So I was bumbling along trying to read Carlo Rovelli's books on quantum physics, The Order of Time. And somehow Rovelli convinced me that space and time are really almost the same thing. The way I understand it, encountering space-time is really a matter of tools.
Calendars are tools for organizing the months and years. Clocks sort of do the same thing for hours and minutes. And maps allow people to see where they are, where they are going. We only think space and time are different because of the calendars and clocks and maps we use to measure our lives.
But if we change the tools, then quantum theory makes more sense. If we measures change by watching flowers or foliage or birds or by keeping track of the sun, then time is only the change we observe.
And since we can only exist and observe in a place, then change and place are inseparable. And, no matter how many maps or clocks or calendars we have, this quantum space-time world is really the only one we perceive directly. All of society's tools are useful for ordering daily interactions, but really they have little to do with space or time.
This is Bill Felker with Poor Will's Almanack. I'll be back again with more notes on the seasons. In the meantime, look around: you have all the time in the world that you can experience. Literally. Seriously.
