Spacetime is now viewed as quantized; that is, quantized spacetime seems
to be the best theory to accomodate the observations. Spacetime comes in
discrete units: there is a smallest unit, which cannot be further
divided. (This from quantum gravity, which must be reconciled to string
theory at some point: get out your Dialectical Materialism pencils.)
Moreover, since Einstein's simultaneity principle, there is not
necessarily any specific direction to time: one observer might view
event A as occuring before event B, while another observer might see
things the other way around. This is not simply a matter of a signal not
reaching one observer before the other, it is more subtle than that, and
is baked into the structure of spacetime itself. Moreover, there is a
relationship between the flow of information and the direction of time.
Shannon showed the relationship of information to energy-mass.
So there need not be an absolute beginning of time, nor an end of time,
nor even a single direction to its passage. We may choose to look
backward toward the past, or forward toward the future, or sideways
toward somewhen else entirely: there isn't a simple timeline stretching
forward or backward. Whether or not spacetime is infinite (likely not,
based on current theories), straight lines (as with Marx's time line)
went out when Einstein brought in Minkowski. The foamy space-time of
quantum gravity is a marvellous thing.
There is no First Cause, nor Last Effect, since all phenomena have
causes, as Nāgārjuna explained centuries ago, and the perception of the
Last Effect, itself an effect, is caused by that Last Effect, so it
never ends. (Turtles, all the way down.) Somewhat roughly, you and I and
trees and music are the products only of our causes: we have no
intrinsic nature. (Buddhists such as Nāgārjuna say that phenomena, as
well as what some distinguish as noumena, are "empty" of inherent or
intrinsic nature; empty of svabhāva, but that's another rabbit hole.
That does not mean that that phenomena don't exist; they exist but have
no intrinsic nature, defined or specified, if you will, by their causes
and conditions. Causes and conditions don't work from any sort of
blueprint; rather, they have their own causes and conditions, and so
on.) Short form: everything is connected to everything else.
Lucretius would disagree. But Nāgārjuna would say that the reason fish
don't arise from the earth, or people from the sea, is that the
appropriate pre-conditions don't adhere. We don't get an apple from
walnut DNA. Lucretius was a smart guy, I doubt that the quote given
was all he had to say on the matter, but he did have a thing for some
kind of idealism, so perhaps this isn't the whole story. Sometimes
those old Greeks were crafty and devious, speaking in riddles and
deliberately crafting antinomies as pedagogical devices. Who writes
science in verse any more?
Marx preceded Einstein and so didn't know about relativity. Minkowski's
space-time also came after Marx. We (save for a few Marxists) don't
remember Marx for his physics, but he did well in that department with
what he had. Similarly, we (save for some Jungians) don't remember
Newton for his alchemy. (And few remember Dühring at all.)
And if dialectical materialism is to be used for quantum mechanics (as
with the quantum vacuum), do we not need first to identify the thesis
and antithesis? To me, there are no obvious candidates for those roles.
The string theory and quantum gravity trains are moving along fine
without overt use of dialectics, and "waves vs particles" is ancient
history.
Now if only we were able to identify the class struggle all the way back
to the Big Bang...
On Sat, Dec 26, 2020 at 06:43:50AM -0800, [email protected] wrote:
> Date: Sat, 26 Dec 2020 06:43:50 -0800
> From: [email protected]
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [marxmail] An earlier universe existed before the Big Bang,
> and can still be observed today, says Nobel winner
>
> Einstein said the same thing.
>
> TSC
>
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