The present volume of Time and Science series is devoted to Physical Sciences and Cosmology. Today more than ever, the question 'is Time an ontological property, a necessary ingredient for the physical description of the world, or a purely epistemological element, relative to our situation in the world?' worry physicists and cosmologists alike. For many of them, Relativity (and particularly General Relativity), as well as its reconciliation with quantum mechanics in the elaboration of a quantum theory of gravitation, points to a negative answer to the first alternative, and leads them to deny the objective reality of time. For others, the answer is nuanced by the evidence of an emerging temporal property when one climbs the scales of the complexity of systems and/or the applicability of the statistical laws of thermodynamics. But for some, the illusion of the unreality of time comes from certain confusions that they denounce, and plead for the re-establishment of time at the heart of physical theories.
Prominent scientists and philosophers of science address contemporary debates on the nature of Time. Their contributions freely discuss its unity and reality, its compatibility with the orders of classical philosophy (present, past and future) and with the disputed idea of free will (Volume 1). They also present a detailed and updated state of the role of Time in the so-called exact sciences: biology — or more precisely genetics, evolution, neurosciences, natural and artificial intelligence (Volume 2) , and physics — relativity, quantum mechanics and quantum gravity, and cosmology (Volume 3).
Life and Time are very closely linked, because life needs the patience of eons to emerge and evolve, and also due to the precision timing of neural networks in the perception of the world, encoding information, and performing actions. A dozen renowned biologists and neuroscientists collaborate in this volume to explore the various facets of timing in the living world. The temporal programming of the activity of the genetic code controls the essential mechanisms of individual development from zygote to adult, while evolution uses the succession of generations to accomplish its work. For its part, the brain accomplishes the miracle of justifying presentism and reconstructing the continuity of present time from the fragmented data accessible to the senses, as well as measuring durations and dating events. To this end, the brain uses a multilevel temporal coding to transport and decode sensory information and prepare motor responses. It is only gradually that we have discovered the temporal precision of the mechanisms involved, of the order of a few milliseconds or less, for the adjustment of neural networks, or the synaptic plasticity used for memory formation. Today, the perfection of natural neural networks, the energy saving use of spikes of electrical impulses to categorize the sensory environment and to guess its probable future is an example to the modelers and engineers of artificial intelligence.
In this volume, 12 eminent scientists and philosophers engage in fundamental, perennial questions about time: Does time exist? Is 'time' a single or multiple entity? Is it possible to reconcile contradictory notions of time, such as subjective and objective, metaphysics and physics, McTaggart's A series and B series, or presentism and eternalism? Does the Special Theory of Relativity dictate a static, deterministic account of reality ('block universe') or does it allow for 'free will'? How did the concept of geologic time originate and what are the limits of its knowledge? How is the Anthropocene defined? Each author examines these questions from the point of view of their own specialties, but without ignoring the metaphysical importance of the issue, nor the possibility that scientific advances might enforce revisions of our brain intuitive judgments.
"Physics leaves big questions unanswered. For example, why does time seem to move only from the past toward the future? In fact, there is no good definition of past, present, and future. Experiments show there is no universal "flowing river of time." Is time "the fourth dimension?" Is there a "place" we can visit called "the past?" Is there no unifying theory to join the theories of quantum mechanics and relativity? The nature of time is critical in answering these questions. Physics is not wrong - simply incomplete. More facts have been learned about our universe in the last thirty years than have been learned in all of previous history. Mostly what has been learned is how little we actually know. The nature of time is a good example. This book describes experiments that have proved that gravity, velocity, and acceleration slow time. Analysis shows that (1) perception of distance and time depends on relative velocity, (2) time can slow and stop, (3) time gets really strange near black holes, (4) photons traveling toward each other at the speed of light see the other moving only at the speed of light, due to time effects; and there are other strange effects. The truth is that most time experiment results have no real explanation. In physics there is no good definition for time and no logic foundation for a definition of time - until this book. Enter the new science and technology of time. Here the relatively new sciences of computer technology and communication theory have an important contribution to make. At the heart of the science we find the computer logic of state machines and the physical structure of information as a physical entity. In this world, "state change" is the pivot around which the world turns. We learn that logic is essential for understanding how time works. We discover how state change is essential for the very existence of time! Logic symbols provide a framework for thought about time. We even find a basis for some of the definitions physics has been searching for. We find an information-based state- transition-based definition of time. There is a way to define past, present, and future. In this book we find very compelling motivation for some interesting conclusions. For example, time is essentially the result of state transitions. If nothing happens, there is no evidence of time passing. We find that energy exchange motivates time. There is no experience of time without sequence of events. Could the new science and technology of time be the next leap forward in physics? Many current science writers seem to think so"--
This book explores the idea of time travel from the first account in English literature to the latest theories of physicists such as Kip Thorne and Igor Novikov. This very readable work covers a variety of topics including: the history of time travel in fiction; the fundamental scientific concepts of time, spacetime, and the fourth dimension; the speculations of Einstein, Richard Feynman, Kurt Goedel, and others; time travel paradoxes, and much more.
Consisting of separate cases organized by chapter and divided into independent sections, this is no ordinary history of science book. Between the Earth and the Heavens is an episodic history of modern physical sciences covering the chronological development of physics, chemistry and astronomy since about 1860. Integrating historical authenticity and modern scientific knowledge, the cases within deal with the often surprising connections between science done in the laboratory (physics, chemistry) and science based on observation (astronomy, cosmology).Between the Earth and the Heavens presupposes an interest in and a certain knowledge of the physical sciences, but it is written for non-specialists and includes only a limited number of equations which are all clearly explained in simple terms. For readers who wish to delve further, the book is fully documented and ends with a bibliography of cited quotations and other relevant sources.
In Christianity and Modern Physics, author Dr. Paul A. Sauer demonstrates the incompatibility of the orthodox Christian doctrine of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God with the relativistic theories of Albert Einstein and with the “orthodox” quantum mechanical theories of the Copenhagen school. Thus, Christian thinkers who seek to explore alternatives to the relativistic secular Big Bang Theory in cosmology need to develop non-relativistic approaches to the topic. This book demonstrates the implicitly atheistic foundations of the relativity theories and those of the Copenhagen school of quantum mechanics, tracing the progressively corrosive influence of positivistic philosophy upon physics from Mach through Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg and their followers.
