Time Is an Object
By Sara Walker, Lee Cronin
Not a backdrop, an illusion, or an emergent phenomenon, time has a physical size that can be measured in the laboratory.
This Article From Issue
September-October 2023
Volume 111, Number 5
Page 302
A timeless universe is hard to imagine, but not because time is a technically complex or philosophically elusive concept. There is a practical reason: The act of imagining timelessness requires time to pass. Even when you try to imagine its absence, you sense it moving as your thoughts shift, your heart pumps blood to your brain, and images, sounds, and smells move around you. The thing that is time never seems to stop. You may even feel woven into its ever-moving fabric as you experience the universe coming together and apart. But is that how time really works?
QUICK TAKE
- Scientists have no consistent definition of time. In some fields of study, it is regarded as a fundamental aspect of nature; in others, as an illusion of human experience.
- Assembly theory introduces a unified conception of time by linking it to the influence of life: The flow of time is defined by the way that complex systems come into being.
- By quantifying complexity, the assembly index identifies systems that are uniquely associated with life. This method could assist the search for life beyond Earth.
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