Do the Past and Future Exist?

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Is all that exists just whatever exists right now? Is the past erased and the future a void yet to be filled? Well, the answer lies in between the past and the future - in the elusive, ever-moving eye-blink that we call the present.

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Hosted by Matt O'Dowd
Written by Matt O'Dowd
Graphics by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini, & Pedro Osinski
Directed by: Andrew Kornhaber
Camera Operator: Setare Gholipour
Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber

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[LesCish]

The past, the present, and the future walked into a bar. Suddenly they were all tense.

[blevy]

I'm counting on my future self understanding this without the massive headache.

[RLF]

I once heard the block universe described as the "view from nowhen" and I still think that's once of coolest phrases. The graphics in this video did a great job of showing it along with the concept of time sliced at different angles. 👏

[Shane]

Also, if a photon doesn't experience time because it travels at the speed of light, its "experience" is just one eternal moment that includes all of the past and future. The paradox of that is mind blowing, because we observe it as travelling through space, which implies time. This relative nature of "time" is one of countless things that prove that all of existence is eternal.

[Yora]

"We're at now now."
"Go back to then!"
"When?"
"Now!"
"Now?"
"Now!"
"We can't..."
"Why?"
"We missed it."
"When?"
"Just now!"
"When will then be now?"
"Soon!"

[lake]

"May your future light-cone contain only wonderful things." Spacetime always keeps impressing me with their creatively smart thank-you notes!

[ivanevseev]

I like the fact that a Nokia phone was existing much earlier than Newton himself in this part of the video 1:16

[mashtonish]

It's sometimes fun to go back and see the past Matt O'Dowd up to the present Matt O'Dowd in hopes for future Matt O'Dowd

[codenamecatatonic]

I’m as confused currently as my prior self was ? At least that’s a constant.

[NetanyahooWarCriminal]

Every time someone hits play, you gotta explain all this over and over again

[finfun]

Me while watching: hmmm
Me after watching: hmmm..lemme rewind i havent understand anything lol

[siljrath]

"Do past and future exist?"
"Not now."

[TheCoolsparks]

Block Universe does make a lot of sense. If you think about it why would the past be erased? Why do we only have a memory of the past and not the future? Incredible

[MiaMore.]

This question is somewhat similar and reminds me of "If a tree falls in a forest and no one's around to hear it, does it make a sound?". Of course, the answer is subjective (depends on the logistics of how you look at it) however, the theory of the question is comparable. Lol.
Ultimately, they are both a question of whether objects could continue to exist without being perceived.

[KhaiJbach]

"time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so" - Douglas Adams

[MisterSixty]

TODAY: "I won't think about this today, I'll think about this tomorrow."
TOMORROW: "I thought about this yesterday."
YESTERDAY: "You're both lying. This hasn't happened yet."
ME: Turns off YouTube. Turns on TV. Interstellar is on. Turns off TV. Takes 3 Extra Strength Excedrin.

[spacesciencelab]

The DVD analogy is great to visualize the block universe. We know that the future events on the DVD already exist, even though we are at the beginning of the movie. It is just that the DVD player is working in a liner fashion. Our brains are similar, creating a liner forward flow of time.

It's all very strange.

[mariotabali]

This episode is nuts i don't know why I find it so enjoyable.

[davidnewbaum]

PBS Space Time, reliably causing headaches since 2015.

[treering]

“The elusive ever moving eye blink we call the present” as a poet, that was beautiful!!!