Lee Smolin's "Time Reborn" and the Andromeda Paradox

[Alex K]

Can you quickly summarize what the conflict is in your opinion?

It sounds like instead of a four-dimensional, block universe in which the arrow of time is a result of entropy increasing from a low-entropy state, he's arguing for something like presentism. This is from a blurb on the book: "[Smolin] finds that contemporary physics eliminates time. He argues persuasively that any adequate cosmology rests on making time and “NOW” fundamental. Here laws evolve in one universe, and the future is open to unknowable novelty." --Stuart Kauffman

I thought that was incompatible with relativity. According to the Andromeda paradox, the "now" over in the Andromeda galaxy will be different for someone on earth and someone in orbit. I don't see how that could be if there's just one evolving "now."

Hmmm. I'm sceptical about this entire discussion if it doesn't yield anything testable (and I don't see how it does) - it might just be a discussion of formalism. Does my "now" on Andromeda already exist or not? What does that even mean? What does it mean for the future to exist already, or not.... I can't help but think that the entire discussion might be about something that isn't clearly defined.