By the way, I just came across this rather amusing illustration of how SR leads to block space-time:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rietdijk-Putnam_argument [image: Inline images 1] On 4 February 2014 16:34, Jesse Mazer <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 8:28 PM, Edgar L. Owen <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Jesse, >> >> That's possible but it's only one quote and considering the circumstances >> it could have just been an attempt to provide comfort to the grieving >> family. Also Einstein is known to have spoken metaphorically at times and >> even to seemingly contradict himself on occasion (eg. on religious belief), >> so I think one would need to have more than just that one quote to make a >> convincing case. >> > > All of his statements on religion I've seen seem completely consistent > with a Spinoza-esque pantheism, where do you think he contradicted himself > on religion? As for block time, that wasn't his only comment in support of > the idea, for example at http://everythingforever.com/einstein.htm we > find the following even more explicit endorsement of the block time view: > > 'Since there exists in this four dimensional structure [space-time] no > longer any sections which represent "now" objectively, the concepts of > happening and becoming are indeed not completely suspended, but yet > complicated. It appears therefore more natural to think of physical reality > as a four dimensional existence, instead of, as hitherto, the evolution of > a three dimensional existence.' > > > >> >> On the other hand I suspect one can find very many Einstein quotes in >> which he mentions the PRESENT which would stand in direct contradiction to >> a belief in a block universe. >> >> > Did he use it in the context of talking about the nature of time in > physics or philosophy, or was he just using it in the ordinary everyday > way, like talking about the "present political situation" or something? If > the latter, I think eternalists talk that way all the time, simultaneity > issues make no practical difference when you're just talking about events > confined to the Earth. And aside from simultaneity issues, talking about > the "present" doesn't preclude the possibility that other times are equally > real, it's just an indexical term like "here". > > Jesse > > > >> >> >> On Monday, February 3, 2014 7:37:44 PM UTC-5, jessem wrote: >>> >>> >>> On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 6:44 PM, Edgar L. Owen <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Liz, >>>> >>>> You keep repeating your UNSUBSTANTIATED claim that both Newton and >>>> Einstein believed in block time. >>>> >>>> I've repeatedly asked you to substantiate this claim with some actual >>>> quotes from them but you have been unable to do so. >>>> >>>> Please provide quotes substantiating this or withdraw the claim. That's >>>> only fair... >>>> >>> >>> In Einstein's case this does definitely seem to be his own belief, for >>> example when his lifelong friend Michael Besso died in 1955, he sent his >>> family a letter in which he wrote: >>> >>> "Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That >>> means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the >>> distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly >>> persistent illusion." >>> >>> I think the serious context of this letter likely precludes the >>> possibility that he was joking, or that he was just speaking in an offhand >>> way about how relativity models the world as opposed to expressing a belief >>> about the way the world really is. >>> >>> Jesse >>> >> -- >> 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. >> > > -- > 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. > -- 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.
