The Wall_Spring 2023_Issue 9

distinct present moment travelling through the “future” which is the philosophy called “presentism” that argues only the present exist, an interesting theory that I implore you to read about in your own time. It is difficult to put into simple terms the ontological nature of Time, but this article will not go too deeply down the philosophical rabbit hole. In our understanding of Time, and by its entanglement with space and energy, the universe is a three-dimensional space modulated by Time, the fourth element of this universal soup, however special relativity (and by extension eternalism) would have us believe that for different people in different frames of perspective different events are occurring in separate stages. One extremely simple example to put this point’s realisation into perspective, is starlight. Some stars millions of light years away take millions of years to reach earth, thus when the star is dead, we still see the light of the star shining for the next millions of years until our time has catches up with the starlight, and while a person observing the star at the actual star will see its death and collapse, our time, stretched by the large distance of Space will only acknowledge that it is still alive and shining. So now you are a little educated on the theories of presentism, relativity and Eternalism we can return to the question put forward of “What is the present?” well, according to Eternalism there is no present, the ideas of Past, Present, and Future simply are non-existent as there is no physical basis of events to comprise the “Present” and any other time is “elsewhere” however, what does Presentism have to say about this? It is named after the Present is it not?Well, it takes an equally confusing standpoint, the idea that there is no “Future” or “Past” simply the Present and that the Present changes and does not travel through an environment of Time or its passing. Thank you for riding with me on this rodeo of sorts through the dusty scrolls, books and theories on Time and I hope you learned a thing or two, and, failing that I hope that it made you think.

Sebastian Onillon, (he/him), S10, explores the philosophical theory of externalism whilst putting his own spin on the concept of time.

Firstly, I would like to preface this piece with the note that this article is purely meant to bring to light interesting philosophical questions and theories. and get you asking questions of your own, not necessarily to make a point. Eternalism is the theory that all points in time occur simultaneously. One of the many philosophical theories around the topic of time, backed up by the relativity of simultaneity in Einstein’s special relativity, which explained in a quote by Quentin Sedlacek is the theory that “events perceived as simultaneous by one observer appear separated in time in a different frame of reference.” also

explained in Einstein’s train station thought experiment. Put simply it supposes that all points in time are equally real, which leads us to a fascinating question, if all times are simultaneous what is the description of the present? Well, in laymen’s view of Time, it is separated into three genres (like Scrooge’s ghosts) the past, present, and future.As our concept of time passes, the present becomes one with the past and the future moves into the realm of present (bringing up the fascinating point that the “future” is an impossible goal to reach since, as soon as we reach the “future” it becomes the present),With a

Artwork: Milly Tebbutt, S8

80