Stathis, A couple more questions.
Do you believe you are the same one of your block time selves at 8:00 AM as you are at 8:01 AM? Presumably you aren't. You are a different block time self in every instant of your existence. Right? I'm not talking to the same block time Stathis now that I was yesterday. Right? Then what process actually chooses which Stathis I'm talking to right now as opposed to all the others? Why are you the one Stathis you are right now as opposed to all the others? Isn't it true that it's the one that is at the present moment? In which case there has to be a present moment that passes down the Stathis worldline and selects which Stathis is the current Stathis. Right? If not then how is the current Stathis you experience yourself as right now selected? Obviously you experience yourself being only one Stathis at a time. What selects the current Stathis you experience yourself as being, and deselects all others? On the other hand if you claim that every Stathis is continually experiencing itself in its present moment then why are you this one rather than any of those other ones? Edgar On Sunday, February 23, 2014 1:16:02 PM UTC-5, stathisp wrote: > > > > On Monday, February 24, 2014, Edgar L. Owen <[email protected] <javascript:>> > wrote: > > Hi Stathis, > > First thanks for answering my questions that Jesse refused to answer. > > A few more questions if I may. > > 1. Are you a believer in a block universe, or are you just presenting the > argument for it? The following questions assume belief. > > > Agnostic. > > > 2. You don't believe time flows, that everything in the block universe is > completely static. Is that correct? > > > It feels like time flows but if I think about it I don't understand what > that really means. I could say that it's just an obvious, basic fact that > time flows or I could say that the idea of time actually flowing is > conceptually impossible. > > > 3. So if we can prove that time does flow would that be sufficient to > disprove a block universe? > > > Yes, though not its impossibility. > > > 4. Do you believe that the appearance of time flowing, which we all have, > is somehow a static perspective from some present moment along your > historical worldline? > > > If we live in a block universe, yes. > > > 5. Do you believe that the appearance of time flowing is due to a single > static perspective from a single fixed moment along your historical > worldline, or the transition of static perspectives similar to a sequence > of movie frames? > > > Even if time does flow it's due to a single static perspective, since the > before and after moments aren't there. > > > 6. In other words, does anything actually move in your block universe, or > not? > > > If what we think of as movement is frames in a block universe then of > course there is actual movement. > > > 7. If not, how can a completely static perspective generate the illusion > of movement through time? I claim it cannot. It can generate a freeze from > perspective only, not the illusion of movement. > > > Zeno discussed the impossibility of movement 2500 years ago and he didn't > assume either a block universe or quantised time. > > > 8. Since a block universe contains every detail of every event in the > entire history of the universe from beginning to end, and those details > demonstrate immensely complex and consistent causal sequences, how could > they have all been created at the same time Acausally? What physical > mechanism could possibly work out all causal sequences without doing it > temporally? > > > It's begging the question by assuming flowing time is coherent, correct > and the only way to account for stuff happening. In a block universe the > causal sequence exists without explicit ordering, as the natural numbers > form a sequence without being put in order one by one on a number line. > > > 9. Do you agree that this creation event (of the entire universe from > beginning to end) would have been the most enormously improbably creation > ever imaginable, a creation event that makes the Biblical creation event > seem reasonable by comparison? > > > No more than a non block universe creation. > > > 10. If you think there was no creation event, that the block universe > always existed, do you agree that the assumption that the whole universe > from beginning to end is the most UNparsimonius assumption possible and > thus is the most least likely assumption based on Occam's Principle? > > > No, there is less to explain if everything that can exist does exist than > if only a subset of the possible exists; for why that subset? > > > Thanks, > Edgar > > > > On Saturday, February 22, 2014 10:37:31 PM UTC-5, stathisp wrote: > > > > On Sunday, February 23, 2014, Edgar L. Owen <[email protected]> wrote: > > Jesse, > > 1. Do you agree you are actually a particular age right now today as you > read this? > > > Not Jesse, but yes. > > 2. Do you agree that I am actually a particular age right now today as I > write this, whether or not you know what that is? > > > Yes. > > > 3. Do you agree that we can both agree on those two ages? > > > Yes. > > > 4. Do you agree that if we were at the same location we would be in the > same present moment? > > > If we were at the same space and time location, yes. > > > 5. Since you believe you are actually alive in every moment of your life, > including every past and future moment, why is this particular moment the > one you experience yourself in right now?</div > > ... -- 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.
