Abstract

Based on the success of Einstein’s theories of relativity it has become a prevalent view that past, present and future equally exist in a block universe. However, block time is in contradiction with our experience, where the present appears to exist in a way that other times do not. Here I propose that this contradiction can be resolved by recognising that the special status of the present results from the illusion of self-permanence. If a different self exists in the past, present and future then the special status of the present is explained in a block universe.