It's a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff. — Banno
That has nothing to do with the role our identity plays, though. It belongs to us, regardless of a block universe. — neonspectraltoast
I understand that the universe is finite, but that the process which encapsulates it is eternal. When regressed to a point prior to the creation of space, I'm not so sure that there is not still movement within this primordial thing, i.e. time within the primordial as opposed to macrocosmic time which is the time that is observed external to us as change.
Maybe this is similar to this other dimension, or potentiality you are referring. — CorneliusCoburn
I will be honest, I am tempted by a purely instrumentalist view of scientific theory. When conservation principles and their "parents" like the Noether theorem and the principle of least action start being taken as descriptions of reality and not just tools to model it and predict its evolution, questions like "what are these possible paths that Langragians integrate over?" seem to make sense, but then language goes on holiday and suddently I end up very, very confused.Perhaps quantum fields are another book keeping trick.
I never made a choice that imbued me with an identity. — neonspectraltoast
I'm still trying to think about the idea of explanations of explanations, but am not getting very far. — jkg20
Wittgenstein had a nice example, I cannot remember where it is, perhaps the Philosophical Investigations, perhaps elsewhere. Imagine a leaf falling from a tall tree, gently tacking from side to side. Now personify that leaf as saying to itself "Now I'll go this way, now I'll go that way, now I'll go this way, now I'll go that way....". Our lives are of course more complicated than a leaf's, but does that make the situation regarding our choices any different from the leaf's?. — jkg20
I don't understand people who think their identity is in flux. I am entwined with 7 year-old me as much as I am 39 year-old me. The identity that controls who I am becoming hasn't changed.
The future may be predetermined, but it is that way partially due to choices I am making.
Yes, I already allowed for our lives being more complex than a leaf's. Perhaps I am misinterpreting Wittgenstein, but I presumed his example is there to focus our thoughts on whether the following kind of statement expresses anything more than a commonplace:
The future may be predetermined, but it is that way partially due to choices I am making. — jkg20
Thus begins somewhat of an inquiry as to what exactly is meant by nothingness, and the nature thereof. — CorneliusCoburn
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