Zeraph

The way I see it there are three main time paradigms. I'll try to explain them the best I can.

1. The obvious one, how it looks. There is one present that we are all traveling forward in, the future is indeterminate. The past is permanent. Free will to the extent that the past controls our present.

2. Time is a complete illusion. Everything "happened" at once. The past, present, and future are "predetermined" (sort of...) The metaphor for this is like reading a history book, everything is there, nothing changes from one reading to the next, you can skip to the end and it always reads the same.

3. Fluid time; separate presents that can turn back in on themselves. Time travel is possible, can go back and change the future. Future and past are rather meaningless terms, all is a "present" time for someone. Rather chaotic but complete free will. The metaphor for this is a wikipedia. You can go erase an entry and write what you want, but someone can then do the same to your entry.

Hopefully I explained them well enough, I know this is a complicated subject to talk about, let me know if I need to elaborate.

So which do you prefer?

I think #1, the most "obvious" is rather the least likely.

#2 seems the most likely, yet the hardest to understand. It is uncertain whether this would allow for free will in the normal since. I like to think that if this is the reality that free will comes in in the understanding of the choices we made.

#3 seems rather scary, as a fluid past is unsettling.