MACHINES OF THE MIND
21.12.25
Spyros Manouselis
The Enigmatic Role of Time in the Creation and Evolution of All Physical and Historical Phenomena
To trace the history of human ideas about time and its role in the emergence of physical phenomena reveals the evolution from the cyclical time of the ancient Greeks to the linear time of the Hebrew-Christians, and from there to the mathematically formulated, timeless time of classical physics. According to the model of classical physics, primarily shaped by Galileo and Newton, the Universe is an infinitely dimensional closed space within which nothing truly new ever happens: everything is predetermined and functions perfectly due to the strictly causal "laws of Nature." According to classical physics, time does not flow in one direction and does not produce anything new. As Newton stated in the introduction of his great work Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica: “Absolute, true, and mathematical time, of itself and from its own nature, flows uniformly without regard to anything external…” In other words, the subjective time experienced by humans, for Newton and, more broadly, for classical physics, is an illusion with no real relationship to absolute cosmic time and space.
Nothing seemed capable of shaking this physical view of time from the perspective of eternity: the magical image of an absolutely deterministic and unchanging Universe for… ages. Yet, by the mid-19th century, thanks to discoveries in Thermodynamics, Geology, and Evolutionary Biology, a wholly different image of the action of time in nature began to emerge. The unexpected discoveries in these new scientific fields challenged the widely accepted and unquestionable model of timeless scientific explanations that had been shaped by the “Example” of classical physics.
The first significant cracks in the static and timeless description of all physical phenomena arose from the discovery of the continuous evolution of complex physical systems, indicating change over time not only in living organisms and the planet that hosts them but also throughout the entire visible Universe, as later confirmed by cosmological research. These new cognitive achievements would gradually enforce the acceptance of an alternative physical concept of time and the necessity of broadening chronological-historical approaches, not only for explaining the physical World but also for understanding the very natural sciences that study it. For, as we will see, over time not only "Nature" changes, but also our scientific ideas about the nature of time.
In the Theory of Relativity, space and time are relativized and jointly form a single parameter in the “objective” description of the Universe. And as a new Newton, Einstein would argue that both space and time do not actually exist but are merely separate mathematical coordinates within the equally timeless and absolute continuum that is “spacetime.” Depending on the observer's perspective, it appears that this spacetime can expand or contract from infinite past to infinite future, and vice versa.
However, if Einstein was right when he said that time is “whatever our clocks measure,” that is, only a human illusion, then why is the Universe not static but constantly changing and evolving? Why does time manifest asymmetrically, allowing us, as observers, to clearly distinguish the past from the present and the future of every physical phenomenon? And why do all complex physical systems, including humans, encode only their past and present in their structure and history, but not their future?
How does a timeless Physics explain the very unpleasant fact that all chemical reactions are irreversible, as well as that all biological and cosmological phenomena are also irreversible in time; not to mention human history? Does the inherent and indisputable irreversibility of all visible phenomena not imply that the physical World is not static but continually evolves, creating, when conditions allow, new, more complex and unpredictable structures?
Only a metaphysical or supernatural bias in favor of timeless “explanations” from the perspective of eternity imposes on a physical theory the rejection of the multiple and diverse confirmations of both the presence and the creative action of time in forming physical reality: from the cosmological evolution of the Universe to the earthly evolution of life and from the emergence of mind in the living world to the revolutionary breaks in human history!
What consequences would arise for human thought if the familiar image of the linear flow of time proved incorrect and misleading? If, that is, time is not a scientifically eradicable human illusion—as Einstein meant—but an absolutely physical and indelible entity, which, in reality, may not have just one dimension but… three!
This radical theoretical hypothesis of the three-dimensional nature of time is described by a new physical theory, published this year in the well-known scientific journal Advances of Physical Science. The much-discussed article on the three-dimensional, that is, unified but threefold, nature of time in the physical World is authored by the geophysicist Günther Kletetschka, born in Czechoslovakia, who teaches at the University of Fairbanks in Alaska.
