Reconciling the Asymmetry with Contemporary Physics

Abstract

AbstractAs has previously been argued, the growing block theory of time (GBT), since it is essentially asymmetrical (necessarily sometimes the structure it describes is not reflection invariant), while it accepts Temporal Becoming (new things are created in the present), is better positioned than the traditional models of the temporal structure of the world (eternalism and presentism) to accommodate our intuition that the future is open and the past fixed. However, GBT (like any other A-theory of time) is often criticized for conflicting with some important results of contemporary physics (e.g., by requiring an absolute notion of objective simultaneity). In this chapter, I argue that GBT, far from being disqualified by contemporary physics, might be underpinned by some recent approaches to quantum gravity, especially CST.