Liz, The point you are missing is that because time is clearly a 4th dimension, that does NOT mean that we have to somehow be at every point in our lives at once. That's as nutty as assuming we have to be at every point in space that we ever visited or will visit at once. Ooops, I forgot you DO believe that!
What I mean is that being at only ONE point in time, and only at ONE point in space at once is completely compatible with a 4 dimensional universe. So relativity does not imply or require a block universe as you imagine. In fact relativity actually requires everything to be at one and only one point in both space and time, as I've pointed out on a number of occasions. Thus relativity itself FALSIFIES a block universe, not to mention the numerous intractable internal contradictions in block universe theory I've pointed out. Thus block universe theory is NOT required by relativity, it is FALSIFIED by relativity. Not understanding that doesn't make block universe theory right my dear! Edgar On Monday, February 24, 2014 4:09:03 PM UTC-5, Liz R wrote: > > The point Edgar seems to be missing vis-a-vis block universes is that, > whether correct or not, they explain our experience of time. Otherwise > Einstein, Weyl, Minkowski etc would have dismissed the idea of space-time > out of hand, instead of embracing it as a replacement for the Newtonian > paradigm of space and time as separate dimensions (Newtonian physics also > posited a block universe, of course, but this was at the time merely an > ontological assumption - it took Special Relativity to produce testable > consequences). > > Not being able to grasp an idea, or not being able to correctly visualise > its implications, doesn't make it wrong. > > -- 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.
