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: “…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’ that orders it. There are innumerable such surfaces in the Block. Each slice is a matrix of variables that have been valued so that every 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 are (at least 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 other variables on that surface take on defined values as well. Perhaps there might have been other proper cross sections, but we’ll never know. Once a single variable expresses a value, it’s game over…one and done. (Laplace did not know about Heisenberg Uncertainty.)

Hugh Everett (1957) put Laplace on steroids. If there are many possible universes, 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 an entire World, i.e., a unique cross section of the Block. 

In computer science, only two values are allowed: 0 or 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). On the other hand, according to Everett, ‘every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings’. Oops! Wrong story. I meant to say, “Every time a variable acquires a binary value, a new World is born.” Every data point, every bit, bifurcates the universe. 

Even though neither Laplace nor Everett can be debunked mathematically, their models are not very satisfying. One is totally rigid and spare; the other, wildly chaotic and extravagant. Neither remotely resembles the World as we experience it. Our World is stable but not frozen, dynamic but not disordered.  

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

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 space for novelty. 

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 because in our model the Block Universe evolves over time via a hierarchy of binary choices, free will and agency are baked in.

Out of Everett’s Many Worlds, I get to choose one to make 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 in Two Roads, we are not responsible for the destination (God has taken care of this); 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. Bummer!

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