Don't worry. I once got very high and had this exact same sensation, it was terrifying and nauseating. I was with a group of people and they were talking and laughing but it appeared to me in "squared" moments. Same with years before that, the first time I got high. Both times were terrible and isolating. However, once the weed wore off, I was alright. It also helped afterwards discussing the concepts with my friends.

But yes, block universe is a very frightening concept at first. What might be of (some related) interest however, is the frames per second...basically how many frames must be presented for us to see moving image. For humans its relatively low, 30-60 frames per second. For dogs though, its much higher (70) and for dragonflies, they can see 300. I know this isn't metaphysical in any sense, but its worthy of consideration when you're talking of reality as "moving frames". Idk, I found it interesting that other creatures see the world at a different "speed" so to speak than we do, makes it pretty clear that our perspective really is relative.

As for the multiverse, I think you have to think of it like if there are multiple universes out there, maybe life is better for me in some of those universes. Maybe, for example, in some of those universes, my dog is still alive. Or my grandma. Maybe some of the things I regret, didn't happen the same way in those "parallel" universes. This is a good thing. Things aren't necessarily "over" or "gone forever" once they pass in this universe. I'm a militant atheist so theres no afterlife bullshit for me, as far as I go, the "afterlife" is plausible other universes.

Lastly, I would suggest reading The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. He was a really stupendous author and philosopher, and he wrote about tackling depression in a world that we can never understand or derive objective meaning from. For Camus, suicide is the most important philosophical question. Why don't we all kill ourselves? He then goes onto explain that we don't have to kill ourselves, we can live in spite of not knowing, and in spite of not having meaning. This book personally became my "religion" so to speak, and has kept me going through horrible times, particularly when my grandmother died and I felt very isolated and confused in the world, it all felt really pointless if you're just going to die. I was also a year from planning a big move to a new country, so my life in the old country also began to feel really pointless.

I dont know if this helps you, but best of luck to you.

Thanks you for your comment. The Block Universe itself could be a bit disturbing, but it's awful when think in the multiverse... If there are infinite universes, in some of then versions of you could have a lot of suffering... I had never think this "versions" were you, they are like other people, but with the implications of the BU, why are they more different than your future you?

To my way of thinking, a person - any person - has got at some point to surrender the notion that his or her reality is the same as, or even consistent or compatible with, the reality of the world. One even has to work through what "reality" means. Thus reality may just be what is real for you. But what rescues the thing for me from absurdity or terror is recognition that "reality for" is a reality, for. It's your reality, and thus and thereby real-(for you). And while that can be the hallucinatory reality of the madman, it is also the reality of the sane in a not-altogether comprehensible world. So, breathe - you're OK and always (already) the best you can possibly be.

One book can dispel all these slightly weird views and give you a better sense of what's really happening: The Open Universe, by Karl Popper. Popper is a realist, he treats philosophical problems as a surgeon approaches a tumor: coldly, logically, with skills.

The reason why this depressed me is because most of people believe that there are infinite parallel universes with a lot of versions of "you", with variations, some of then could had won the lottery, but some could have a hard life... I had never paid so much attention to this because, well, they are just not "you", even if they are identical, they are other persons with different lifes, you experience different things... But with this idea of BU, are they more different than the versions of your past/future? Are there reasons for care about to your future "you" and not to the others? — Philosophuser

The Block Universe itself could be a bit disturbing, but it's awful when think in the multiverse... If there are infinite universes, in some of then versions of you could have a lot of suffering... I had never think this "versions" were you, they are like other people, but with the implications of the BU, why are they more different than your future you? — Philosophuser

Maybe this can help a little bit ...

You will get to experience your future “you”, so if you want your future “you” to be a pleasant experience try your best to make that happen.

The idea that there are infinite parallel universes is an idea, not necessarily the truth. Within that idea, the alternate “you” in the alternate universes presumably have made different choices than you have, so they are partly responsible for the life they experience over there. Maybe some of them did their best and they get a shit life, well that happens in this universe too. But there isn’t much you can do about alternate versions of you who have a shit life in parallel universes. However there are probably things you can do to make the life of people in this universe a little bit better. This can be your own life or that of the people around you, or both.

You can also think of the idea that maybe the other people in this universe are also alternate versions of “you” that you will get to experience at some point.

Bottom line is, there is stuff you can do in this universe, so do what you can here and don’t worry too much about parallel universes that may not exist and that you can’t do anything about.

You can also see suffering as something that is not entirely bad, there is some good in it. Suffering is sometimes necessary to understand some things, to grow in some way. So even if you or alternate versions of you suffer, it’s not necessarily bad for them down the road, even if it may appear so while the suffering is being endured.

If everything was easy, there would be something missing wouldn’t it? Aren’t the most beautiful stories the ones that contain hardships? But a story is judged as a whole from start to finish, you can’t just read a page that contains a lot of suffering and say oh this is depressing this is a bad book. Wait to read the whole thing, and then see how it all fits together. And maybe you will come to see that it couldn’t have been written any better.