This is the most recent, particularly disruptive theoretical approach, which, if sufficiently confirmed in the coming years, will radically change what we believe today about the nature and action of time. According to the established model of modern Physics, the visible Universe has four dimensions: three spatial and one temporal dimension, corresponding to the relativistic spacetime. In contrast, in the new theory of three-dimensional time, time is not merely an abstract variable that varies according to the observers' speed, but the physical fabric of everything: all objects that exist and are observed.
Physical time has not just one but three mutually perpendicular dimensions that together shape a temporal mantle penetrating and enveloping everything (see related photo). The first temporal dimension (t1) corresponds to the subatomic microworld, the second dimension (t2) appears at an intermediate level between the quantum microworld and the earthly macroworld, while the third temporal dimension (t3) corresponds to the scale of the cosmic macroworld.
This three-dimensional fabric of time theoretically allows not only forward and backward or up and down movement but also “diagonal” movement. A theoretical possibility that brings to mind not only certain science fiction scenarios but also illuminates some “far-fetched” scientific ideas, such as those of “Parallel Worlds” in Quantum Mechanics.
Furthermore, according to Günther Kletetschka, three-dimensional time maintains and extends causal physical interactions, meaning effects follow their physical causes, but according to a more complex and multilevel cosmic geometry. Compared to one-dimensional models of time, three-dimensional time reproduces measurable laboratory values and quantities better, such as the mass of subatomic particles (electrons, protons, quarks), offering new predictive tools in microphysics.
These recent developments in the physics of time, as well as the almost universal recognition of “temporalness” across all sciences, impose on modern Physics not only the acknowledgment of the creative nature of time but also the explanation of what constitutes the essential asymmetry between cosmic past, present, and future. Physical time is not merely a human illusion, as many leading physicists hoped, but is inherent in all physical phenomena, and only its action explains the emergence of increasingly complex structures: from the formation and dynamics of celestial bodies to the emergence and complicating of earthly life.
The inherent temporality of most physical processes is therefore the rule, while the timeless “reversibility” is the exception. An exception that we imposed arbitrarily on Nature only out of insecurity and, at heart, from our necrophilic need for cognitive and existential… eternity. Happy New Year.
While the 1st Law of Thermodynamics states that the total mass-energy of the Universe remains constant, the 2nd Law dictates that in any closed system—which does not exchange energy and matter with its surroundings—total “entropy” can only increase over time. If the Universe is a closed system, then every physical change tends to increase the total “entropy,” that is, the disorder of the system. The fundamental concept of entropy introduces into the physical World the arrow of time, that is, an inherent asymmetry of time: the past will differ from both the present and the future.
Another year has passed, adding one more grain of sand to the cosmic hourglass of the Universe. If, however, time is merely what clocks measure or what is recorded in our calendars, then why does it seem endless when we are bored and relentless as we age? What relationship can the mutable subjective experience of time that everyone experiences daily have with the “dehumanized,” i.e., mathematically formulated, time “t” of Physics?
In light of the imminent “change” of time, or, as we equally recklessly say, the arrival of the “new” time, this article will examine how the persistent presence and uninterrupted action of time change not only the physical phenomena themselves but also our scientific ideas about the nature of time.
21.12.25
Spyros Manouselis
The Enigmatic Role of Time in the Creation and Evolution of All Physical and Historical Phenomena
To trace the history of human ideas about time and its role in the emergence of physical phenomena reveals the evolution from the cyclical time of the ancient Greeks to the linear time of the Hebrew-Christians, and from there to the mathematically formulated, timeless time of classical physics. According to the model of classical physics, primarily shaped by Galileo and Newton, the Universe is an infinitely dimensional closed space within which nothing truly new ever happens: everything is predetermined and functions perfectly due to the strictly causal "laws of Nature." According to classical physics, time does not flow in one direction and does not produce anything new. As Newton stated in the introduction of his great work Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica: “Absolute, true, and mathematical time, of itself and from its own nature, flows uniformly without regard to anything external…” In other words, the subjective time experienced by humans, for Newton and, more broadly, for classical physics, is an illusion with no real relationship to absolute cosmic time and space.
