The Reality of Time Flow: Local Becoming in Modern Physics

by Richard T.W. Arthur

It is commonly held that there is no place for the 'now’ in physics, and also that the passing of time is something subjective, having to do with the way reality is experienced but not with the way reality is. Indeed, the majority of modern theoretical physicists and philosophers of physics contend that the passing of time is incompatible with modern physical theory, and excluded in a fundamental description of physical reality. This book provides a forceful rebuttal of such claims. In successive chapters the author explains the historical precedents of the modern opposition to time flow, giving careful expositions of matters relevant to becoming in classical physics, the special and general theories of relativity, and quantum theory, without presupposing prior expertise in these subjects. Analysing the arguments of thinkers ranging from Aristotle, Russell, and Bergson to the proponents of quantum gravity, he contends that the passage of time, understood as a local becoming of events out of those in their past at varying rates, is not only compatible with the theories of modern physics, but implicit in them. 

299 pages, Hardcover

Published May 6, 2019

Reviews

[Yousef Saada · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of The Best Books I’ve read on the subject of time.

I enjoyed the book thoroughly.. I loved how the author began by mentioning the ancient philosophical stances regarding time and motion, and relating them to the current debate. One may be tempted to classify the author as an ‘intuitionist’ who defends the ‘common sensical’ beliefs in face of science but that wasn’t the case at all; Even though he did defend the objective time flow (a thesis that naïve presentists hold), he didn’t hold an absolutist stance on it (a-universe-at-an-instant). Instead, the objective time flow is local as the relativistic physics teaches. He also touched upon the quantum physics (and its ‘non-locality’ which may be seen as contradictory to the position he defends) and showed how it relates to his stance.

I rarely rate any book 5 stars, but this one deserves it. The reader may need some knowledge in philosophy and physics in order to understand this book, but the author himself devoted some sections to explain briefly some theories in physics.

[Jonathan Hockey · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some important insights in this book that get into quite technical philosophical areas at the heart of theories such as Einstein's relativity. One point of interest is that space-time diagrams give an impression of a static picture of reality, which in fact conceals a local dependence on becoming and ergo on a process vision of reality. This kind of approach of asserting the precedence of temporality over spatiality is something one can find hinted at also in the recent works of Lee Smolin. However, these kinds of insights go back a long way, Bergson and the presentation of Bergson by Capek have also emphasised this approach to relativity, yet Arthur underplays these precursors to his approach and instead tries to claim what he is suggesting is something very different, but I did not find the arguments in that regard very convincing. Perhaps, he wants to distance himself from thinkers such as these who are not respected in some scientific circles. Regardless, the arguments themselves did not for me show a proper appreciation of their positions, and instead caricatured them. The result is an unfortunate typical case of one inflating their own contribution without full appreciation of the heritage from which it springs.