You will get to experience your future “you”, so if you want your future “you” to be a pleasant experience try your best to make that happen. — leo

Yes, but, doesn't imply BU that you won't really experience your future because the future you will be another person, physically unrelated, just linked to you because of his memories? (I'm not sure about this).

And if you will experience your future, will you experience the future of your other versions? If there is no more relation between each of your versions (future or in another universe)... I guess the only difference is that the real "you" (this moment "you") could affect to your future "you", but not another versions...

You can also think of the idea that maybe the other people in this universe are also alternate versions of “you” that you will get to experience at some point. — leo

Yes, this is an interesting question I wonder sometimes, why you are experiencing this and not another things...

But I am hard depressed.

I am no expert on block universes, so my answer to you may not be of help at all. What I do have to say though is that I can empathise with the whole experience of reading some books and getting in a depressed state over it. It used to happen to me fairly frequently but I have got to the point where I can read a book and stand back and see it as just one point of view.

From what you have said about the block universe in your thread it sounds hypothetical and rather far fetched. Of course time is mysterious and there are a number of threads which are currently active at the moment.

The idea that you will not experience the future because you will be another person seems a bit nonsensical because we can say that we are the same person as in the past despite changes. Memory links past and present. I can remember my first day at school. In a sense it is just as true to say that I am that same person as to say that I am a different person.

But if I have not helped your thinking I certainly hope that I have not made you feel even more depressed. Really, what I am trying to say Is that I have got depressed about philosophy ideas (and religious ones) and have found later that I was building certain views way beyond proportion. Each book is only one person's perspective.

The idea that you will not experience the future because you will be another person seems a bit nonsensical because we can say that we are the same person as in the past despite changes. Memory links past and present. I can remember my first day at school. In a sense it is just as true to say that I am that same person as to say that I am a different person. — Jack Cummins

I'm confused with this all stuff... The concern is that when somebody asked why you doesn't care what happens to a copy of you, I just thought "because it's not you, it's just another person with the same memories, you won't experience the same". I guess the problem is that I always supposed a physical continuity of your body, but BU seems to deny it (at least as I understood it, maybe I'm wrong), and imply that the future you is like a copy... It's a bit hard to explain.

Does this imply that the atoms of an object "now" are not the same that those of the one second ago? — Philosophuser

What does it mean for an atom "now" to be (or not be) the same as that of one second ago?

The notion we have of diachronic identity (something being the same thing over time) comes from our experiences of things persisting over time. Exploring the exact nature of time and such doesn't change the applicability of that notion.

It's like when general relativity changed the prevailing explanation of why things fall down, it didn't mean that things "don't really fall", just because "falling" is now equivalent to "following a straight line in curved spacetime". Thing still really fall, just like we always thought they did, we just understand better now what falling is all about.

Likewise, I'm still the same person I was when I started this post, whatever that turns out to mean. I'm obviously not qualitatively identical to the way I was back then, I've lost some skin old dead cells, maybe grown some new ones, etc. But also, my arm is different at the wrist than it is in the middle of the bicep, yet it's still "the same arm" across the space in between them, despite those differences in different places. Being different at different times is no different than being different in different places like that, according to eternalism.

I think your connection between eternalism and modal realism (multiverses) is insightful, and I'm glad that someone else besides me has caught on to that. I think that the space of possible worlds (the multiverse) is more fundamental than time, and time is just a direction through that space, from less-entropic worlds to more-entropic ones (and we perceive it in that direction because memory-formation, like all processes, necessarily increases universal entropy, so earlier memories are always of less-entropic worlds).

And yes, in the same sense that I am the same person as I was when I started this post, an alternate me who got interrupted by something unexpected and never finished this post is also the same person as the past self that we both have in common. But again, this is no different from how each of my separate fingers is each a continuation of the same arm (that's narrower at the wrist than at the bicep), even though the fingers are not themselves the same as each other.


As to depression about this, I don't really follow why it's depressing.

Is it just because eternalism seems to undermine free will? That's a big topic of its own, but my short response to that is that it really doesn't undermine free will, and I'm happy to elaborate on why not if you like.

Or is it because you're worried about how when you narrowly avoided something awful, there's probably also some alternate version of you (or lots more alternate versions of you) who didn't narrowly avoid it, a bunch of yous who died in car accidents when you almost didn't react to that crazy driver in time, etc?

I admit that is something that has troubled me before too, but in the end I find peace in the fact that in this multiverse view, everything that could possibly happen does happen and was always going to happen, and there isn't anything you could possibly do to make things that are possible in the abstract not possible anymore, so there's no point to worrying about it. The best you can do is try to make it improbable that they will happen to you, which simultaneously has the effect of (because it's the exact same thing as) minimizing the number of universes in which those bad things happen.

Basically, the upshot of you existing across the multiverse is "don't do risky things with a high chance of causing catastrophes, because if you do there will be a bunch of versions of you who suffer those catastrophes". But that's really just a different way of phrasing "don't do risky things with a high chance of causing catastrophes, because if you do you're likely to suffer those catastrophes". And you (hopefully) already knew that, so thoughts about the multiverse shouldn't change anything.

