Time, Space, and Persistence

Sep 12

4 min read

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“What if time doesn’t flow at all—what if every moment of your life, past and future, already exists, frozen in a vast cosmic block?”

We take time and space for granted. We age, we make plans, we walk across rooms. Yet beneath these ordinary experiences lie some of the deepest questions in metaphysics and physics.

Does time really flow from past to future, or is that just an illusion?
Is space the fundamental stage of the universe, or something that emerges from deeper structures?
And how do we, as objects within time, persist—are we whole beings at each moment, or long “worms” stretched across history?

These questions—about temporal becoming, the block universe, the nature of spacetime, and the persistence of objects—sit at the intersection of philosophy and science. Let’s explore them.

Does Time Really Flow?

Most of us experience life as a river: the past is gone, the present is here, the future has not yet arrived. Philosophers call this temporal becoming—the idea that the present moment has a special reality.

But physics tells a different story. According to Einstein’s relativity, time is part of a four-dimensional fabric called spacetime. All events—past, present, and future—exist together, like frames on a film reel. This is the block universe. We only experience one frame at a time, but nothing in reality privileges the “now.”

The clash between these views raises unsettling questions: if the block universe is true, does the future already exist? What happens to free will? And if becoming is real, how can we reconcile it with relativity?

Is Spacetime Fundamental—or Emergent?

Traditionally, philosophers and scientists treated space and time as the basic backdrop of reality. Newton imagined an absolute stage on which matter moved.

Einstein changed the picture: space and time are woven into a dynamic spacetime that bends and curves under mass and energy. That discovery was radical enough. But today, some physicists go further: spacetime itself may not be fundamental.

Ideas in quantum gravity, such as loop quantum gravity or the holographic principle, suggest spacetime could emerge from deeper building blocks—perhaps networks of quantum entanglement or informational structures.

If true, then space and time are not ultimate but approximate—like how “temperature” emerges from the motion of molecules. Our sense of a flowing present may be no more fundamental than our sense of warmth.

How Do Objects Persist?

Even if time is strange, we live in it. So how do things like trees, mountains, or people persist through the years?

Two main answers dominate:

Endurantism: Objects are wholly present at each moment. You today and you yesterday are the same entity, enduring through change.
Perdurantism: Objects are like “spacetime worms,” extended across time as well as space. You today are one temporal slice; yesterday’s you is another.

Endurantism feels intuitive—we experience ourselves as whole beings. Perdurantism fits neatly with the block universe—where all times exist equally, and persistence is a matter of being stretched across them.

Some philosophers even propose hybrids, like “stage theory,” where we are momentary stages linked across time.

Change, Experience, and the Tension

The deepest challenge is reconciling experience with theories of reality.

We feel time’s flow. We experience ourselves as enduring. We watch change unfold. Yet physics describes a block spacetime, possibly even emergent, where flow is absent.

One option is to say our experience is an illusion, like color—real to us, not fundamental to the universe. Another is to argue that becoming is irreducible, even if physics struggles to model it. Neuroscience adds its own twist: our brains stitch together perception, memory, and anticipation to create the feeling of flow.

The truth may be that our lived time and physical time are both real, but at different levels.

Why It Matters

These debates aren’t just academic. They touch our deepest intuitions about freedom, meaning, and identity.

If the block universe is right, the future already exists. That doesn’t necessarily kill free will—but it forces us to rethink what it means.
If spacetime is emergent, then physics itself is not final. A deeper layer of reality may be waiting to be uncovered.
If perdurantism is true, then “you” are not a single point in the present but an extended being. That changes how we think about responsibility, memory, and even survival after death.

Far from idle speculation, these ideas shape the frontiers of physics and the way we understand ourselves as temporal creatures.

Living with Mystery

We may never fully settle whether time flows, whether spacetime is fundamental, or how we persist. What we know is that reality is stranger than our intuitions allow.

Do we live in a flowing river? Or in a frozen block? Or in something deeper still, where both images are partial?

Metaphysics doesn’t end the mystery. It sharpens it. And perhaps that’s the most honest stance we can take: to live with open wonder, recognizing that our daily sense of time and space may be only the surface of something far more profound.