The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Physics

If the mind can do these things, it may be creating the impression of motion in undamaged brains.

CHAPTER 3: A TIMELESS WORLD

First Outline (p. 36) The philosopher best known for questioning the existence of time and its flow was John McTaggart, who is often quoted for his espousal of the ‘unreality’ of time and the denial of transience. The following argument of his is very characteristic of professional philosophers:

Past, present, and future are incompatible determinations. Every event must be one or the other, but no event can be more than one. If I say that any event is past, that implies that it is neither present nor future, and so with the others. And this exclusiveness is essential to change, and therefore to time. For the only change we can get is from future to present, and from present to past.

The characteristics, therefore, are incompatible. But every event has them all. if [an event] is past, it has been present and future. If it is future, it will be present and past. If it is present, it has been future and will be past. Thus all the three characteristics belong to each event. How is this consistent with their being incompatible? (McTaggart 1927, Vol. 2, p. 20)

Some thoughts here certainly match my own thinking, especially that ‘exclusiveness is essential to change’, but McTaggart’s arguments are purely logical and make no appeal to physics. Abner Shimony (1997)—to whom I am indebted for several discussions—compares McTaggart’s position with mine, but I think he has not quite understood my notion of time capsules, so I do not feel that his arguments force me to accept transience.

A typical example of theological thought about time is this extract from Conversations with God—An Uncommon Dialogue by Neale Donald Walsch (kindly sent me by Ann Gill):

Think of [time] as a spindle, representing the Eternal Moment of Now.

Now picture leafs [sic] of paper on the spindle, one atop the other. These are the elements of time. Each element separate and distinct, yet each existing simultaneously with the other. All the paper on the spindle at once! As much as there will ever be—as much as there ever was . . .

There is only One Moment—this moment—the Eternal Moment of Now (p-29).

Again, there is some overlap with my position. Walsch’s ‘leafs’, his elements of time, are my Nows. But the spindle of time, the Eternal Moment, is not at all part of my picture. My Nows are all constructed according to the same rule. There is no Eternal Moment, only the common rule of construction. I think Walsch is trying to grasp eternal substance where there is none, though I think he is right to say that the ‘leafs’ are all there at once and that this is a consoling thought. But we should not ask for more than we can get. Also, the image of time as a spindle is beautiful but misleading. In my view, the ‘leafs’ of time most definitely cannot be arranged along a single line, as the striking spindle image implies.

The Ultimate Arena (1) (p. 39) In this section I say that all structures that represent possible instants of time are three-dimensional. This is because the space we actually observe has three dimensions. However, in some modern theories (super-string theories) it is assumed that space actually has ten or even more dimensions. All but three of the dimensions are ‘rolled up’ so tightly that we cannot see them. In principle, my instants of time could fit into this picture. They would then have ten (or more) dimensions.

(2) This note is for experts. Platonia is a special type of configuration space known as a stratified manifold. The sheets, ribs and singular point that form the frontiers of Triangle Land are called strata. I believe that the stratified structure of Platonia is highly significant. Mathematicians and physicists really interested in this can consult DeWitt (1970) and Fischer (1970). The strata are generally regarded as something of a nuisance, since at them normal well-behaved mathematics breaks down. They are like grit in the works. But in the world’s oyster they may be the grit from which grows ‘a peal richer than all his tribe’: not Desdemona, but time (Chapter 22). (After Othello had strangled Desdemona and then realized his dreadful mistake, he said before stabbing himself that he was ‘one whose hand, Like the base Indian, threw away a pearl richer than all his tribe’.)

CHAPTER 4: ALTERNATIVE FRAMEWORKS