Zoinks! that'll teach me not to comment before reading the article. Thanks for the heads up! It's interesting how, in the OP, Barbour doesn't use much of the l

Zoinks! that'll teach me not to comment before reading the article. Thanks for the heads up! It's interesting how, in the OP, Barbour doesn't use much of the language he leaned on for "The End of Time' [1999, the source of the ideas I was referring to]. Maybe couching his ideas in more normal language is helping him reach a wider audience, which is great. Side note : I once emailed Barbour with some question about his view of Machian dynamics, and he emailed me back a thoughtful and kind reply - helluva nice guy p.s. his "other" book, 'The Discovery of Dynamics' aka 'Absolute or Relative Motion?,' is also a great read