News

On Friday, 19 November, Jeremy Butterfield & Henrique Gomes (University of Cambridge) will give a talk titled “Assessing the Hole Argument” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CET). If you have not registered yet, you can do so here. You can address any inquiry to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. ABSTRACT We assess the hole argument in general relativity, and the related topics of the definitions of symmetries and determinism. We begin by rejecting the claim made in some recent literature that the sheer mathematics of the theory makes it mandatory to…continue reading →

On Friday, 5 November, Robert DiSalle (Western University) will give a talk titled "On the epistemological foundations of space-time geometry" (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CET). If you have not registered yet, you can do so here. You can address any inquiry to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. ABSTRACT According to Einstein, what was central to the motivating arguments for the general theory of relativity included not only the familiar arguments about generalizing the relativity of motion, but also the more complicated argument about the empirical content of space-time geometry. On…continue reading →

On Friday, 22 October, Gordon Belot (University of Michigan) will give a talk titled “The Mach-Einstein Principle of 1917-1918” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CEST). If you have not registered yet, you can do so here. You can address any inquiry to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. ABSTRACT In 1917 and 1918 Einstein was working on relativistic cosmology and on promoting and explaining general relativity in correspondence. During this period, the thesis that the spacetime metric should be determined by the distribution of matter played an important role in his thought.…continue reading →

The Philosophy of Physics Group at the Warsaw University of Technology is happy to announce the Warsaw Spacetime Colloquium 2021-2022. The Colloquium focuses on the foundations of spacetime physics broadly construed and will be held fortnightly on Zoom. The program for the winter semester is the following: 22 October (17:00-19:00 CEST) – Gordon Belot (University of Michigan) – “The Mach-Einstein Principle of 1917-1918.” 5 November (17:00-19:00 CET) – Robert DiSalle (Western University) – TBA 19 November (17:00-19:00 CET) – Jeremy Butterfield & Henrique Gomes (University of Cambridge) - "Assessing the Hole Argument." 3…continue reading →

On Friday, 28 May, JB Manchak (University of California, Irvine) will give a talk entitled “On the (In?)Stability of Spacetime Inextendibility” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CEST). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. The Colloquium is organized by the Philosophy of Physics Group at the International Center for Formal Ontology (Faculty of Administration and Social Sciences, Warsaw University of Technology). The recordings of the previous meetings are available on the ICFO's YouTube channel. ABSTRACT Within the context…continue reading →

On Friday, 9 April, Erik Curiel (LMU Munich, Harvard University) will give a talk entitled “The Dynamics of Classical Physics Determines the Structure of Newtonian Spacetime; That of Quantum Physics Does Not” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CEST). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. The program for the summer semester can be found here, while the recordings of the previous meetings are available on the ICFO’s YouTube channel. ABSTRACT I describe a few theorems that show that,…continue reading →

On Friday, 26 March, Sabine Hossenfelder (Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies) will give a talk entitled “Superdeterminism” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CET). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. The program for the summer semester can be found here, while the recordings of the previous meetings are available on the ICFO's YouTube channel. ABSTRACT In this talk I will explain what superdeterminism is, why the objections that have so far been raised to it are unjustified, and…continue reading →

On Friday, 12 March, Daniele Oriti (LMU Munich) will give a talk entitled “Which spacetime emergence in quantum gravity?” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CET). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. The recordings of the previous meetings are available on the ICFO’s YouTube channel. Abstract: We discuss several issues in quantum gravity, related to the notion of spacetime being emergent and not fundamental, focusing on their conceptual aspects more than their (possible) technical solution: – what it…continue reading →

On Friday, 26 February, Sean Carroll (Caltech) will give a talk entitled “From Quantum Mechanics to Spacetime” (abstract below). The meeting will take place online on Zoom (17:00-19:00 CET). If you have not registered yet, you can do so by sending a message to antonio.vassallo@pw.edu.pl. The recordings of the previous meetings are available on the ICFO’s YouTube channel. Abstract: Nine decades in, the foundations of quantum mechanics remain mysterious. Meanwhile, modern physicists puzzle over how to reconcile quantum mechanics with gravity. I will suggest that these problems are related, and that a promising…continue reading →