On the Nature of Time
Part of the Stephen Wolfram Writings ePub series
What is time, really-and why does it seem to flow?
In this short essay, Stephen Wolfram explores time not as a coordinate or backdrop but as something generated by the ongoing computation of the universe itself. Drawing on ideas from his Physics Project, he explains how the passage of time-our experience of one moment giving way to the next-arises from the limits of what observers like us can compute. We can't see the future all at once; we have to compute it step by step.
With clear explanations and real implications for physics and philosophy alike, On the Nature of Time shows how a computational perspective helps make sense of one of the most familiar and puzzling features of our reality.