Table Of ContentTHE LITTLE BOOK
THE LITTLE BOOK
0111 ME
KLAUS MAINZER
Translated by Josef Eisinger
c
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA. LLC
Originally published as Zeit,
© 1999 Verlag C. H. Beck oHG, Miinchen, Germany.
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. in 2002
Softcover reprint of the hardcover I st edition 2002
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, elec
tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the
prior written permission of the publisher.
Copernicus Books
37 East 7th Street
New York, NY 10003
www.copernicusbooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in -Publication Data
Mainzer, Klaus.
[Zeit. English 1
The little book of time I Klaus Mainzer.
p. cm.-(Little book series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4419-2939-6 ISBN 978-1-4757-4332-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4757-4332-6
1. Time. I. Title. II. Little book series (New York, N.Y.)
QB209.M3513 2002
529--dc21 2002023357
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Translated by Josef Eisinger.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
ISBN 978-1-4419-2939-6 SPIN 10838269
For Johanna, Benedikt, Beatrice, Pauline, and Anna
Acknowledgments
VIII
Introduction
IX
chapter 1 Time in the Classical
and Medieval Worldviews
From the Beginnings to the Pre-Socratic School
Zeno's Time Arrow and Aristotle's Continuum 6
Time and Creation According to Saint Augustine 15
Time and Medieval Astronomy 18
Calendars and Clocks 20
chapter 2 Time in the Worldview
of Classical Physics
25
Absolute Time According to Newton 26
Relational Time According to Leibniz 30
Time in Classical Mechanics 31
Time in Kant's Epistemology
35
chapter 3 Relativistic Spacetime 43
Time in Special Relativity Theory
44
Time in General Relativity Theory 50
Time in Relativistic Cosmology
54
chapter 4 Time and the Quantum World 61
Time in Quantum Mechanics 62
Time in Quantum Field Theories 70
Time, Black Holes, and the Anthropic Principle 78
chapter 5 Time and Thermodynamics 83
Time in Equilibrium Thermodynamics
84
Time in Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics
92
Time, Irreversibility, and Self-Organization
100
chapter 6 Time and Life 107
Time in Darwin's Theory of Evolution 108
Time in Molecular Evolution 111
Time Hierarchies and Biological Rhythms
117
chapter 7 Time and Consciousness 121
Temporal Rhythms and Brain Physiology 122
The Experience of Time and
the Emergence of Consciousness
124
Computation Time and Artificial Intelligence 128
chapter 8 Time in History and Culture 137
Time in Historical Cultures
138
Time in Technological-Industrial Cultures
144
The Time Horizon of the Technological World
and the Philosophy of Time
152
Further Reading
161
Index
167
Acknowledgments
The Little Book of Time was inspired by my research in
philosophy and history of cosmology, complex systems, and
nonlinear dynamics. In two books that were previously
published in English, Symmetries of Nature (1996) and
Thinking in Complexity: The Complex Dynamics of Matter,
Mind, and Mankind (3rd edition, 1997), I explain these
topics in greater detail. I want to express my gratitude to
Springer-Verlag, the publisher of Thinking in Complexity,
The Little Book of Time, and two of my German books, for
the fruitful cooperation over the past years.
For the careful translation of The Little Book of Time, I'd
like to thank Josef Eisinger. Thanks also to Heather Jones for
largely improving the English manuscript. I am especially
grateful to Mareike Paessler, Anna Painter, and Paul Farrell
of Copernicus Books, as well as to designer Jordan Rosen
blum, for the coordination and preparation of the book's
publication.
Klaus Mainzer
Augsburg, Germany, Spring 2002
VIII
Introduction
The end of the second millennium was merely a numerical
occasion that left no significant traces on humanity. Even
the date conversion of computer times was taken in stride
by our worldwide information and communication
networks. Instead, the widely anticipated catastrophes and
dislocations took place at other times; September 11,2001,
was a far more consequential event than was January 1,
2000. This upholds the thesis expounded in this book: Apart
from the external technical clock time, there exists an intrin
sic systems time that controls the processes of structural
change, growth, and aging in systems ranging from organ
isms, populations, and institutions to states, cultures, and
societies. Even the Universe is subject to phases of renewal
and aging that are distinct from the external measured time.
We therefore ought to spend less time watching the clock,
and should take note of the inner temporal rhythms of
nature and society.
IX
x INTRODUCTION
What becomes apparent is a complex network of tempo
ral rhythms in which physical, biological, psychological, and
social processes superimpose and interact with each other.
According to our present understanding, time is an inter
disciplinary concept par excellence, in which the natural and
social sciences and the humanities complement and rely on
each other. This is the novel perspective that lends this book
its particular character.
How did the story of time begin? When did people first
take an interest in time? The emergence of an awareness of
time in hominids and the temporal orientation of early
hunting and farming societies were followed by the first
astronomical time determinations by the ancient high
cultures. Pre-Socratic natural philosophers like Parmenides
and Heraclitus were the first to formulate the fundamental
questions that influence discussions of time to this day. Is
the world, as Heraclitus believed, in a continuous state of
creation with time running irreversibly like the current of a
river, or is every change merely an illusion, as Parmenides
argued, and time a reversible parameter of an immutable
world of eternal natural laws? That time can have a begin
ning was an assumption made by Saint Augustine, who
related it to a divine act of creation.
The physical measurement of time in the Universe was
examined by Newton, who assumed that all clocks in the
Universe could be synchronized to an absolute world-time.
Time measurements on Earth seemed to confirm this
assumption. As to the direction of time, classical physics
explained for the first time the fundamental time symmetry
INTRODUCTION XI
of physical laws, which permits events to proceed from future
to past as well as from past to future. Youth and old age
appear to be of no concern to physics.
In Einstein's theory of relativity, the measurement of
time is no longer absolute but becomes a function of
motion; the speed of light now represents a constant of
nature, as well as the upper limit of velocity. A new quantity
called proper time ("eigenzeit") is used to relate the different
subjective times in systems moving relative to each other.
Relativity theory uncovers startling effects: according to the
twin paradox, persons that move at different speeds age at
different rates. But because of the symmetry of time, the
twins might just as well get younger at different rates! For
Einstein, the direction of time was just a fantasy. His world
is the modern version of Parmenides's world of immutable
natural laws. But as Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking
have shown, Einstein's general theory of relativity also leads
us to accept an expanding Universe with a singularity as its
starting point. Time as an act of creation, after all, as
claimed by Saint Augustine? This might appeal to theolo
gians; not, however, to mathematicians and physicists
(although this has nothing to do with their religious convic
tions). Instead, singularities represent a capitulation of
mathematics: at singularities of vanishing size and infinite
potential, the laws of physics can be shown to fail.
On subatomic scales, the laws of quantum mechanics
and their dependence on Planck's constant must also be
taken into account. It is remarkable that the laws of quan
tum mechanics are also symmetrical in time. To be sure, a
