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Neither space nor time has any existence outside the system of evolving relationships that comprises the universe. Physicists refer to this feature of general relativity as background independence.

— Lee Smolin Three Roads to Quantum Gravity (2000)

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More quotes by Lee Smolin

String theory seems to be incompatible with a world in which a cosmological constant has a positive sign, which is what the observations indicate.

Loop Quantum Gravity," The New Humanists: Science at the Edge (2003)

There are unfortunately not a few good professional physicists who still think about the world as if space and time had an absolute meaning.

Three Roads to Quantum Gravity (2000)

Is the flow of time something real, or might our sense of time passing be just an illusion that hides the fact that what is real is only a vast collection of memories?

There is nothing beyond the world except what we see, no background to it except its particular history.

Three Roads to Quantum Gravity (2000)

I believe that the main lesson of relativity and quantum theory is that the world is nothing but an evolving network of relationships.

Three Roads to Quantum Gravity (2000)

All Lee Smolin quotes →

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