English

Time's Arrow and Simultaneity: A Critique of Rovelli's Views

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2022-11-28 v1 Statistical Mechanics History and Philosophy of Physics

Abstract

In the joint paper "Bridging the neuroscience and physics of time" Rovelli, as the physicist coauthor of neuroscientist Dean Buonomano, makes statements that rely on theoretical frameworks employed when the laws of thermodynamics and general relativity were discovered. Their reconsideration in the light of subsequent insights suggests growth of entropy is not the origin of time's arrow and that a notion of universal simultaneity may exist within general relativity. This paper is a slightly extended form of my invited contribution to the forthcoming Frontiers in Psychology special issue "Physical time within human time".

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2211.14179,
  title  = {Time's Arrow and Simultaneity: A Critique of Rovelli's Views},
  author = {Julian Barbour},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.14179},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

6 pages, 1 figure