The Mists of Special Relativity: Time, Consciousness and a Deep Illusion in Physics

The standard interpretation of Special Relativity is that the theory implies a “space-time block” where the past, present and future are laid out in a vast, frozen structure. The “block’s” origins rest in Langevin’s 1911 announcement of the twin paradox, the validity of this paradox also invariably being included as part of this standard view. The view is ubiquitous, described repeatedly, and completely wrong. This book explores the fundamental contradictions in this interpretation as employed by physics, its problems for a theory of consciousness and perception, the extensions of the illness beneath it that are found in the General Theory, its origins in the classic metaphysic and the alternative temporal metaphysic of Bergson, and the deeper nature of time and simultaneity. This book, it should be noted for those who have read Time and Memory: A Primer on the Scientific Mysticism of Consciousness, is a modified version of a portion of this earlier work.