Thanks for your long post!

As to depression about this, I don't really follow why it's depressing. — Pfhorrest

I guess I fear that even if you manage to make your future good, in this world until your death, at some point you could experience what happens to a a copy/version of you with less luck... I don't know... But you have reason in that you could do nothing for the other world... But at the same time I find it depressing, so bad things will happen anyway...

Ya I mean, when I think of multiverse I think of infinite universes with infinite possibilities for conception.

So if I do exist in Universe 1 and Universe 2 and Universe 3 and so on, I likely exist differently in each of those universes. So there is room for both suffering and great joy. If you see suffering as infinitely spread across the multiverse, then there is also requisite joy?

Some years back, I posted "Time and such" in the Metaphysics & Epistemology section.
Seems to me that the block-verse (or eternalism) is incomplete in some way.
Works great as a descriptive device, but maybe reification without further ado is unwarranted.
Presentism is kind of worse, though, so this stuff can keep philosophers busy. :)
Don't let it depress you.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/08/the-multiverse-as-imagination-killer/497417/

Don't live in a world of thought. It is far too small.

Thank all for your comment. Unfortunately, the idea of discontinuity of time made me fall into a nihilist hard depression and identity crisis.

I keep commenting this every time someone asks the forum for personal help through philosophy but: It hardly works. Doing philosophy is the worst way to get rid of philosophical angst. And philosophical angst is usually not produced by the philosophy itself but just general stressful life conditions. A book doesn’t have enough power to cause an existential crisis, that was already brewing on its own most likely, and the book was the last straw. My advice:

Try to forget about it, it is not the core of the issue. If you can’t THEN it may be worth considering. In which case you’re free to believe otherwise if you want to. Philosophical beliefs are not binding.

But at the same time I find it depressing, so bad things will happen anyway... — Philosophuser

General life pro tip: If you can’t change it worrying about it is just pointless self harm

I have read your last couple of posts and I am just wondering if it is just the book you have read which is the source of your nihilism identity crisis. Of course, I may be very wrong, so it is only a suggestion but I am thinking that the fear of bad things happening may be the underlying issue.

If it is a fear of bad things happening in the future I can empathise. I am inclined to worry about the future and dream up all sorts of scenarios I can imagine. Often, I find that what really happens is neither what I hope for exactly, or my worst feared possibilities, but something else entirely. Life is uncertain and it can sometimes be unnerving but, in a way, we can learn more about life and our true selves as we confront the unknown variables.

If what I am saying doesn't help please disregard it and read on to any other comments, because someone may have a better answer waiting for you, one which is able to relate more to the theory which has affected you so much.

Both ideas are rediculous. This is where my depression stems. People would rather think up unbelievable, unrealistic and scary realities than assume the few observations which led to them contradict their precious (incomplete) theories.

Thanks you. I'm reading that in Relativity and even in Quantum Mechanics the spacetime is considered as continuous and non discrete, so maybe I'm just misunderstanding all de concept...

Hello. I was reading about the ideas of Multiverse and Block Universe and I got depressed. — Philosophuser

You probably got depressed because you were trying to view the space-time universe from a hypothetical eternal-infinite God's perspective, outside of physical reality. There is no "here" there. So you may have burned-out a few looping brain circuits, like a computer dividing by zero.

For Mathematicians though, including Physics theorists, their equations work both ways, in the sense that there is no arrow of time. Equations for most physical processes work both ways, except Entropy. Although mathematical physics works just as well in reverse, real physics is a one-way street.

So, for the rest of us, we intuitively know or feel that time has a single direction : from Past to Future, and that Change is the result. So, unless you are a mathematician, or a science-fiction writer, time travel and parallel worlds are non-sense. When static Block Time is overlaid on the evolving planet Earth, all sorts of paradoxical eddys are stirred-up. Ironically, philosophical thinkers often enjoy getting stoned on paradoxes.

And that includes yours truly. I have a theory that resolves the time paradoxes. But unless you are a glutton for punishment, I don't recommend "going there". But, if you do enjoy self-flagellation, just try to visualize an 11 dimension universe for a warm-up. Mathematics is not common sense, it's logic without words, and without time. :cool:

"For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” ___Einstein
But, for most of us, it's a comfortable illusion.

"Cypher: You know, I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious". ___The Matrix1999.

But at the same time I find it depressing, so bad things will happen anyway... — Philosophuser

Bad things will happen ... good things will happen too. If more good things happen than bad things, or if the good things more than compensate for the bad ones, then why would it be so depressing that bad things will happen?

You don’t have total control over your life anyway. Some other beings make choices that have an influence over your life and that you can’t control. But there is a lot you can control. And you can control how what happens makes you feel.

If everything was under your control, there would never be any surprise. I don’t think you would like a life where you control everything. There would be something missing in that life. The uncertainty. The adventure. Without the suffering there would be no incentive to change or to learn or to evolve.

Find the good in the apparently bad things. There is always some good in them. There is much more good than you think, it’s there all around, and the more you see it the more beautiful life becomes in your eyes.