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Full Idea
Though special relativity does not determine a preferred frame of reference, it does not rule out the possibility of a frame being determined from outside the theory. Perhaps we should prefer a frame where background radiation is equal in all directions.
Gist of Idea
Special relativity won't determine a preferred frame, but we can pick one externally
Source
J.J.C. Smart (The Tenseless Theory of Time [2008], 3)
Book Ref
'Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics', ed/tr. Sider/Hawthorne/Zimmerman [Blackwell 2008], p.233
A Reaction
Of course this is a mere philosopher offering the escape clause, and not some Nobel-winning physicist, but I start from the assumption that this idea is plausible, and I am unmoved by the contempt for presentism among relativity geeks.
| 14611 | Metaphysics should avoid talk of past, present or future [Smart] |
| 14613 | Special relativity won't determine a preferred frame, but we can pick one externally [Smart] |
| 14614 | The past, present, future and tenses of A-theory are too weird, and should be analysed indexically [Smart] |
| 14615 | If time flows, then 'how fast does it flow?' is a tricky question [Smart] |