On 27 January 2014 11:20, Stephen Paul King <[email protected]>wrote: > > "'Because, like all of us in our daily lives, you're stuck with a >> grotesque and absurd illusion.' >> >> 'How's that?' >> >> 'The idea of time as an ever-rolling stream. The thing which is supposed >> to bear all its sons away. There's one thing quite certain in this >> business: the idea of time as a steady progression from past to future is >> wrong. I know very well we feel this way about it subjectively. But we're >> the victims of a confidence trick... >> >> Fred Hoyle, "October the First is Too Late" >> > > HA! Hoyle here undermines the idea that we can obtain time merely from the > well ordering of integers! I focus on the action, ever-rolling stream, the > "progression"; the ordering of events are the mere products of the stream, > not the origin of the streaming. >
Hi Stephen I don't see how Hoyle undermines that idea. His numbered pigeon holes seems very close to it. He indicates that he doesn't consider time an "ever-rolling stream" and later points out that the metaphorical "flashlight" isn't an ordering principle, and hints that it may be completely irrelevant to consciousness, which is purely down to the contents of the pigeon holes, which are ordered according to certain physical laws, such as the notes in no 157 being "mainly accurate about 156 and earlier, but vague and inaccurate about 158 onwards". He appears to be presenting a capsule theory of identity. Please explain how he undermines the idea that time is something like an ordering principle, if I've correctly understood that to be what you mean, and if you wouldn't mind. Also, I don't understand the significance of your statement "the ordering of events are the mere products of the stream, not the origin of the streaming". In the block universe view, the ordering of events is the product of the laws of physics, which determine the shapes of world-lines through 4D spacetime. I'm not sure what the "origin of the streaming" could mean in this context (the Big Bang?) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