Nothing seemed capable of shaking this physical view of time from the perspective of eternity: the magical image of an absolutely deterministic and unchanging Universe for… ages. Yet, by the mid-19th century, thanks to discoveries in Thermodynamics, Geology, and Evolutionary Biology, a wholly different image of the action of time in nature began to emerge. The unexpected discoveries in these new scientific fields challenged the widely accepted and unquestionable model of timeless scientific explanations that had been shaped by the “Example” of classical physics.
The first significant cracks in the static and timeless description of all physical phenomena arose from the discovery of the continuous evolution of complex physical systems, indicating change over time not only in living organisms and the planet that hosts them but also throughout the entire visible Universe, as later confirmed by cosmological research. These new cognitive achievements would gradually enforce the acceptance of an alternative physical concept of time and the necessity of broadening chronological-historical approaches, not only for explaining the physical World but also for understanding the very natural sciences that study it. For, as we will see, over time not only "Nature" changes, but also our scientific ideas about the nature of time.
When the Unnatural Elimination of Time Becomes… Physics
However, the idea of an absolute, that is, timeless physical time, not only endured vigorously but dominated cosmological thought for over three centuries, until 1905, when a young physicist upended the grand edifice of classical physics. The name of this young revolutionary was Albert Einstein, and although his theory was named the “Theory of Relativity,” nothing cognitively relativistic lay at its core. On the contrary, in trying to rid physics of the intractable problems that had accumulated from the “unnatural” concepts of absolute space and time, he proposed as a solution the equally absolute and timeless “spacetime.” And although the spacetime of the Theory of Relativity definitively and irrevocably overthrew the Newtonian notion of absolute time and space, it failed to restore either the presence or the creative role of time in shaping the fundamental structure of both material bodies (Microworld) and the evolution of the visible Universe (Macroworld)! Moreover, as Einstein would confide in a famous letter: “The distinction between past and future is only a stubborn illusion.”In the Theory of Relativity, space and time are relativized and jointly form a single parameter in the “objective” description of the Universe. And as a new Newton, Einstein would argue that both space and time do not actually exist but are merely separate mathematical coordinates within the equally timeless and absolute continuum that is “spacetime.” Depending on the observer's perspective, it appears that this spacetime can expand or contract from infinite past to infinite future, and vice versa.
When asked, "What is time?", Einstein replied straightforwardly: “What our clocks measure!” With this provocative statement, the great renovator of concepts of space and time in Physics likely aimed to emphasize that time is not "something" that can be grasped independently of how we measure it. Thus, its existence is merely an illusion that depends on whether and how we record its presence.
However, if Einstein was right when he said that time is “whatever our clocks measure,” that is, only a human illusion, then why is the Universe not static but constantly changing and evolving? Why does time manifest asymmetrically, allowing us, as observers, to clearly distinguish the past from the present and the future of every physical phenomenon? And why do all complex physical systems, including humans, encode only their past and present in their structure and history, but not their future?
How does a timeless Physics explain the very unpleasant fact that all chemical reactions are irreversible, as well as that all biological and cosmological phenomena are also irreversible in time; not to mention human history? Does the inherent and indisputable irreversibility of all visible phenomena not imply that the physical World is not static but continually evolves, creating, when conditions allow, new, more complex and unpredictable structures?
Only a metaphysical or supernatural bias in favor of timeless “explanations” from the perspective of eternity imposes on a physical theory the rejection of the multiple and diverse confirmations of both the presence and the creative action of time in forming physical reality: from the cosmological evolution of the Universe to the earthly evolution of life and from the emergence of mind in the living world to the revolutionary breaks in human history!
2025: The Entrance of the Three-Dimensional Time
How do the leading scientists of classical Dynamics and relativistic Physics justify their assertion that the presence and action of time in nature are merely an illusion? Not something that truly exists, but “just” a dimension in the mathematical description of the timeless laws of motion for all physical bodies. Indeed, as a mathematically predetermined and computable dimension, time is supposed to take both positive and negative values (the time reversal from t to -t), allowing it to flow freely from past to future (and vice versa!) without materially affecting the fundamental equations describing the behavior and changes of physical objects.What consequences would arise for human thought if the familiar image of the linear flow of time proved incorrect and misleading? If, that is, time is not a scientifically eradicable human illusion—as Einstein meant—but an absolutely physical and indelible entity, which, in reality, may not have just one dimension but… three!
