Fao Jim...have You Read This? ....and Of Course Anyone Who Cares To Have A Go!

[ToraToraTora]

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation
I have and I must admit to not really havig a clue what he's on about. I did stick with it because I know sometimes with these sorts of idea's the penny drops.
"Time is an illusion. Although the laws of physics create a powerful impression that time is flowing, in fact there are only timeless 'nows'. In THE END OF TIME, the British theoretical physicist Julian Barbour describes the coming revolution in our understanding of the world: a quantum theory of the universe that brings together Einstein's general theory of relativity, which denies the existence of a unique time, and quantum mechanics, which demands one. Barbour believes that only the most radical of ideas can resolve the conflict between these two theories: that there is, quite literally, no time at all. "

[jim360]

As you were preparing this I was typing in your original thread, and was just thinking about suggesting a separate topic.

Anyway, no I have not. Just to repeat the answer in your other thread, it sounds interesting (if perhaps a little sensationalist), and if I get a chance I might check it out.

Do you have a copy?

[ToraToraTora]

Yes I bought it, it was featured in my mensa mag a couple of years back they often feature books doing a page or 2 summary and I sometimes get intrigued enough to buy them to read the full text.

[Zacs-Master]

This is another concept which we have enormous difficulty getting our head around. Futurism is the theory but the 2nd law of thermodynamics has to be taken into consideration. Relativism is obviously well known about and never summed up better than in the Queen song '39....no, honelstly, give it a listen!
Then there's the issue of the strength of gravity and the Wheeler-DeWitt equation which says that time cannot move forward. Lanza and Podolsky say that dark matter has to be a factor too.

I think I need a pint.

https://youtu.be/ieXcPZC0MJk

[ToraToraTora]

yes ZM, the WDW equation "attempts" to combine QM and general Relativity but struggles to find anything solid on which to base that and simply finds "time" an anomaly. Perhaps Barbour consciously or not is trying to address that.

[woofgang]

What is intersting to me about the idea (no I haven't bought the book) is that he is by no means the first person to have suggested this. It crops up in other places too, including Christian Science.

[Old_Geezer]

Sounds instinctively right to me. Must get cheap used copy to put on the pile of books I must get around to reading sometime.

[Old_Geezer]

PS that Lap of the Gods, not '39 ;-)