Max Tegmark on Time

MAX TEGMARK ON TIME

Posted: November 10, 2011

Something that amazes me about time is we talk about it like we really know what it is, and we ask "What is the time?" And yet we have no idea how it began, how it ended, or if it even had a beginning and will have an end. And, in fact, the more closely we look at it, the more we realize this is one of the core mysteries in all of physics so... I love time in this sense because I love mysteries.

If someone asked Isaac Newton, "Excuse me, what's the time?" he would have felt that that question made sense because he believed that there was "the time," the absolute time, which was completely well-defined and ticked at the same rate for everybody. And Einstein overturned this and said no, each clock, even a perfect atomic clock, will run at a different rate, which depends on how fast the clock is moving and how far down it is in the Earth's gravitational field. It's all relative. The question, "What is the time?" is actually a trick question. There is no "the time," and "the time" flows at a different rate depending on how fast you're moving and depending on where you are.

AUDIO

Produced by

David Levin

Original interview by

Randy MacLowery

IMAGE

(Max Tegmark)

© WGBH Educational Foundation 2011

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