This radical theoretical hypothesis of the three-dimensional nature of time is described by a new physical theory, published this year in the well-known scientific journal Advances of Physical Science. The much-discussed article on the three-dimensional, that is, unified but threefold, nature of time in the physical World is authored by the geophysicist Günther Kletetschka, born in Czechoslovakia, who teaches at the University of Fairbanks in Alaska.
This is the most recent, particularly disruptive theoretical approach, which, if sufficiently confirmed in the coming years, will radically change what we believe today about the nature and action of time. According to the established model of modern Physics, the visible Universe has four dimensions: three spatial and one temporal dimension, corresponding to the relativistic spacetime. In contrast, in the new theory of three-dimensional time, time is not merely an abstract variable that varies according to the observers' speed, but the physical fabric of everything: all objects that exist and are observed.
Physical time has not just one but three mutually perpendicular dimensions that together shape a temporal mantle penetrating and enveloping everything (see related photo). The first temporal dimension (t1) corresponds to the subatomic microworld, the second dimension (t2) appears at an intermediate level between the quantum microworld and the earthly macroworld, while the third temporal dimension (t3) corresponds to the scale of the cosmic macroworld.
This three-dimensional fabric of time theoretically allows not only forward and backward or up and down movement but also “diagonal” movement. A theoretical possibility that brings to mind not only certain science fiction scenarios but also illuminates some “far-fetched” scientific ideas, such as those of “Parallel Worlds” in Quantum Mechanics.
Furthermore, according to Günther Kletetschka, three-dimensional time maintains and extends causal physical interactions, meaning effects follow their physical causes, but according to a more complex and multilevel cosmic geometry. Compared to one-dimensional models of time, three-dimensional time reproduces measurable laboratory values and quantities better, such as the mass of subatomic particles (electrons, protons, quarks), offering new predictive tools in microphysics.
These recent developments in the physics of time, as well as the almost universal recognition of “temporalness” across all sciences, impose on modern Physics not only the acknowledgment of the creative nature of time but also the explanation of what constitutes the essential asymmetry between cosmic past, present, and future. Physical time is not merely a human illusion, as many leading physicists hoped, but is inherent in all physical phenomena, and only its action explains the emergence of increasingly complex structures: from the formation and dynamics of celestial bodies to the emergence and complicating of earthly life.
The inherent temporality of most physical processes is therefore the rule, while the timeless “reversibility” is the exception. An exception that we imposed arbitrarily on Nature only out of insecurity and, at heart, from our necrophilic need for cognitive and existential… eternity. Happy New Year.
Cerebral Time Machines and Eggs Omelet
Why can we make an omelet from eggs, but cannot regenerate the same eggs from the omelet? The possibility -or not- of one day achieving time travel depends on how one answers this seemingly simple question. The explanation for why it is impossible to spontaneously reconstruct the eggs we broke to make an omelet lies in the famous 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, the branch of Physics that studies energy (heat) changes in all physical systems.While the 1st Law of Thermodynamics states that the total mass-energy of the Universe remains constant, the 2nd Law dictates that in any closed system—which does not exchange energy and matter with its surroundings—total “entropy” can only increase over time. If the Universe is a closed system, then every physical change tends to increase the total “entropy,” that is, the disorder of the system. The fundamental concept of entropy introduces into the physical World the arrow of time, that is, an inherent asymmetry of time: the past will differ from both the present and the future.
Another year has passed, adding one more grain of sand to the cosmic hourglass of the Universe. If, however, time is merely what clocks measure or what is recorded in our calendars, then why does it seem endless when we are bored and relentless as we age? What relationship can the mutable subjective experience of time that everyone experiences daily have with the “dehumanized,” i.e., mathematically formulated, time “t” of Physics?
In light of the imminent “change” of time, or, as we equally recklessly say, the arrival of the “new” time, this article will examine how the persistent presence and uninterrupted action of time change not only the physical phenomena themselves but also our scientific ideas about the nature of time.
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