Barbour is proposing something quite different from the block universe. I’m not sure if Eliezer is missing the point, or just not carrying it across. Barbour is speculating that if we solve the Wheeler-DeWitt equation, we’ll get a single probability distribution over the configuration space of the universe, and all of our experiences can be explained using this distribution alone. Specifically, we don’t need a probability distribution for each instant of time, like in standard QM.
I think Eliezer’s picture with the happy faces is rather misleading, if it’s suppose to represent Barbour’s idea. I’d fix it by getting rid of the arrows, jumble the faces all around so that there is no intrinsic time-like ordering between them, and then attach a probability to each face that together add up to less than 1.
Steve, thanks for the paper link. Parity violation clearly represents a big problem to relational physics, and I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed. :)
Barbour is proposing something quite different from the block universe. I’m not sure if Eliezer is missing the point, or just not carrying it across. Barbour is speculating that if we solve the Wheeler-DeWitt equation, we’ll get a single probability distribution over the configuration space of the universe, and all of our experiences can be explained using this distribution alone. Specifically, we don’t need a probability distribution for each instant of time, like in standard QM.
I think Eliezer’s picture with the happy faces is rather misleading, if it’s suppose to represent Barbour’s idea. I’d fix it by getting rid of the arrows, jumble the faces all around so that there is no intrinsic time-like ordering between them, and then attach a probability to each face that together add up to less than 1.
Steve, thanks for the paper link. Parity violation clearly represents a big problem to relational physics, and I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed. :)