physical and the philosophical literature, regards the advent of (special) relativity—with its block-universe picture—as the failure of any indeterministic program in physics. On the contrary, in this paper, we note that upholding reasonable principles of finiteness of information hints at a picture of the physical world that should be both relativistic and indeterministic. We thus rebut the block-universe picture by assuming that fundamental indeterminacy itself should also be regarded as a relative property when considered in a relativistic scenario. We discuss the consequence that this view may have when correlated randomness is introduced, both in the classical case and in the quantum one.

Coda for Ants

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Silberstein ◽  
W.M. Stuckey ◽  
Timothy McDevitt
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Gravity ◽  
Cognitive Science ◽  
New Physics ◽  
Viable Alternative ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Consciousness Studies ◽  
Neutral Monism ◽  
Block Universe

The epilogue summarizes and reviews the main claims of the book pertaining to the problems of the dynamical universe paradigm and the resolution of those problems via the adynamical block universe alternative called Relational Blockworld (RBW). The new physics RBW is expected to generate—and must provide in order to be considered a viable alternative to the dynamical paradigm— has been provided. RBW’s debt to the late John Wheeler is acknowledged and it is argued that the RBW model is an affirmation and instantiation of the five main principles Wheeler said ought to govern any attempt at quantum gravity and unification. Finally, if RBW with its neutral monism is true, RBW should lead not only to a new paradigm in physics but also to a new paradigm in cognitive science and consciousness studies.

Overture for Ants

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Silberstein ◽  
W.M. Stuckey ◽  
Timothy McDevitt
Keyword(s):  
Nobel Laureate ◽  
Physical Reality ◽  
Theoretical Physics ◽  
Philosophy Of Physics ◽  
Fundamental Physics ◽  
Physical Universe ◽  
Foundations Of Physics ◽  
Main Thread ◽  
Block Universe

This book addresses Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek’s challenge that “ascending from the ant’s-eye view to the God’s-eye view of physical reality is the most profound challenge for fundamental physics in the next 100 years”, by contesting the dynamical universe paradigm in its entirety. Most of the book is devoted to showing that given the adynamical block universe approach called Relational Blockworld, the current impasse of theoretical physics and philosophy/foundations of physics can be resolved, including the mystery of time as experienced and how that experience relates to the physical universe. This chapter sets the scene for the rest of the work, including defining its audience and sketching how each can read the work successfully. It describes the division of each chapter into three parts: a main thread, a thread devoted to the philosophy of physics, and a thread devoted to foundational physics.

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