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bobc2
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Burton Feldman, in his book "112 Mercer Street" (Einstein's address during his tenure at Princeton) tells of a comment that Einstein made to a friend: "...when he felt old and his own work no longer meant much, he came to the Institute mostly for the privilege of walking home with Godel." Godel of course was a giant among mathematicians, but he turned his interests toward physics and philosophy in later life.
Wouldn't you have loved to have listened in on those conversations between Godel and Einstein. Perhaps some of those conversations played a role in the development of Godel's ideas about what came to be known as the "Block Universe." I've found reference to the "Block Universe" in Wikipedia articles and other places. But so far I've really not found much detail. The description would seem to be that of a 4-dimensional universe populated by 4-dimensional objects (I'm using object in the sense of Bertrand Russell's "The Problems of Philosophy."). However, I can't be sure that he does not have in mind idealistic 4-dimensional things, more in the sense of Berkely or Leibnitz.
Roger Penrose presents the example of two people walking past each other and then considering the two different Special Relativity 3-D worlds they each live in at the instant they pass each other. One individual's world extending out to the Andromeda Galaxy has the aliens in that galaxy pondering whether or not they should attack earth. The other individual's 3-D world extends out to the galaxy where locally the time is several days later, and the aliens have already launched their attack. This situation certainly implies that the bodies of the aliens along with their space ships, etc., are 4-dimensional objects--and very likely (in Penrose's view) in that same Bertrand Russel sense.
Putnam has argued very convincingly for the 4-dimensional universe populated by 4-dimensional objects ("Time and Physical Geometry." Journal of Philosophy, 64:240-7).
So, could any of you expand on the philosophy of Godel with regard to the interpretation of Special Relativity?
Also, could you make any observations about possible implications of his philosophy (relating to time and/or consciousness, for example)?
Wouldn't you have loved to have listened in on those conversations between Godel and Einstein. Perhaps some of those conversations played a role in the development of Godel's ideas about what came to be known as the "Block Universe." I've found reference to the "Block Universe" in Wikipedia articles and other places. But so far I've really not found much detail. The description would seem to be that of a 4-dimensional universe populated by 4-dimensional objects (I'm using object in the sense of Bertrand Russell's "The Problems of Philosophy."). However, I can't be sure that he does not have in mind idealistic 4-dimensional things, more in the sense of Berkely or Leibnitz.
Roger Penrose presents the example of two people walking past each other and then considering the two different Special Relativity 3-D worlds they each live in at the instant they pass each other. One individual's world extending out to the Andromeda Galaxy has the aliens in that galaxy pondering whether or not they should attack earth. The other individual's 3-D world extends out to the galaxy where locally the time is several days later, and the aliens have already launched their attack. This situation certainly implies that the bodies of the aliens along with their space ships, etc., are 4-dimensional objects--and very likely (in Penrose's view) in that same Bertrand Russel sense.
Putnam has argued very convincingly for the 4-dimensional universe populated by 4-dimensional objects ("Time and Physical Geometry." Journal of Philosophy, 64:240-7).
So, could any of you expand on the philosophy of Godel with regard to the interpretation of Special Relativity?
Also, could you make any observations about possible implications of his philosophy (relating to time and/or consciousness, for example)?