Julian Barbour

Title: Holistic Being and Becoming

Abstract: By holistic being, I mean a possible instantaneous shape of the universe. Consider a triangle in Euclidean space; its position, orientation and size are extrinsic, while the shape of the triangle captures its intrinsic essence. Symmetry groups provide rules for defining possible kinds of shapes, for example shapes of triangles. Given a rule for defining shapes, there exists a space of all possible shapes of the considered kind: shape space. The underlying group symmetry then provides a unique rule for defining becoming, the transformation of one shape into another. One can say that becoming is latent within becoming. I shall show how the rule of becoming leads to more or less uniquely defined simplest laws of evolution in shape space. Einstein's general theory of relativity is a striking example of this. I shall also draw attention to the fact that any shape space is highly asymmetric. In my book The End of Time, I conjecture that in a quantum theory of the universe, this asymmetry is the cause of our experienced asymmetry between the past and the future.