Block Universe

The Universe is best represented as a multi-dimensional Block. Every possible value of every potential variable is encoded in that Block. Space and time are not native to this Block, nor is any other ordering principle. 

The concept of order simply doesn’t apply…yet; think Genesis 1: 2-3: “…The earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters.”   

What we call ‘the World’ is a cross section of that Block Universe, i.e. a ‘slice’ or a ‘surface’. Every cross-section (measurement) orders the variables in the Block. There are innumerable (perhaps infinitely many) such surfaces. 

Each slice is a matrix of variables. Each variable has a well-defined relation (not necessarily spatiotemporal) to every other variable on that surface. This ordering logos has been variously defined as causality, magic, logic, providence, et al. 

Not every possible combination of states constitutes a proper cross section. Determining the minimal requirements that a collection of states must meet to be a proper slice is the province of science. The laws of physics constitute some of those minimal conditions. 

Think of it like English. 26 letters but not every combination of letters makes a word. Same with the values of variables on a slice of the Block Universe.

According to Pierre-Simon Laplace (Classical Determinism), there exists one and only one proper cross section. Once any one variable takes on a defined value (position + momentum), all others take on defined values as well. Once a single variable assumes a specific value, it’s game over…one and done. Everything is hardwired to everything else, deterministically. (Laplace did not know about Heisenberg Uncertainty.)

To overcome Heisenberd, Hugh Everett (1957) put Laplace on steroids. If there are many possible universes (slices), why should only one be real? Why shouldn’t every possible universe be real? According to his Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics each unique state (each ‘valued variable’) births a novel World, i.e., a unique cross section of the Block.

Richard Feynman effectively modified Everett so that not every value of every variable is uniquely cosmogenic. Rather, all possible slices (value combinations) exist simultaneously but with graded relevance modeled on a probability function. While Everett’s universe is pathologically democratic (all values are created equal), Feynman’s is strictly hierarchical.    

In computer science, only two values are allowed: 0 and 1, sometimes represented as + or -; but the number of variables (bits) is enormous. According to Laplace, you may have a google of bits but you still have at most 2 possible Worlds (the World and, I suppose, its Anti-World). 

But according to Everett, ‘every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings’. Oops! Sorry, wrong story. I meant to say, “Every time a variable acquires a value, a new Cosmos is created.” Every data point, every bit, bifurcates the universe. 

With Feynman’s modification, there is only one World, but that world is the ‘sum of all histories’ i.e. the superposition of all possible worlds. Oddly, his ‘actual World’ is not the same as any of the slices. 

Even though neither Laplace nor Everett nor Feynman can be debunked mathematically, their models are not entirely satisfying. One is totally rigid and spare; another, wildly chaotic and extravagant; the third more virtual than real. None remotely resembles the World as we experience it. Our World is stable but not sclerotic, dynamic but not disordered, plastic but real.  

Fortunately, there is a model that accounts for order and novelty and does so economically:

A

+↙        ↘-

x                  x

+↙      ↘-    +↙     ↘-  

x                x               x

+↙      ↘-  +↙    ↘-    +↙    ↘-     

x                 x                 x               x

Assume, as above, that each variable has one, but only one, of two values (+ or -). Regardless of whether the value of Alpha is + or -, Beta may be either + or -. The Beta state is not conditioned by the Alpha state. Sounds like Many Worlds…but it isn’t. 

Assume also that the basic properties of arithmetic apply. Therefore, (+ , –) is equivalent to (– , +). Our first iteration leaves us with just two possible Worlds (Laplace); but our second iteration adds a third option (+, - or -. +). According to this model, as the Universe inflates, it creates additional space to accommodate novelty. Perhaps that is what inflation is, fundamentally.

Now this is a World you can live in! A world remarkably like our own in fact. And all you needed was Grade 3 arithmetic to generate it. The ‘Block Universe’ is a favorite of ‘super-determinists’. They imagine that the Block nature of things precludes any role for chance, agency, or horror of horrors, free will. 

‘Intellectual Hippies’ prefer ‘Many Worlds’: “Whatever, man!” Oddly, both pre-dispositions lead to the same conclusion: Nihilism. In fact, it turns out that ‘One World’ and ‘Many Worlds’ are functionally identical. In both cases, you live in a world over which you have no influence or control. Living is not something you do; it’s something that’s done to you. For you, being is a spectator sport. But in our model the Block Universe evolves over time via a hierarchy of binary choices, so free will and agency are baked in.

Out of Everett’s Many Worlds, I get to choose one to be real for me. Ephesians 2:10: “For we are…created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.” Our absolute freedom comes with an assurance: All roads lead to Rome, or in this case, to the New Jerusalem (Revelation), aka the Kingdom of God.

As Robert Frost brilliantly expressed, we are not responsible for the destination; our job is to optimize the journey, for ourselves and for our fellow travelers. You’re not a nameless face in the crowd after all; you’re the quarterback of Team You. Which means… I can’t avoid taking responsibility for my life after all. Bummer!

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