Recent content by oxbaker

Thanks! That seems to be addressing what I was actually trying to ask. That's what wasn't clear to me from what I've read. I couldn't tell if they were saying all events actually exist across some whole 4 dimensional spacetime block or if past events only exist in the sense that they are in some...

Ok, I'll try summarize how this went from my point of view and maybe you'll see where I'm coming from because I do think you were trying to be helpful but it resulted in some kind of disconnect with my original question. 1) I tried to ask a question about whether someone who understood the math...

No worries. I only semi got the joke in the first place so I wasn't offended ;). But the answers I'm getting here seem to have gotten off track enough that I don't think they are addressing my original question anymore anyway. I'm sure it has to do with me not phrasing the question right or...

I'm starting to feel like that girl on the big bang theory when they are messing with her. I don't know if I'm the farmer or the flatlander in this scenario. I honestly don't mean to sound upset but I'm just trying to follow what the possible existence of this device has to do with my question...

Ok, if you are really being serious then I apologies for my remark but I'm still not following your reasoning in that case. Why would the answer to my question be "no" rather than "we can't prove anything one way or the other". How can us not currently having a means of experimentally testing a...

Ok, now I'm starting to think you are just messing with a new poster. You're saying because I, a self proclaimed layman, can't come up with a scientific experiment that follows known laws of nature that could detect events in the past at a given location, that proves that past events of an...

Sorry, thought you asked for a "hypothetical" experiment, as in "supposed but not necessarily real or true".

I'll take your word for it that that is a better rephrasing. I accept my current limits to describe or understand these types of issues but look forward to reading any of the responses to it.

But does the actual mathematical theories that describe what space-time is address in any way whether a coordinate in the past should still exist in some real way in that at space-time block so that it can be detected in a real sense from the same location at a future date? So if something...

Perfect. I think that's what I wanted to clarify. The apple may have existed in the past at that location in some philosophical sense but in terms of the math that describes what block space-time actually is and how it actually works, it cannot currently address if that past event should still...

LOL, That's a result of my layman's limited understanding of the scientific method. Ok. I'll give it another shot trying to use your framework. We set up a hypothetical device that detects a past event in space time that occurred at the same location as the device but happened at a previous...

I appreciate the response. In terms of an hypothetical experiment, is space-time an actual block in the sense that if I put an apple on the table and then tomorrow I move through the block of space time to the point where I put the apple down, does that event still exist for me to be able to go...

This is a tough question to phrase but I haven’t been able to find an answer yet, although I’m sure one exists. I’ll try expand what it is I’m asking. I’m no physicist but I think I have a general understanding of what they are saying when they describe a block space-time universe where the past...