—but rather that past and possibly future are as real as now, they already exist, and do not stop existing, no more so than the left or right of a cube does when considering a middle segment of it.
And you know this … how?
In such a reality, where everything does happen all at once, as suggested by Tralfamadorian philosophy, there is no death, everything that ever lived still lives at some point therefore remains eternal. There is no right or wrong because every thing that can happen, has happened, continues to happen and nothing can be changed because future outcomes prevent such change. Therefore there can be no free will, therefore no ‘good nor evil’ and therefore no changed or parallel time lines.
There is only the One True Timeline, and there is no cube but an inverted Mobius strip based on established eigenvalues and given diagonal elements.
Such mind candy as time travel can only result in brain cavities.
Just relax, in the present, and enjoy the movie, now.
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Hi Guys:
I’m not a philosopher (except when drunk in a bar), but I wonder about a possible basic fallacy in these arguments about causes.
Just because the sum total of our existence may lead us to look for a “cause” for something that exists doesn’t mean that certian things may exist without having a cause.
To better clarify this point, let me make a comparison with certian mathematical ideas.
There is an idea called the “four color conjecture,” which states that–when drawing a map on a flat surface–that four colors are always sufficient to distinguish different polical entities from each other. In simpler terms, if you are a fleeing criminal who needs a map to navigate, then it’s important that countries that share a border should be different colors in order to avoid confusion when you must read the map in a hurry.
It turns out that a minimum of four colors are always sufficient to meet this requirement.
Yet . . . this property has yet to be proven mathematically (there are mathematicians who claim to have proven it using computer software, but there are reasons why mathematicians don’t accept this proof).
After explaining the basics of the 4 color conjecture, we get to my point about causes.
Computers have been used to–literally–create hundreds of millions of random maps in search of an exception for the four color conjecture, and have never found one.
Yet this doesn’t constitute a proof, as–for all we know–the billion-and-first map might be an exception because there are an infinite number of possible maps on a flat surface.
In discussing causes, our experience–even if it encompasses quadrillions of events–is literally nothing compared to the infinite number of possible events, so we don’t have any proof that all events must have a cause.
This is simply a conjecture, like the four color problem.
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Very interesting- thanks 
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The 4 color theorem was proved (more than once) by sorting the infinite number of possible maps that use 5 colors into a finite number of groups (with topology). Then showing that for each group, 4 colors would have been enough (this is part where the computer is often used). It is a proof by exhaustion.
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Came across this quote yesterday. I’m not able to make any claims.
I treat time the same way I treat free will. Both seem real to me,so I treat each as if it is real. Am I deluded?Quite possibly. Don’t care. Not a lot I can do about it unless say I want to become say a Zen monk or a Kundalini Yogi…
The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.
AND “quantum immortality” hehehehehe 
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@ Cranky Boomer
I agree with Albert more than the Tralfamadorians, but there’s little else we can actually do with time than to create those distinctions to make some sort of sense of it and then hypothesise about the nature of our quantum reality with things like time travel and parallel realities, which inspire us to create fanciful science fictions.
We can alter our perception of time like a monk, or like Dunbar in Catch 22 obsessed with the most boring things to help make the time of his hazardous life as a bomber pilot pass so slowly as to give him the appearance of living a longer life.
Back in reality, time feels distinctly real and uncontrollable to me and increasingly so the older I get. There’s nothing I can do to prevent the hair loss, the wrinkling of skin, the persistent decline of agility. I am not vain enough to chase hair replacement or facial treatments; I prefer to age gracefully with a declining regard for social niceties and etiquette.
The Tralfamadorian philosophy is mostly a fiction. Death is death. Time passes. Things fall apart. We have ‘free will’ to the extent that allows us to make choices but not necessarily to determine what choices we get to exercise our ‘free will’ on.
Good and evil are purely relative notions, but because the theists like to fuck with the word evil, I prefer to use the Smart concepts of “niceness and nastiness”. Tralfamdorian philosophy only got one thing right, the One True Time Line, the rest is pure imaginative, intriguing and entertaining speculation.
