- #1
Heidegger1
- 1
- 0
I came across this description of the block theory of time. From my understanding, it is completely wrong, but would like someone else to evaluate it.
"The block theory of time (we’ll call it) might be described like this. Suppose events are like villages or locations along a train track. You are on the train. Those villages you have passed through are past events. Whatever village or place you are passing through now is the present. The ones still ahead on the itinerary are future events. You already have knowledge of the places you have been and are. You are on the way to experiencing the places farther up the tracks. When you arrive there you will be able to say you are acquainted with them as well. You take it for granted that the places you are still to visit are as real as the ones you have visited. There will be—it is true now—something it is like to experience them. Fun or boring or so-so, whatever, you can’t say just yet, but there will be something it is like to be there when you get there. There not only will be—there is—a “there there.” There is some truth about these still to come things. You know that much now even before you arrive and are in a position to know the truth value. You take this for granted. The truth about the future is patiently waiting for you to experience it. If your experience of time is like you moving along these tracks, then there are true statements about the future existing now just like there are, for you on the train, villages and places existing now you are not acquainted with. One more thing: you can’t stop or get off the train."
"The block theory of time (we’ll call it) might be described like this. Suppose events are like villages or locations along a train track. You are on the train. Those villages you have passed through are past events. Whatever village or place you are passing through now is the present. The ones still ahead on the itinerary are future events. You already have knowledge of the places you have been and are. You are on the way to experiencing the places farther up the tracks. When you arrive there you will be able to say you are acquainted with them as well. You take it for granted that the places you are still to visit are as real as the ones you have visited. There will be—it is true now—something it is like to experience them. Fun or boring or so-so, whatever, you can’t say just yet, but there will be something it is like to be there when you get there. There not only will be—there is—a “there there.” There is some truth about these still to come things. You know that much now even before you arrive and are in a position to know the truth value. You take this for granted. The truth about the future is patiently waiting for you to experience it. If your experience of time is like you moving along these tracks, then there are true statements about the future existing now just like there are, for you on the train, villages and places existing now you are not acquainted with. One more thing: you can’t stop or get off the train."
