Can the Block Universe view be disproved?


It is always easy to say the block universe view is absurd, but we know perfectly well how science works - if there are arguments (especially if they are regarded as irrefutable by some), they are faced and addressed, not merely ignored and other arguments brought. The arguments proving the block universe view are Minkowski's own arguments in his famous lecture "Space and Time" (summarized on: http://www.minkowskiinstitute.org/MinkowskiProof.html). I am unaware of any serious attempt to disprove them; they are just ignored (including at the recent meeting on the nature of time at the Perimeter Institute).

It will be quite interesting if a billionaire, interested in science, sets a prize for refuting the block universe view by refuting Minkowski's arguments. It will be sufficient to refute only Minkowski's explanation of length contraction. You can get an idea of how "easy" that might be by considering its more visualized version (see p. 40 of http://spacetimecentre.org/vpetkov/TheUltimateJudge.pdf); the two figures below are from the article - both the theory and the experiment say that the contracted meter stick (Fig. 1) contains three colours, but this is only possibly if the meter stick exists EQUALLY at all moments of its history in time (Fig. 2), which proves the block universe view.



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