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Jerry's past and future ('Jerry thinking' and 'Jerry walks through the front door') co-exist when the car is at the square flag. You (in the car) think that only the events of your world exist. On the other hand Jerry thinks that only the events of his world exist. But all that is only an illusion. Both worlds coexist. This means that for Jerry the apparent distinction between his present and future is only an illusion produced by his consciousness. What's the meaning of Jerry's free will if his future already exists? I answer with a few Einstein quotes: << If the moon, in the act of completing its eternal way around the earth, were gifted with self-consciousness, it would feel thoroughly convinced that it was travelling its way of its own accord. So would a Being, endowed with higher insight and more perfect intelligence, watching man and his doings, smile about man’s illusion that he was acting according to his own free will.>> From a piece written as a homage to the Indian mystical poet Rabindranath Tagore. << I do not believe in free will. Schopenhauer's words: 'Man can do what he wants, but he cannot will what he wills,' accompany me in all situations throughout my life and reconcile me with the actions of others, even if they are rather painful to me. This awareness of the lack of free will keeps me from taking myself and my fellow men too seriously as acting and deciding individuals, and from losing my temper.>> From "My Credo". << Human beings, in their thinking, feeling and acting are not free agents but are as causally bound as the stars in their motion.>> From his address to the Spinoza Society in 1932. |
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=> Go to ....
- Introduction
- Relativity for Dummies
- 4D Spacetime Block Universe
- Reciprocal time dilation
- Reciprocal length contraction
- Lengths do not 'appear' contracted!
- Measuring the contracted train
- Constant light speed
- Where is the bullet?
- Train experiment
- Slower and shorter - case study
- Minkowski vs Loedel
- Spacetime video
- Further reading