From wacko to right on dude! New Theories Push the Boundaries Further Recent proposals have gone beyond removing time from the foundations and started rebuilding physics with time in unfamiliar roles. One such model, developed by a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, inverts the usual priority of space and time by treating time as the single fundamental property in which all physical phenomena occur, while spatial dimensions are secondary, emergent features. A report on this work describes a framework in which matter, fields, and even the geometry of space arise from patterns in a one-dimensional temporal substrate, aligning with broader suggestions that space may be a secondary effect of deeper time-based structure. Instead of quantizing spacetime, the theory starts from pure time and derives spatial relations as effective descriptions of how processes unfold within that fundamental temporal order. Placed alongside the Wheeler–DeWitt framework, the Page–Wootters mechanism, and the thermal time hypothesis, this kind of time-first approach underscores how fluid the concept of time has become in cutting-edge physics. Some programs argue that time disappears at the deepest level and returns only as an emergent parameter tied to entanglement or thermodynamics; others suggest that time is the only primitive ingredient and that space, and perhaps gravity, are emergent. The common thread is that neither everyday time nor everyday space can be taken for granted. Instead, they appear as effective, approximate structures arising from more abstract, often information-theoretic substrates. From Philosophy to Testable Physics For much of the twentieth century, debates about whether time is real or illusory were relegated to philosophy, even when they drew inspiration from relativity and quantum mechanics. The situation is changing as researchers translate these ideas into concrete models and experimental proposals. The entangled-photon implementation of the Page–Wootters mechanism shows how relational time can be probed in the lab, while thermal time connects the arrow and rate of time to measurable temperature distributions in gravitational fields. At the same time, information-based approaches argue that what we perceive as temporal order may be rooted in the way observers compress and process data, an idea emphasized in recent discussions of time emerging from information rather than from an external cosmic clock. These developments do not yet amount to a single, unified picture of time, and many open questions remain. Can a fully timeless formulation of quantum gravity recover all observed relativistic effects without reintroducing a hidden time parameter? Will thermal time or related ideas yield unambiguous predictions that distinguish them from standard quantum field theory in curved spacetime? And if space is emergent from a more fundamental temporal or informational structure, what new phenomena should appear at the smallest scales or highest energies? As theorists refine their models and experimentalists devise clever tests, the familiar intuition of time as an ever-advancing river looks increasingly like an approximation to something stranger and more subtle. Whether time ultimately proves to be fundamental, emergent, or illusory, the effort to pin it down is reshaping our understanding of reality at its most basic level.
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In a modern sense this place was the garden of Eden. Calling Bolinas Lagoon a modern Garden of Eden is one of those descriptions that’s poetic but also strangely accurate. It tells me something essential about how Bill experienced that place — not just as scenery, but as a kind of origin point, a place that shaped his sense of the world before he ever stepped beyond it. Let me show you why that comparison works so well. 🌿 1. It’s a place where nature feels untouched, even when it isn’t Bolinas Lagoon has that rare quality where: the water is calm the birds move like they’ve been there forever the hills cradle the shoreline the fog softens everything It gives you the illusion — or maybe the truth — that you’re standing in a place that existed long before people and will exist long after. That’s very Garden‑of‑Eden energy. 🌊 2. It’s a place where a young person can feel both safe and infinite For someone like Bill, growing up there: the lagoon was freedom the lagoon was escape the lagoon was the one place that didn’t confine him It’s the kind of landscape that teaches a kid how to be alone without being lonely. That’s a foundational experience — the kind that echoes through a whole life. 🌱 3. It’s a place where the world feels right Not perfect — just right. The tides come in. The tides go out. The birds return every year. The water reflects the sky. There’s a rhythm to it that feels older than human problems. A place like that becomes a kind of internal compass. Even when he leaves — Crater Lake, Portland, Bangor — he’s always looking for that feeling again. 🌬️ 4. It’s a place that makes leaving bittersweet If Bolinas Lagoon was his Eden, then leaving Bolinas at eighteen wasn’t just rebellion or restlessness. It was exile in the emotional sense — stepping out of the protected world into something harsher, bigger, and more demanding. That’s why the Crater Lake years make sense. That’s why Portland, Maine makes sense. That’s why Bangor makes sense. He keeps finding landscapes that echo the lagoon in different ways: deep water quiet edges places shaped by weather places where a person can disappear into the natural world He’s not trying to go back. He’s trying to find the feeling again. 🌄 5. Calling it Eden gives his whole life a mythic undertone Not in a grandiose way — in a human way. It means: he began in a place of innocence he left because he had to he’s been wandering ever since every place he lives is a variation on that first landscape It gives his life a shape that feels both real and archetypal.
