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A couple things I note : 1) Lightman's description of his hallucinationish experience at the age of nine, wherein he perceived all time in one instant [or had
by MisterOctober 8y ago
A couple things I note :
1) Lightman's description of his hallucinationish experience at the age of nine, wherein he perceived all time in one instant [or had the sensation of doing so], reminds me of Julian Barbour ["The Discovery of Dynamics"] and his hypothesis that all spacetime exists simultaneously -- not in a Minkowski-eque 'loaf,' but in a static collection of mathematical configuration spaces, each of which represent a "now" [which word, coincidentally, concludes Lightman's article].
2) I can relate to Lightman's notion of 'Nothingness' as it relates to quantum field theory -- when I first cracked Tony Zee's "QFT in a Nutshell," I'm pretty sure I experienced the same feeling of complete inconsequentiality described by Lightman, though for totally different reasons.
- whatshisface 8y ago>hypothesis that all spacetime exists simultaneously One day, physicists will learn to recognize when they're doing 17th century philosophy.
- MisterOctober 8y agoMarry well bethought! Barbour actually does live on an ancient farm somewhere in the English countryside, maybe the environs are influencing his, uh, humours?
- trevyn 8y agoOne day, 17th century philosophers will learn to recognize when they're doing Buddhism. ;-)
- Luc 8y agoThat can only be said by someone who's never read Barbour's books.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- keithpeter 8y agoJulian Barbour has a web site with papers available http://www.platonia.com/ideas.html http://www.platonia.com/ideas.html Thanks for reference.