huckelberry wrote: ↑Thu Jan 28, 2021 10:33 pm
Lem wrote: ↑Thu Jan 28, 2021 6:58 pm
Fair warning, I am an atheist, so I am not speaking of a god being outside time, but regarding the general concept, have you read Ted Chiang's short story, "Story of Your Life" ? The 2016 movie
Arrival was based on this work. Chiang's writing is so poignant and thoughtful, and yet, his works definitely qualify as hard science fiction. His thoughts on this are fascinating, and I thought the movie captured his position really well. To me, still in the realm of fiction, but fascinating to contemplate.
Lem, I have not read the story. Curiosity caused me to review Wikapedia for some clue. I find my mid stuck in the rut that says where light lands is determined by the fastest route. Or perhaps cause and effect are linked in a fashion where no space expist between the two. I do not see a path for seeing a determined future or preventing humans from making different decisions with more knowledge of outcomes than they would with less.
I apologize, huckelberry, I should have been more clear in my point.
"Story of Your Life" is a science fiction novella by American writer Ted Chiang, first published in Starlight 2 in 1998.... Its major themes are language and determinism.
And a bit from the plot of the movie based on the book makes the point I was considering:
....Louise realizes that instead of experiencing events sequentially (causality), heptapods experience all events at once (teleology). This is reflected in their language, and explains why Fermat's principle came naturally to them.
Soon, Louise becomes quite proficient at Heptapod B, and finds that when writing in it, trains of thought are directionless, and premises and conclusions interchangeable. She finds herself starting to think in Heptapod B and begins to see time as heptapods do. Louise sees glimpses of her future and of a daughter she does not yet have. This raises questions about the nature of free will: knowledge of the future would imply no free will, because knowing the future means it cannot be changed. But Louise asks herself, "What if the experience of knowing the future changed a person? What if it evoked a sense of urgency, a sense of obligation to act precisely as she knew she would?"[8]
I just found Ted Chiang's thought experiment interesting in terms of one seeing all parts of time overall, not just sequentially, and the impact that might have on a person. Interestingly, it ultimately meant living exactly the same as one would without the knowledge, driven ultimately by one's innate character, rather than an expectation.
This particular author writes very well and has some pretty fascinating stories. His latest book of short stories, "Exhalation," made the 2019 NYTimes top ten best fiction and nonfiction book list, from the NYT book review:
Many of the nine deeply beautiful stories in this collection explore the material consequences of time travel. Reading them feels like sitting at dinner with a friend who explains scientific theory to you without an ounce of condescension. Each thoughtful, elegantly crafted story poses a philosophical question; Chiang curates all nine into a conversation that comes full circle, after having traversed remarkable terrain.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... LatJGdfY8Q
