Michele Besso

The first is the block universe, the view, drawn from relativity, that past, present, and future all exist equally.

Einstein himself wrote, in a 1955 condolence letter for his friend Michel Besso, in one well-known translation, People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

The second is the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which grew out of Hugh Everett's 1957 relative state formulation.

It suggests that reality may branch into many parallel outcomes.

The first is the block universe, the view, drawn from relativity, that past, present, and future all exist equally.

Einstein himself wrote, in a 1955 condolence letter for his friend Michel Besso, in one well-known translation, "...people like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." The second is the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which grew out of Hugh Everett's 1957 relative state formulation.

It suggests that reality may branch into many parallel outcomes.

Physicist David Deutsch later showed that in a quantum model of time travel, a traveler wouldn't change their own past.

The first is the block universe, the view, drawn from relativity, that past, present, and future all exist equally.

Einstein himself wrote, in a 1955 condolence letter for his friend Michel Besso, in one well-known translation, People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

The second is the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which grew out of Hugh Everett's 1957 relative state formulation.

It suggests that reality may branch into many parallel outcomes.

The first is the block universe, the view, drawn from relativity, that past, present, and future all exist equally.

Einstein himself wrote, in a 1955 condolence letter for his friend Michel Besso, in one well-known translation, "...people like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." The second is the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which grew out of Hugh Everett's 1957 relative state formulation.

It suggests that reality may branch into many parallel outcomes.

Physicist David Deutsch later showed that in a quantum model of time travel, a traveler wouldn't change their own past.

The first is the block universe, the view, drawn from relativity, that past, present, and future all exist equally.

Einstein himself wrote, in a 1955 condolence letter for his friend Michel Besso, in one well-known translation, "...people like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." The second is the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which grew out of Hugh Everett's 1957 relative state formulation.

It suggests that reality may branch into many parallel outcomes.

Physicist David Deutsch later showed that in a quantum model of time travel, a traveler wouldn't change their own past.

The first is the block universe, the view, drawn from relativity, that past, present, and future all exist equally.

Einstein himself wrote, in a 1955 condolence letter for his friend Michel Besso, in one well-known translation, "...people like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." The second is the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which grew out of Hugh Everett's 1957 relative state formulation.

It suggests that reality may branch into many parallel outcomes.

Physicist David Deutsch later showed that in a quantum model of time travel, a traveler wouldn't change their own past.

Einstein knew exactly what that meant, and he said so directly.

After his lifelong friend Michele Besso died, he wrote to Besso's family.

He said, "People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." And I might just say that again because I think it's quite a remarkable statement coming from maybe the most well-known scientist of all time.

He said, "The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." I mean, one of the greatest scientific minds who ever lived, near the end of his own life, calling the flow of time an illusion.