tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post2139702201614406723..comments2024-03-27T20:37:09.185-05:00Comments on Alexander Pruss's Blog: Cessation of existence and theories of persistenceAlexander R Prusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-3187068504183026962016-11-04T08:47:04.439-05:002016-11-04T08:47:04.439-05:00I agree completely. But, is temporary cessation ev...I agree completely. But, is temporary cessation even possible? Even on a 4D view, wouldn't that mean that there are two separate 4D objects with a gap between them?Michael Gonzalezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05279261871735286117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-81590210826218799792016-11-03T14:51:15.421-05:002016-11-03T14:51:15.421-05:00In any case, it's clear that temporary cessati...In any case, it's clear that temporary cessation is much less bad than permanent cessation. And that's enough to generate the problem in the post.<br /><br />If you're kidnapped by a mad metaphysician who tells you that he's got a machine that will make you cease to exist for a minute, you won't worry much about the minute-long cessation of existence. You'll worry whether it'll hurt, whether you'll come back into existence, etc.Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-76602076997135102362016-11-03T12:27:58.280-05:002016-11-03T12:27:58.280-05:00I would argue that 3D-OF-ists do not think "t...I would argue that 3D-OF-ists do not think "time travel" is a meaningful phrase; even if at one second per second. What is happening is not travel; it is a dynamic morphing of reality.<br /><br />If you add that pair of steps, it just further reinforces why future time travel is absurd on the 3D+OF view. We already have lots of reasons to think that; this would just be one more.<br /><br />The "external stuff" isn't necessarily a problem for 3D+OF, since we find such statements prima facie meaningless. What does it mean to say that, at this moment, I am worse off publishing my book because it "will be" ignored? And what if it is ignored... for 1,000 years, but is then discovered by scholars and revealed to be the greatest literary gem of our time... and then is forgotten again a million years after that because humanity is post-literate.... I mean, the vicissitudes of the possible futures really don't have any bearing on the value of my book at this moment, do they?Michael Gonzalezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05279261871735286117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-71953339185626613952016-11-03T10:35:32.867-05:002016-11-03T10:35:32.867-05:00Michael:
Actually, all A-theorists think futurewa...Michael:<br /><br />Actually, all A-theorists think futureward time travel is possible, at 1 second per second. :-) The question is whether instant time travel is possible.<br /><br />If not, the argument just needs an extra pair of steps:<br /><br />1. If per impossibile time travel were possible, there would be no harm in futureward time travel.<br />2. If there would be no harm in futureward time travel, there would be no harm in a temporary cessation of existence.<br /><br />Good catch that the external stuff is problematic for 3D+OF. That's another problem for 3D+OF. Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-73154794200721709562016-11-03T08:04:12.523-05:002016-11-03T08:04:12.523-05:00I'm not even sure what that statement means, s...I'm not even sure what that statement means, so I don't see how it's a precedent. Even if it were a true rule... to the best of my ability to understand it, it would just forbid us from calling a person happy until after they are dead. That doesn't mean that their happiness at any give moment, or even overall, was predicated on some later moment. It just means we should withhold judgment until their death.Michael Gonzalezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05279261871735286117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-82936338808740667562016-11-02T16:11:41.999-05:002016-11-02T16:11:41.999-05:00Aristotle says you can only really tell if someone...Aristotle says you can only really tell if someone was happy once they are dead. That would seem to be an extrinsic kind of well-being, so there is at least precedent. Heath Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13535886546816778688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-28450017928855070032016-11-02T12:28:31.501-05:002016-11-02T12:28:31.501-05:00Even the differences in "external well-being&...Even the differences in "external well-being" are meaningless to a 3D/OP-ist, since there is no fact at all about whether your book will be read or the athlete will be surpassed.<br /><br />It seems that these puzzles for the 3D/OP-ist are constructed in 4D-ist terms.Michael Gonzalezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05279261871735286117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-53318073492028681872016-11-02T12:25:26.844-05:002016-11-02T12:25:26.844-05:00Doesn't the three-dimensionalist open-futurist...Doesn't the three-dimensionalist open-futurist necessarily believe that time travel is impossible? There is no future time to travel into. This scenario would go somewhere in the absurdly large pile of absurdities that are entailed by four-dimensionalism.<br /><br />Really, even if the 3D/OP-ist got knocked in the head hard enough to think that time travel to the future is possible, but you just cease existing until that later moment finally comes along, they would be faced with a situation that is 100% identical any other sort of cessation and return to existence (e.g. questions about the resurrection of the dead). It is actually meaningless to call that "time travel", since all it is is going out of being and then coming into being.Michael Gonzalezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05279261871735286117noreply@blogger.com