(February 13, 2018 at 1:52 pm)SteveII Wrote: 1. You just said we can't get to an actual infinity by adding--but you can already have one???? How does that make any sense? Even in metaphysics, you have to follow the rules of logic. You hand-wave an actual infinity into existence because you need it for your theory--a theory whose sole purpose is to avoid a beginning. This is a perfect example of needing a theory that does x and then back-filling it with whatever crazy concepts you need to (regardless of if they are logical) and then declaring "according to the theory..." Don't think that's what you and Polymath are doing? Neither one of you has even attempted to explain it--just assert it over and over as part of the "theory."
You can't complete a potential infinity. But if the infinity is already there, there is no need to complete it. It's there already. You believe God is an example of actual infinity anyway. Why then are you arguing against an actual infinity? Oh, that's right. You only want your God to be that special.
Quote:2. Even if you subscribe to the B-theory of time, that spacetime block is only 13.6 billions years old. It has a definite beginning. If you claim the block is eternal, you are not talking about what cosmologists are talking about. It seems you have a whole different theory--one that I have still not seen one link or quote from. BTW, I read the whole Wiki article on Eternalism. It does not claim anything eternal.
I can only repeat this so many times. Yes, this universe has a beginning to its expansion with the Big Bang (and maybe to its existence as well), BUT we can only talk like this when we are analyzing the universe from a temporal first-person perspective. Looking at the whole structure from a birds-eye view, no, there is no ultimate beginning, and there is no flow of time. Time is a static coordinate.
Quote:3. It also does not claim there is anything other than the obvious causality we experience. I think they use the term "cone" to illustrate causality in a block-time universe.
You can argue that one state of the universe/cosmos causes the immediate state right after it, but that is just as much causation as a movie frame causing the immediate movie frame right after it, or USA causing Canada.
