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Presentism (philosophy of time)
In the philosophy of time, presentism is the belief that neither the future nor the past exists. The opposite of presentism is 'eternalism', which is a belief in things that are past and things that are yet to come exist eternally. One other view (that has not been held by very many philosophers) is sometimes called the growing block theory of time, which is a theory that takes the past and present to exist but the future to be nonexistent. Presentism is compatible with Galilean relativity, in which time is independent of space but is probably incompatible with Lorentzian/Einsteinian relativity. Presentism can also be used more loosely to refer to a narrow focus on the conditions of the moment.
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Space & Time News
June 30, 2026
June 29, 2026 Scientists are raising concerns that we may be overlooking evidence of extraterrestrial life even when it is present. Hidden biosignatures, limitations in detection technology, and assumptions about what life should look like can all create ...
June 29, 2026 A new AI-powered framework could transform how astronomers measure the expansion of the Universe. By analyzing images of Type Ia supernovae and modeling their environments in unprecedented detail, researchers can estimate cosmic distances with ...
June 23, 2026 SETI scientists searched the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS for radio signals that could indicate extraterrestrial technology but found nothing beyond human-made interference. Even so, the rapid-response observations helped confirm the object's ...
June 23, 2026 NASA’s upgraded Cold Atom Lab is turning the International Space Station into a frontier for quantum research, creating ultra-cold matter that behaves in astonishing ways. The experiments could ...
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June 16, 2026 A new SETI study suggests we may be overlooking alien signals not because they aren't there, but because their own stars are scrambling them before they escape into space. Turbulent plasma and powerful stellar storms can spread an ultra-narrow radio ...
June 11, 2026 Scientists found that transfer learning can make the search for new physics in the universe much faster, slashing the need for expensive simulations. Yet the approach can backfire when AI relies too heavily on familiar patterns, potentially missing ...
June 10, 2026 MIT researchers have shown that one fuel can power both chemical and electric spacecraft thrusters, potentially transforming what small satellites can do. The approach combines quick bursts of speed with highly efficient long-range propulsion in a ...
June 8, 2026 NASA says a long-running air leak aboard the ISS recently worsened, leading engineers to investigate new suspected crack locations and consider a riskier repair strategy. Astronauts were temporarily moved into a safe haven as a precaution before the ...
June 6, 2026 A lightweight new X-ray telescope could finally give scientists something they’ve never had before: a complete chemical map of the Moon. Researchers used detailed mission simulations to show that a compact telescope orbiting the Moon could ...
June 6, 2026 NASA’s PExT terminal has shown that spacecraft can seamlessly communicate through multiple government and commercial networks, a major step beyond traditional single-network systems. The mission is now expanding to test new capabilities that could ...
June 5, 2026 Scientists have proposed a new method for finding tightly bound supermassive black hole pairs by searching for stars that flash repeatedly as their light is magnified by the black holes’ gravity. The timing and brightness of these bursts could ...
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June 28, 2026 Astronomers have finally cracked the mystery of the famous “Pink Planet,” a strange world 57 light-years away that has puzzled scientists for more than a decade. Using the James Webb Space ...
June 27, 2026 Astronomers studying the rare supernova SN 2021yfj discovered material from one of the deepest layers of a dying star, providing a rare look at its hidden interior. The finding confirms key theories ...
June 26, 2026 Two newly confirmed "super-puff" planets are so diffuse that they are less dense than cotton candy, despite being about the size of Jupiter. Their rare orbital relationship and enormous, lightweight ...
June 25, 2026 A new study suggests Earth may have been sending tiny hitchhikers to Venus for billions of years. Researchers found that asteroid impacts could launch microbes into space, where some might survive ...
June 25, 2026 Astronomers may have witnessed one of the rarest and most dramatic cosmic events ever seen: a long-sought intermediate-mass black hole ripping apart ...
June 25, 2026 NASA’s Lucy spacecraft discovered that asteroid Donaldjohanson is a wobbling, peanut-shaped relic born from a violent collision and slowly reshaped ...
June 24, 2026 What if consciousness isn’t limited to brains like ours? Philosophers Eric Schwitzgebel and Jeremy Pober argue that consciousness could arise in many different forms of life, even in beings built ...
June 23, 2026 A rare meteorite has revealed evidence of a massive lost world that once orbited the young Sun before being destroyed in a catastrophic collision. The discovery suggests some early planets formed ...
June 22, 2026 A colossal ancient collision may have left some of the Moon’s deepest secrets surprisingly close to future Artemis landing sites. By recreating the impact that formed the giant South Pole-Aitken ...
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