Stephen Wolfram Readings: On the Nature of Time

Stephen reads a recent blog from https://writings.stephenwolfram.com and then answers questions live from his viewers. Read the blog along with Stephen: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2024/10/on-the-nature-of-time/ Originally livestreamed at: https://twitch.tv/stephen_wolfram 00:00 Start Stream 6:34 Stephens begins talking 6:53 The Computational View of Time 10:40 The Role of the Observer 17:33 Multiple Threads of Time 27:35 Time in the Ruliad 34:39 So What in the End Is Time? 46:43 Q&A 47:03 How does the atoms of space idea square with Lorentz invariance? I understand that loop quantum gravity had atoms of space which imply Lorentz invariance violations but these have not been observed. 52:29 I do have a fundamental philosophical question for you, that perhaps you can help me with. A central aspect of time for me is its apparent motion. Something, it seems, is always moving. And I don't think it fair to say that that is purely perceptual. It really does seem to be characteristic as a central feature of time. My question then is, regarding your computational model as a whole, what exactly is it that either compels (external) or impels (internal) the state of the system to 'tick', i.e. progress or move from one state of the system to the next? Surely there is fundamental necessity for this to 'occur', either computational or ontologically, if indeed these are different for the Ruliad. If the next state is 'computed' from the last, what is the nature or cause or reality of this 'moment of computing'? 57:38 What about moving backward in time? As it has now been rendered and essentially "reducible". 1:00:04 In our physical universe, time is essentially a measure of change and the sequence of events. If there were no space-time, what would we be measuring? What would "change" or "events" look like? 1:01:21 Why can't time be accelerated then? Can't we compute in an accelerated manner, going through the computational steps, in order to experience the future sooner? What forces the computation to take place in a given time? 1:02:55 ​​I've been trying to wrap my head around this lately. How does motion, let alone momentum, exist at all? How could it emerge from the timeless infinite set of hypergraphs? 1:14:08 ​​Can the idea that every branch has a merge be expressed with something like Gauss' law for EM? That the divergence of time = 0. And this is a conservation law for reality. 1:15:38 What would reversible rewrite rules be like? Would this be relevant to the way we perceive space? 1:16:38 Can we compare the lengths of time that have elapsed in different threads of time? is the comparison unique? 1:18:07 Stream Ends Follow us on our official social media channels. X: https://twitter.com/WolframResearch/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wolframresearch/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wolframresearch/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wolfram-research/ Stephen Wolfram's Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephen_wolfram/ Contribute to the official Wolfram Community: https://community.wolfram.com/ Stay up-to-date on the latest interest at Wolfram Research through our blog: https://blog.wolfram.com/ Follow Stephen Wolfram's life, interests, and what makes him tick on his blog: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/