Space and time and human imagination

[Rick16]

TL;DR

Are space and time artifacts of the imagination?

I came across a post in another thread, which has since been closed, where strangerep writes "Space and time are artifacts of our imagination". I don't want to discuss this here. I just want to ask where one could read more about this.

 

[PeterDonis]

I came across a post in another thread

Please provide a link.

 

[Rick16]

Please provide a link.

https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...teraction-between-mass-and-spacetime.1049104/

The quote is from post #17.

 

[PeterDonis]

The quote is from post #17.

All he means is that space and time are part of the model we use in relativity to make predictions. He refers to a quote from Einstein in his signature block, which you should be able to look up online to find its source.

 

[Rick16]

strangerep writes:

“Space and time are artifacts of our imagination (see the Einstein quote in my signature block below). They are useful concepts to construct mathematical models of physical (i.e., experimentally perceived) events. What's real are the correlations exhibited by (various configurations of) correlata, i.e., quantum fields, or, in a suitable limit, classical fields+particles.”

This sounds to me like something that I have heard about before, that space and time do not exist at the fundamental level, but are only apparent in the macroscopic world. Is this a topic of advanced quantum field theory, of string theory? Does it belong to the holographic universe model? Is it something that is accepted as a serious theory, or does it still belong to the realm of speculation? Would somebody have reading recommendations about it?

 

[PeroK]

strangerep writes:

“Space and time are artifacts of our imagination (see the Einstein quote in my signature block below). They are useful concepts to construct mathematical models of physical (i.e., experimentally perceived) events. What's real are the correlations exhibited by (various configurations of) correlata, i.e., quantum fields, or, in a suitable limit, classical fields+particles.”

The idea that space and time are mathematical artifacts, but quantum fields are not is ridiculous. A quantum field is, by definition, an abstract mathematical artifact. Even Hilbert Space is deeper down the mathematical rabbit hole than Euclidean or Lorentzian manifolds. Or, they are at least equally far down.

 

[PeterDonis]

This sounds to me like something that I have heard about before, that space and time do not exist at the fundamental level

No, that's not what he was saying. He was just saying that, as I said in post #4, space and time are part of a model we use to make predictions. He contrasted that with actual events that we observe and measure, which are the things in reality that our models and their predictions are about.