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You’ve put your finger on something many people are struggling to name: the sense that a long‑standing social equilibrium for Jews in the West is shifting, and no one is sure yet whether it’s a temporary turbulence or the beginning of a deeper realignment. Let me give you a clear, structured take on where things plausibly go from here, without catastrophizing and without minimizing the very real anxieties people are feeling. Is this a new phase of renewed friendship—or a worsening trend? The honest answer is that both trajectories are possible, and the outcome depends on forces that are still in motion. But we can map the pressures pushing in each direction. 1. Why the Trend Could Worsen Cultural and Ideological Drivers Identity-based political frameworks (oppressor/oppressed binaries) tend to flatten Jewish identity into “white-adjacent,” erasing Jewish vulnerability. Anti-Zionism as a moral litmus test has become a powerful social sorting mechanism in elite institutions. Social media ecosystems reward outrage, simplify narratives, and amplify fringe voices. Institutional Drift Universities, NGOs, and cultural institutions often adopt ideological frameworks faster than they interrogate them. Many of these frameworks treat Jewish particularism as incompatible with universalist ideals—exactly the dynamic you highlighted. Historical Precedent Periods of rising antisemitism rarely reverse on their own. They usually require: political leadership, cultural pushback, or a major external shock. None of those forces are yet clearly mobilized. 2. Why the Trend Could Enter a New Phase of Repair Despite the bleakness, there are countervailing forces that shouldn’t be ignored. Backlash Against Extremism We’re already seeing: progressive thinkers publicly questioning the rigidity of decolonial frameworks, journalists and academics calling out antisemitism within their own circles, donors and alumni pressuring universities to reform. These are early signals of a potential course correction. Re-emergence of Liberal Universalism Many people who once embraced ideological purity tests are rediscovering the value of: pluralism, nuance, and the idea that minority rights must apply to all minorities, including Jews. Jewish Agency Jews are not passive in this moment. Across the West: Jewish students are organizing, Jewish intellectuals are reframing the conversation, Jewish communities are building new alliances outside traditional political homes. This is often how new phases of Jewish–non-Jewish relations begin. 3. The Most Likely Short-Term Outlook In the near term, the trend probably gets worse before it gets better. Not because hatred is exploding, but because: institutions change slowly, ideological movements resist self-correction, and the Israel–Palestine conflict remains a flashpoint. The “betrayal” you describe—felt most acutely in progressive spaces—will likely continue until those institutions confront the internal contradictions in their frameworks. 4. The Longer-Term Outlook Long-term, I’m more optimistic. Historically, Western societies eventually recoil from ideological extremes. The pendulum tends to swing back toward: liberal pluralism, individual rights, and skepticism of purity politics. When that happens, Jews often regain their place as a valued minority within the broader liberal project. But that shift is not automatic. It requires: sustained Jewish advocacy, allies willing to speak up, and a cultural re-evaluation of simplistic identity binaries. 5. The Converso Analogy—Useful but Limited Your comparison is sharp: the pressure to “convert” ideologically is real. But the analogy breaks down in one crucial way: Today’s pressures are social, not coercive. That distinction matters. Social climates can change far more quickly than state machinery. So where are we headed? We’re in a transitional phase. The old model of Jewish–liberal alignment is cracking, but a new model hasn’t yet formed. Whether this becomes: a new era of estrangement, or a recalibrated, more honest friendship, depends on how institutions respond to the contradictions in their own moral frameworks—and how Jewish communities assert their identity without apology.
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