The view from no-when [Book Review]
British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 49 (1):135 - 159 (1998)
Abstract |
In Philip K. Dick’s Counter-Clock World the direction of time flips in 1986, putting the Earth into what its inhabitants call the ‘Hogarth Phase’. Named after the scientist who predicted that ‘time’s arrow' would change direction, the Hogarth Phase is a period in which entropy decreases instead of increases. During this time the dead call from their graves to be excavated, people clean their lungs by ‘smoking’ stubs that grow into mature cigarettes, coffee separates from cream, and so on. Although such reversals may be familiar from works of fiction, we are utterly unfamiliar with them in experience. The processes of nature behave in a temporally asymmetric manner. Once the cream mixes with the coffee, it stays that way, never to return to its original separated state. Neither cigarettes nor people ever fully reconstitute themselves. This kind of asymmetric behaviour is ubiquitous in thermodynamic, radiative, and quantum mechanical phenomena. But we also find our common-sense impression ofthe world painted with temporally asymmetric concepts. Time feels like it is ‘f|owing’ forward and causation appears to be an asymmetric relation. These phenomena and impressions stand in sharp contrast with the world as perceived through eyes tutored by modem science. Spacetime, rather than..
|
Keywords | Time Temporal Asymmetry Causation Quantum Mechanics |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1093/bjps/49.1.135 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
Time’s Arrow and Archimedes’ Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time.Huw Price - 1996 - Oup Usa.
Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time.Huw Price - 1998 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 49 (1):135-159.
The Transactional Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.John G. Cramer - 1986 - Reviews of Modern Physics 58 (3):647-687.
View all 14 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Measures, Explanations and the Past: Should ‘Special’ Initial Conditions Be Explained?Craig Callender - 2004 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 55 (2):195-217.
Sensorama: A Phenomenalist Analysis of Spacetime and Its Contents.Michael Pelczar - 2015 - Oxford University Press.
Boltzmann’s Time Bomb.Huw Price - 2002 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 53 (1):83-119.
View all 11 citations / Add more citations
Similar books and articles
XII: Is Time 'Handed' in a Quantum World?Craig Callender - 2000 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 100 (3):247–269.
Time's Arrow and Irreversibility in Time‐Asymmetric Quantum Mechanics.Mario Castagnino, Manuel Gadella & Olimpia Lombardi - 2005 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 19 (3):223 – 243.
Boltzmann’s Time Bomb.Huw Price - 2002 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 53 (1):83-119.
Enantiomorphy and Time.Jan-Willem Romeijn - 2005 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 19 (2):167 – 190.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2009-01-28
Total views
174 ( #66,243 of 2,497,778 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
1 ( #428,370 of 2,497,778 )
2009-01-28
Total views
174 ( #66,243 of 2,497,778 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
1 ( #428,370 of 2,497,778 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads