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Neither Presentism nor Eternalism

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arxiv 1910.02474 v2 pith:YVFHG5AO submitted 2019-10-06 physics.hist-ph gr-qc

Carlo Rovelli This is my paper · ORCID
classification physics.hist-phgr-qc
keywords becomingrealityeternalismoptionspresentismrealapproximationsargue
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Is reality three-dimensional and becoming real (Presentism), or is reality four-dimensional and becoming illusory (Eternalism)? Both options raise difficulties. I argue that we do not need to be trapped by this dilemma. There is a third possibility: reality has a more complex temporal structure than either of these two naive options. Fundamental becoming is real, but local and unoriented. A notion of present is well defined, but only locally and in the context of approximations.

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  1. Multidimensional arrow of time

    gr-qc 2026-01 reject novelty 4.0 of 10

    The direction of time is claimed to be fixed by the exponentially growing entropy of expanding extra dimensions, which dominates every other entropy source in the universe.

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