Long live all Kilgore Trouts, long may they help us to pass the time.
I wish: To age gracefully, one needs a solid foundation. Cary Grant aged gracefully. Robert Redford has not. Neither have I.
At 20 I could have eaten tupperware with impunity. Today just about any kind of baked goods gives me shocking heart burn.
My began falling out when I was about 30. Now I have plenty all around the sides ,but not on top.
The hardest thing is the slow erosion of independence. I live alone and can look after myself just fine. I hate housework so rarely do any, except for wet areas. My family yell at me if get on a ladder. Can’t do much in the garden any more,I potter. I pay a young bloke to do everything else.
Last year I traded in my Camry for a Mazda jelly bean. (Mazda 2 Neo) The Camry was just too big. Although I only do about 5000 km a year, I’ll be fucked without my car.
I’ll be happy to live say another decade as long as I can look after myself. Don’t really care what I look like,ever since I stopped dressing to impress about 20 years ago
I hope I die before having to go into one of God’s waiting rooms. (excuse the expression)
I just had “the chat” with my doctor as I have been making my “Advance Care Plan”.
For those who live in countries that do not have them the ACP is a document posted online with the Govt site or left with a designated decision maker that specifies your desired quality of life and the medical decisions/treatments that you wish/deny. It is a legally binding document.
Making one does require some considerable thought and my doctor raised a couple of points that did, indeed make me alter my original decisions, it does mean having detailed conversations with your designated decision makers, in my case wife and daughter.
The glib “I am not afraid of death” does not cut it when going through the detail. I shall append a form (if I can) or at least the link to the web pages.
In Australia the Emergency room staff or any doctor can access the document and ascertain your wishes for treatment. A good thing that has taken a world of worry from my shoulders and from my loved ones.
No ambiguity, they are very happy that they are fully aware of any decisions that I have made and what to do.
I am lucky for in Australia the quality of care is not dependant on the size of your share portfolio or thickness of your wallet. It allows this element of choice.
Heres the link to a sample plan.https://touchstonelifecare.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/AdvanceCareDirective_PaperVersion_v2.pdf
The doc did like the final comments on my form: viz: if in doubt DO NOTHING (and stop others doing it). Now, go buy yourself a drink and wish me well. I have had an interesting life,and, like when you know the pub is about to close and you have had had enough to drink,it is time to go with a as little pain and trouble as possible, I have had my fill.
Just off to have my plan notarised and then according to my State law, upload it it to the MyGov site…and I am done.
Gee, thanks for that mate… I have the form and just haven’t gotten around to filling it in. Didn’t know it can be done online. No JP needed?
It’s my intention to copy mum’s,which is excellent. When the time came, the attending doctor was very grateful ; no ambiguity.
Not in my State (WA) just need it notarised and witnessed, you will have to look up your State requirements online they vary from Magistrate to none!
Glad I could help mate.
My thanks too Old Man. You are quite the public service. Have an O.A.M.
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Kevin_LevitesAtheist
Causality is a function of our universe. There is no reason to assume it beyond Planck Time. Beyond that, not everything in our universe is causally linked. In the macro world, causality is fundamental: if one thing happens, it causes a result. … On a quantum level, cause-and-effect break down.
There is no reason to assume a creator for the universe. Absent a creator, there is no reason to assume “a universe from nothing,” as the theists like to argue, or “a self starting universe.” Each and every position (assertion) must be evidenced prior to even being a possibility.
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We can quite rambling on and on about this old, hackneyed K-rap.
Lawrence Krauss put it to rest with: A Universe from Nothing
The usual suspects are not affected…as they are math illiterate.
…their problem…
As it turns out, I’m also math illiterate.However,I still watched Laurence Krauss’ on “A universe from nothing”
Because I’m maths illiterate I probably missed the point and oversimplify . What I took away from Krauss is that a physicist’s notion of nothing is different from the philosophical notion of nothing.
Likewise… and to add - the “theist claim that their god did not need a creator” is the same principle applied to the quantum field. It “is”… though - whereas their imaginary friend “is not”.