Talk:Eternalism (philosophy of time)

Regarding this statement:

For example, relativity has shown that the concept of simultaneity is not universal, with different frames of reference having different perceptions of which events are in the future and which are in the past; there is no way to definitively identify a particlar point in univeral time as "the present".

As a layman, I'm having trouble getting this, and the entry on relativity isn't helping any. I can see how frame of reference can influence how I perceive the passage of time and how far in the past something happened, but I don't see how it affects my perception of which events are in the past. The article goes on to mention that people aren't able to observe future events, so there seems to be a contradiction here.

I've read nothing on the topic besides this article, and some introductions to relativity many years ago, and watching Cosmos.. so.. grain of salt :) --mjb