[Andemicael]
[Davies]
In the words of the physicist Hermann Weyl "the world does not
happen, it simply is." In this picture [i.e., of spacetime] things do
not change...
(Paul Davies, Other Worlds [New York: Simon & Schuster, 1980], 189)
[Andemicael]
I quoted Roger Penrose expressing a similar view:
[Penrose]
...I suggest that we may actually be going badly wrong when we
apply the usual physical rules for time when we consider consciousness!
There is, indeed, something very odd about the way that time actually enters
into our conscious perceptions in any case, and I think that it is possible that
a very different conception may be required when we try to place conscious
perceptions into a conventionally time-ordered framework. Consciousness is,
after all, the one phenomenon that we know of, according to which time needs to
'flow' at all! The way in which time is treated in modern physics is not
essentially different from the way in which space is treated* [see
below] and the 'time' of physical descriptions does not really 'flow' at all; we
just have a static-looking fixed 'space-time' in which the events of our
universe are laid out!...
[*This symmetry between time and space would be even more striking for a two dimensional space-time. The equations of two-dimensional space-time physics would be essentially symmetrical with respect to the interchange of space with time--yet nobody would take space to 'flow' in two-dimensional physics. It is hard to believe that what makes time 'actually flow' in our experiences of the physical world we know is merely the asymmetry between the number of space dimensions (3) and time dimensions (1) that our space-time happens to have.]
(Roger Penrose, The Emperor's New Mind [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989], 443-444)
[Cook]
Unfortunately as a mathematician, Penrose is hardly an authority on
other than mathematical models, which may not "flow", but are static. If
spacetime is a unified state of affairs then any change of state in space
requires that the space itself change, by definition, since space is defined
mathematically and physically by its states and by nothing else. Time always
changes only with respect to a spatial dimension. If there are three spatial
dimensions then there are also three time dimensions defining the space. The
mathematical model could be incorrect.
[Andemicael]
We disagree on a very important and fundamental point: I
claim that spacetime is static, and you hold that it is not. This is the source
of our differing views of reality.
I do not believe that a successful and convincing, dynamic model of spacetime has been developed. It seems, however, that you are advancing your views of reality based on the assumption that such a model does, in fact, exist.
***
[Andemicael, previously]
The physical structures of brain and body are
part of spacetime. And like all of physical reality, these structures exist in a
static block-like fashion. Spacetime, which includes matter/energy within it,
exists in its totality--in an "all-at-once" fashion. By definition,
geometric time cannot, and does not flow.
[Cook]
The fact of the matter is that our conscious experience tells us
that events do follow one another...
[Andemicael]
Yes. I believe, however, that it is the mind's persisting
mental states perceiving/observing successive points of a static spacetime which
give the impression of an unfolding universe.
The source of temporal passage in this scenario is not spacetime itself but, rather, the non-physical, persisting mental state--i.e., the persisting present. (I've presented an argument which justifies this view in a brief article entitled "Existence As Process": http://home.att.net/~Andemicael/intro.html)
***
[Andemicael, previously]
.... There can be no concrete reality outside the
subjective experiences of individual minds. ... the similarities in our
experiences of physical reality strongly suggest that an objective,
potential reality exists. The concrete, observed, phenomenal reality of
conscious experience, however, must necessarily remain entirely subjective.
[Cook]
Our subjective experience requires the supposition of a physical
reality which is its source. How would you describe the source(s) of our
experience? Can you walk in front of a car without being hit? Can you walk off
the edge of a cliff, through walls? -- without considering the possibility that
your experience may inform you of something other than your experience?
[Andemicael]
Physical entities exist within the present (i.e., within
conscious experience). By definition, such entities are not disjunct
from or external to experience.
That which exists concretely always exists within some context. (It is impossible to conceive of an entity as "existing concretely" without some sense of a context within which this entity exists.) This context, of course, is what we term a "present moment." ?And this present is "conscious experience."
Clearly, one can argue that it is "physical reality" which is dependent upon "experience"--and not the reverse.
***
[Andemicael, previously]
Finally, since conscious experience constitutes
"the present," we conclude that there must be as many presents as there are
minds. These individual presents, however, do not bear a temporal
relation to each other. If we try to coordinate these presents/minds with
each other temporally, we assume that they are embedded within some
"super-present"--i.e., within an objective present which encompasses
all individual minds. (Only such a present can enable such temporal
coordination). However, as already explained, an objective present
cannot exist, by definition.
[Andemicael, previously]
.... I stress that the conclusions drawn above
regarding subjective experience and physical reality are logically inevitable--
[Cook]
Possibly "logically inevitable" but factually inconsistent and
falsified by your own experience...
[Andemicael]
There can be no "factual inconsistencies" if reality is
considered strictly from the point of view of the individual mind, which, as
described above, is temporally independent of all other minds. Factual
inconsistencies or conflicts can arise between two experiences of reality only
if a temporal relationship exists between the two experiences. In order
to compare experiences in the mental life of any two consciousnesses, the two
must somehow co-exist within a common temporal context. It is, however,
logically impossible to define such a common context/present.
[Andemicael]
We seem to have rather different conceptions of "the
present," of "temporal passage" and of "spacetime." (It is not surprising that
our views of reality are so radically different.)
***
[Andemicael: Note to readers]
Readers interested in the subject of time and mind may wish to examine more detailed arguments
contributed by me to the quantum-mind archive.
(September-November, 1998:
http://listserv.arizona.edu/lsv/www/quantum-mind.html)
http://home.att.net/~Andemicael/intro.html
(I regret that due to my hectic travel schedule I will be unable to respond to email over the next few weeks.)
Adhanom Andemicael
--