No cigar

Not even close! But no surprise there.

The results of the FQXi Time Essay competition are now in and as expected the luminaries shone bright. Julian Barbour's essay won the (well deserved) first prize; Ellis and Rovelli and other recognisable names also scooped prizes but there was also recognition etc. for many other interesting submissions from researchers I was previously unfamiliar with (I particularly liked What Makes Time Special by Craig Callender)

The only downside here (well, I say the only downside... $$$ would have been handy!) is that I am still none the wiser about whether the issues I perceive with wormhole time machines are valid or not. That's actually a double-bummer really.

So... should you be a random relativist unexpectedly suckered in by a Google search for FQXi, Julian Barbour, etc. and have a few minutes to spare do feel free to disabuse me - I would be very grateful.

They do say it's the taking part that counts, but if no one can even tell you whether you completed the course...

Obviously I have unresolved issues.

[And to coin a neofranglaisism, a propos pantological science essays... "Le tat, c'est moi!"]

A bientot, Stuff Seekers!

What a fool!

Having heard that FQXi (The Foundational Questions Institute) was running a prize essay competition on the subject of "Time", and having previously mused on the issues I perceived with wormhole time machines (see here) I thought the competition would provide an opportunity to think the problem through properly...

So I did, and late yesterday submitted "Time. On. Essay. An."

And then I felt a bloody fool as I looked at the author list: top of the commented pile was an essay by Carlo Rovelli no less. I don't think I would have bothered if I had thought that essayists of such stature would pitch in (it's nice to think one might at least have chance).

Oh well, if you don't fail you're not stretching yourself, I thought. It's not the winning, it's the taking part, etc. etc. So I had a good laugh at myself and (sort of) forgot about.

But then I was checking the site to see when it actually appeared and out of curiosity started going through the other submissions (in chronological order). Now, whilst it has to be said that my submission is somewhat lacklustre, and showing clear signs of late editing (in pruning it to 5,000 words the meat in the sandwich became a bit thin) it is at least mediocre, middling, median...

Rovelli may be waaay up above me, but take a look at some of the others.

Average (but respectable) Stuff