The Nature of Spacetime and Free Will

Vesselin Petkov (Science College, Liberal Arts College, and Department of Philosophy, Concordia University)

Abstract

The analysis of the consequences of the theory of relativity clearly shows that reality is a four-dimensional world represented by Minkowski spacetime (or other relativistic spacetimes when gravity is taken into account). There could be hardly anything more counter-intuitive than the four-dimensional Minkowski world since it is a 'frozen' world in which the whole history of every physical body is entirely given as the body's worldtube. The view of such a free-will-free world, imposed by science, in which nothing happens constitutes, I think, the greatest intellectual challenge that humankind has ever faced. The reason is that the four-dimensional representation of the theory of relativity is not just a possible interpretation as most physicists appear to believe; it is the only one that does not contradict the experimental evidence. I will specifically show that the kinematical relativistic effects and more importantly the experiments which confirm them are manifestations of the four-dimensionality of the world, as Minkowski advocated, and for this reason they would be impossible if reality were a three-dimensional world (where free will can exist). Hermann Weyl's conjecture, that it is our consciousness that creates the illusion of the passage of time and of free will, and its implications will be discussed in depth.

Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Time: 4:00 PM
Place: Concordia University, Loyola Campus, Science Pavilion (Building SP), 7141 Sherbrooke Street West, 3rd Floor
Room: SP 365.01
Contact: 514-848-2424 ext 2595

Note: There are regular shuttle buses traveling between Sir George Williams Campus (1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W.) and Loyola Campus; see Shuttle bus schedule.


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