Illusion of Time: Is the Future Already Written?

[homeomorphic]

I might be misreading you here, but as far as I know, the time on your wristwatch is still dependent on your reference frame. That was the whole Hafele-Keating experiment. GPS satellites have to calibrate for time dilation to match up with time on the ground. According to this, the GPS system would crash in about 2 minutes or so without adjustment for relative time.

Definitely misreading. What I refer to as wristwatch time is simply the "length" of a geodesic in GR.

 

[harrylin]

Hi Terry you can read more related comments here:

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=595021
As well as around here:
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=575332&page=18

 

[yuiop]

According to her, the Aliens can see our future! They just can't tell us about it though, but it has been written!

Not only can they not tell us about our future, they cannot "see" it either. Any individual observer that is distant from an event,, never knows about an event before an observer local to the event, whatever their state of relative motion from the point of view of any reference frame. The Andromeda paradox and block time concept are just party tricks, with no practical application.

 

[GeorgeDishman]

The Andromeda paradox and block time concept are just party tricks, with no practical application.

The Andromeda Paradox emphasises that the hyperplane called "now" is just a coordinate-based labelling of events. "Future" and "past" are meaningful only insofar as they refer to an observer's light cones.

 

[Naty1]

Interesting to see that others are also frustrated with the description by Greene. When I first read the book, I read that section three times, could not figure out what he was trying to convey, and so moved on. Haven't tried again yet and don't plan on it.

The rest of the book I also have probably read about three times...but because the rest I found extemely insightful...Starting out, I got a lot of valuable perspective from both Farbic of the Cosmos and the Elegant Universe...

 

[shinnsohai]

If it does really like that, so is the concept of time traveling becoming possible ?
since we still on the same moment even in different position just the speed of light make us to having different point of view.

 

[gmax137]

...Imagine painting a picture - with no perspective, no angle of view. Obviously such a thing can't exist...

Really? Don't we call that 'sculpture'?