Time in General Relativity

Abstract

I describe how Einstein constructed General Relativity, discussing the warping of spacetime, gravitational time dilation and the distortions of time near singularities. Contrary to Einstein’s aims, GR does not evidence a complete physical equivalence of reference frames, with time simply relative to the observer’s coordinate system. I argue that the principle of local becoming is embodied in the geodesic principle of GR, which guarantees the same connection of time with inertia as was ensconced in Newton’s physics and preserved in SR.