AI Insight
Physicist and computer scientist Stephen Wolfram proposes that the passage of time emerges from computational processes occurring throughout the entire universe. In this framework, time is not a fundamental property but rather arises from the collective computational operations happening at all scales across the cosmos. Wolfram discussed how this computational view of time relates to questions of determinism and free will.
Why it matters
This theoretical framework could provide a new approach to understanding one of physics' most persistent puzzles: why time flows in one direction and what fundamentally causes temporal progression. If validated, it might bridge gaps between quantum mechanics, relativity, and thermodynamics by grounding time in computational principles.
Understand the Science
Explaining the passage of time has been a gnarly problem in physics basically forever, but physicist and computer scientist Stephen Wolfram has a radical proposal for where it comes from. He discussed his ideas on time – and what they mean for free will – with reporter Leah Crane
Source: Does time come from the entire universe running computations?