According to Rovelli, time is a fascinating topic because it touches upon our deepest feelings. It creates and destroys, questioning the meaning of our existence, which prompted him to dedicate his life to studying this aspect. His new work "The Order of Time," released in April, examines in detail how we perceive time and how it can be absent at both microscopic and macroscopic levels. Rovelli presents compelling arguments, pointing out that chronology and the sequence of events are merely stories we tell ourselves to make sense of our existence.
The Illusion of Time
In Rovelli's view, time is not an absolute truth but merely a perspective based on biological, evolutionary factors and our place in the world. "From our human perspective, as beings living on a small planet, the world seems to move through time," he writes. But at the quantum level, time intervals are so short that they cannot be clearly separated, and therefore, time as such does not exist.
The physicist explains that in reality, the world consists of many events. Even an object that seems static to us, like a stone, actually represents an event occurring at an elusive speed. It is constantly changing and ultimately takes on another form.
"In the elementary grammar of the world, there are neither spatial nor temporal processes—only transformations of physical quantities," the scientist notes.
Rovelli argues that the order we perceive is actually an illusion created by our planet with its unique entropic properties. Thus, the movement of the Earth shapes our perception of order, which does not necessarily exist in other parts of the universe. Just as orchids grow in Florida and not in California, our perception of time is a product of life on our planet and its interaction with the surrounding world.
Our perception of time, linked to cause-and-effect relationships, creates the illusion of order. We fix events in a linear sequence, connecting them with consequences, thereby forming a sense of time.
In reality, however, the world is much more complex and chaotic than we can comprehend. People tend to rely on simplified descriptions, ignoring the multitude of other events and possibilities. Our limitations create a distorted picture of order that does not reflect the full scope of events.
Rovelli asserts that we "blur" reality to focus on it, which is why he says that "time is ignorance."
What Does This Mean?
If all this sounds abstract, it is. Nevertheless, there are quite simple examples that confirm that time is a fluid experience rather than an inherent part of the universe.
Imagine you are observing the distant planet Proxima b through a telescope. Rovelli emphasizes that the "now" on Earth does not coincide with the "now" on that planet. The light you see is information you received four years later. There is no specific moment on Proxima b that corresponds to your current moment.
This may seem strange until you start to consider it as a common phenomenon, like an international phone call. You are in New York talking to a friend in London, and when your words reach him, time has passed, and the "now" is no longer the same as it was when he answered the call.
Keep in mind that there is no unified time in different places. A person in London always experiences the moment of the day differently than in New York. It is morning for you, but it is already daytime for them. In the past, before the 19th century, each place had its own time, and "noon" occurred at different times depending on the position of the sun in the sky. With the advent of railroads, humanity needed to standardize time, and that is when time zones were established.
Rovelli notes that under different conditions, time flows differently. For example, time moves faster at the top of a mountain than at sea level. Also, clocks on the floor will run slightly slower than those on the table.
Moreover, time can feel slow or fast depending on the context. Minutes in a class can stretch on forever, while hours at a party can fly by unnoticed.
All these differences show that "there are many times," according to Rovelli. And none of them can truly describe time as a whole.
"Time is a complex and multilayered concept made up of many properties arising from different approaches," he says. The simple perception of time that we have in everyday life is not applicable for describing the universe in its entirety.
Time as a Collective Story
While physics reveals the mysteries of time, Rovelli argues that this understanding does not satisfy us. The feeling that time flows is a result of randomness and our limitations.
The scientist notes that what we perceive as the flow of time is a mental process occurring between memory and expectation. "Time is a form of interaction of beings whose minds consist of memory and anticipation with the surrounding world: it is the source of our identity," he writes.
Essentially, time is the story we tell ourselves in the present, both individually and collectively. It is an act of self-reflection and narrative based on our relationship with past events and expectations of the future. It is this story that shapes our sense of "self," which many neurologists, mystics, and physicists consider a collective illusion.
Rovelli asserts that without memory and expectations, we would not feel the passage of time and would not know who we are. In this case, time becomes an emotional and psychological experience that is weakly connected to objective reality but primarily occurs in our minds.
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