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Thursday, December 8, 2011

Eternalism vs Presentism


The relativity theory unifies space and time into a single 4-dimensional continuum called the spacetime.  Albeit their unity, however, the theory inexplicably assumes that the nature of dimensions at every point in the continuum differentiates into those of the space and time.

Such concept of spacetime sometimes is referred to as the block time, block universe or eternalism. We have considered time as having similar ontology to that of space, that future events are already there, and that there is no objective flow of time. The spacetime is viewed as an unchanging 4-dimensional block as opposed to the view of the world as a 3-dimensional space perpetually modulated by the passage of time 1.


This concept of the block universe adopted by mainstream physics makes the physics now in trouble. This concept is wrong both physically and philosophically. A continuum should have inherently similar dimensions at its every point, except there is a discontinuity or boundary a) along which the block's dimensions are transformed into spatial (Figure-1).


In our daily life, one observes the difference between the past, the present, and the future. One perceives that as time passes, the moment that was once the present becomes part of the past, and part of the future, in turn, becomes the new present. As such, we experience or at least perceive the passage of time, with a present moment moving forward into the future and leaving the past behind 2. Philosophically, such a view of time is called presentism.

As we explain in the previous articles, our concept about the spacetime continuum is in line with this presentism, except that everything exists ephemerally. As such, when the part of the [nebulous] future transformed into the new present, the moment that was once the present is annihilated into part of the [void] b) past. In this view, only the present is real, as opposed to eternalist idea that all points in time are equally real.


This act of perpetual creation and annihilation gives us the perception of time passage. This modified presentism accentuates the actuality of the present and its obvious difference from the potentiality of the future and the nullity of the past. Matters which exist only in the present are exerted by the gravity and held together as a single whole on the plane c) of the present.



In order that the cause and effect principle prevails in their "chaotic" block universe, the physicists are forced to set up a light-cones system in which the individual light-cone may have a different orientation (Figure-2). However, such a concept may lead us to a chaotic closed timelike curve three that questions the integrity of such physical edifice.

The physicists are unaware that in such a symmetric block universe, which is timeless and eternal, no matter can exist, neither movement nor changes can occur. Sooner or later the mainstream physicists should abandon their concept of the block universe which has led us to many misinterpretations such as determinism, time travel, many-worlds interpretation and so forth.

In the presentist universe, the block is spontaneously broken d) in two halves, creating a 3-dimensional interface in between the two as it is transforming the dimension along the interface into spatial. Space and the present time are, in fact, two different aspects of the same thing which is the smallest unit of time. The eternity is, thus, broken bearing perpetually the present moment which splits the past barely from the future.

Notes:

a). Such as an interface or a surface in the case of liquid-like or a fissure in the case of a solid-like continuum.
b). Void of matter but not of energy.
c). or a wavy surface or interface in order to be in line with the general relativity theory.
d). It may happen because of the segregation of a pair of energy's opposing elements: the positive and negative energy.

Reference:

2.  Ibid.
3.  Penrose, R.: "The Road to Reality," Vintage Books, London, 2005, p. 409.


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