There is a fascinating discussion on my Marxist list serve; here is an excerpt...
Louis, you have raised a very interesting subject. How can anybody say that the views expressed by some 'physicsts' about reality, time and quantum world have nothing to do with Marxism? We have to put up a frontal attack on the non-scientific nonsense, in the guise of science. To top it all, one famous scientist claims that mathematical equations gave rise to the universe! Vijaya Kumar M I don't think that time is an 'illusion', and I consider myself a materialist, and I have to defer to the observational ability of sub-atomic and astrophysicists; but it seems to me that time is not an independent phenomenon; it is a human-devised system to describe human perception of the changes in the ever-fluctuating status of matter (e.g. days, years, life spans, half-lives). A typical dictionary definition of time would be 'a system of sequential relations'. It's kinda like the tree falling in the forest - if there's no sentient ear, there's no sound. By the way, I think that from a practical perspective, 'space' isn't an independent phenomenon either. It's just the absence of matter. Discussions of, say, 'curved space' are really describing the relation/activity of matter or 'force'... - Mike Fahey People should understand that I only post such material to get a rise out of folks like Jeff. It is like the sand that irritates the oyster. Louis Proyect Aha! I should have known. More surprisingly though, I now see that there are others on this list who might fancy playing the same game -- even to the point of advancing idealist conceptions on a Marxism list! -- so I'll avoid snatching the bait. If anyone wants to discuss serious questions of physics, I would participate. If they would like to couch their questions or comments in terms of "Marxism" I can deal with that too. After all, physics and Marxism share the same underlying philosophical basis: materialism. But neither usefully informs the content of the other. - Jeff _______________________________________________ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
