Einstein
Einstein: "People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."
Interesting comment... past, present and future, where present may be interpreted as 'now' which it certainly could be construed to mean that, but I feel is not quite on target. Present carries with it the permanent baggage of past and future, the three concepts so closely united as to be conjoined. How many times have the three been placed together in theories...? Too numerable to even mention.
However, 'now, or 'Now' as i prefer to write it, is much more than even the 'tri-conceptual' idea of past-present-future. 'Now' is the exclusive and only domain of the entirety of every thing, which includes past-present-future. 'Now' is absolute without the limitations of 'tri-conceptual time' that attempt to isolate 'Now' into a measurable, intellectualized place rather than the constantly changing, infinitely malleable experience which it is... not was or will be but 'Now' ... beyond earthly time-defined intellectualizations... far beyond...
A bit of Einstein
Re: A bit of Einstein
That quote is from a letter Einstein wrote to the family of a close friend who had died. It gets repeated often but the context is often forgotten.
Einstein was a dedicated determinist and thus for him, the future state of the universe is dictated by the present state and the laws of physics (LaPlaces demon). He had difficulty all his life accepting some interpretations of Quantum Mechanics which implied the world might be inderterministic in some details.
Personally although some larger aspects of the future are dictated by the present and the laws of physics, I doubt every single detail of future reality is predetermined. Representing time as a spatial dimension is a fallacy of misplaced concreteness. Instead of a block, iron of frozen universe the notion of a crystallizing or evolving block universe seems more probable. The past is incorporated in the present and the future is constrained by possiblities but yet to be actualized. There is no universal now, present, past or future instead there are relative points of observation.
Einstein was a dedicated determinist and thus for him, the future state of the universe is dictated by the present state and the laws of physics (LaPlaces demon). He had difficulty all his life accepting some interpretations of Quantum Mechanics which implied the world might be inderterministic in some details.
Personally although some larger aspects of the future are dictated by the present and the laws of physics, I doubt every single detail of future reality is predetermined. Representing time as a spatial dimension is a fallacy of misplaced concreteness. Instead of a block, iron of frozen universe the notion of a crystallizing or evolving block universe seems more probable. The past is incorporated in the present and the future is constrained by possiblities but yet to be actualized. There is no universal now, present, past or future instead there are relative points of observation.
Re: A bit of Einstein
Re: "There is no universal now, present, past or future ..."prothero wrote: There is no universal now, present, past or future instead there are relative points of observation.
This moment is all there is, i.e. "Now", universally comprehended. "Now" is the transcendental state of existence which is not restricted to a hu'man quality but a Universal state which includes what we define as past, present and future. Beyond our hu'man capability of knowing (understanding) is also part of the 'Universal Now''... beyond our limitations of understanding (which is your measure of intellectualizing Einstein's comment in question ("Imagination is more important than knowledge", Einstein).
Re: "... there are relative points of observation."
No matter what point of observation we may assume or take, that point is within the state of Now, which is beyond intellect, i.e. 'mind', which we place excessive importance on our minds, neglecting imagination which transcends knowledge. If you are able to imagine the entirety of the Universe and include within that not only all that is (present) but includes all that has been (past), and within the Universal Now is what we call 'future' that which is 'becoming' in the Permanence of Change, a universal truth.
Re: A bit of Einstein
Well I am a presentist. The past is perished although elements of the past are incorporated into the present. The future does not yet exist although the future as potentials exist and has yet to be actualized. I don't quite understand the point you are trying to make however.
Einstein I might add does not seem to be a presentist, rather a determinist, where the future already being fixed by the present exist in much the same manner as the present and the past as well. Einstein was skeptical of time travel in the science fiction sense and definitely of travel to the past. Einstein was also somewhat skeptical of the accuracy of respresenting time as any kind of independent purely physical dimension (the spatialization of time).
Einstein I might add does not seem to be a presentist, rather a determinist, where the future already being fixed by the present exist in much the same manner as the present and the past as well. Einstein was skeptical of time travel in the science fiction sense and definitely of travel to the past. Einstein was also somewhat skeptical of the accuracy of respresenting time as any kind of independent purely physical dimension (the spatialization of time).