The “Now” Paradox Of Time In The Universe

I took a break from writing for a few months while preparing my new book, but now I’m back. During this time, some remarkable developments have occurred regarding the nature of time — the very subject of my previous article. As you know, I correspond with world-famous physicists and scientists. To help you understand this new development correctly, I am sharing again the last article I wrote about time.

According to science, time does not flow in a straight, continuous stream throughout the universe; it moves in discrete steps. Of course, by “discrete,” we don’t mean divided into slices. Every event has a beginning, a direction, and a speed. Therefore, time also progresses discontinuously, following the direction of the previous state. The best example of this is like a movie reel advancing frame by frame.

Let me first note this: I am explaining that there is no such thing as time flowing and passing in the universe. But can I easily accept this fact and say, “Oh, so that’s how time works”? Of course not — it’s hardly possible for any human being to fully comprehend and accept it, because our nature doesn’t allow it. Also, let me remind you of another important point related to time and mathematics.

According to science, the laws of physics — that is, mathematics — are independent of time. But that’s not all; it goes even further. If the laws are independent of time, then the knowledge of what came before or after, what will happen or what should happen in the universe, is also not contained within those laws. In short, according to existing science, nothing that happens in the universe has a predesigned plan or purpose. Now let me quote from the books of physicists Prof. Sean Carroll and Richard Feynman on this subject:

“The universe, far from embodying any long-term purpose, is a collection of quantum fields moving according to equations that make no distinction between past and future.”
— Sean Carroll, The Big Picture, p. 251

“In all the physical laws discovered so far, we have found no distinction between past and future.”
— Richard Feynman, The Character of Physical Law, p. 124

As we see, the laws of physics — including those related to the quantum world — do not draw any line between past and future. Indeed, it’s hardly possible for them to do so, because even a second ahead is considered in the realm of the future. That would imply that there exists knowledge — a plan, therefore a purpose — about how something that hasn’t yet occurred will unfold one second later. And once you say there is purpose, you immediately bring in God or some other metaphysical element.

As seen, the issue of time is quite an intriguing one. The laws make no distinction between past and future — meaning they contain no concept of time — yet events in the universe clearly have beginnings and endings since the dawn of creation. This is dependent on what we understand as time. How, then, can this process of development in events be explained? According to current science, time is technically a property formed by the second law of thermodynamics — the law of entropy — and it is a feature unique to this universe. To make this clearer, let us turn again to Sean Carroll, who, in another of his books, offers a beautiful metaphor under the heading “The View from No Time”:

“The View from No Time”

“We cannot actually stand outside the universe. The universe (as far as we know) is not an object sitting within a larger space; it is the totality of everything that exists, including space and time themselves.

From the viewpoint of no time, what would we see? We would see nothing changing with time, because we would be outside of time. Instead, we would see all of history at once — past, present, and future. It would be like thinking of space and time as a book; in principle, we could open to any page we liked, or even cut out all the pages and lay them side by side before us, instead of watching the story unfold frame by frame as in a movie.”
— Sean Carroll, From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time, p. 36

I explained this topic in detail in previous sections, but let me briefly restate it here. According to science, our universe formed according to its own laws. Therefore, when viewed from outside, motion and time within the universe cannot be seen. As Carroll says, just like a book, one can look at any part of the universe without regard to chronological order. This is the true state of our universe.

Yet, as I said before, such an idea is almost impossible for us to internalize. Science defines time as the marking of changes in events — the sequencing of transformations side by side. Because this is hard to understand, it is often illustrated by comparing it to a movie reel — a series of frames depicting each moment of action. However, there’s an interesting point here: if time lines up the moments of events like frames of a film, that means events have a beginning and an end — and that everything happens exactly as it should. So if there is supposedly no plan or purpose, how does science explain the continuity of events? Let me quote again from another of Sean Carroll’s books:

“Laplace made perhaps his greatest contribution to our mechanical understanding not through mathematics but through a philosophical leap, by asking and answering a simple question: ‘What determines what happens next?’ His answer: ‘The state of the universe right now.’
Since Laplace’s time, every serious theoretical attempt to understand how the universe works has assumed that both its past and future states are determined by its present state.
This principle which is known by the perhaps slightly misleading name ‘the conservation of information’ asserts that each moment contains exactly enough information to determine all other moments.”
— Sean Carroll, The Big Picture, pp. 41–43

Let me summarize this clearly. According to science, the framework is this: the universe advances moment by moment from the beginning. The knowledge of what will happen in the next moment is contained in the present one. Thus, every moment that exists carries enough information to determine all subsequent moments. In other words, the present moment contains the knowledge of what will come next.

So, the previous moment and its information are not static snapshots like photographs. Because motion continues — just like in the movie frame example — each frame contains imperceptible traces of change that determine the next frame. As Prof. Carroll points out, this is what science tries to describe. Of course, this explanation raises many questions and uncertainties.

If there is no purpose or plan in the universe, according to what does an ongoing process continue, and why does it not stop but instead completes itself exactly as it should? If the laws create each moment in the smallest possible time intervals, how can meaningful outcomes emerge between the beginning and end of a development? Let’s reason this out logically based on results.

If, as science says, what happens next is determined by what exists now, this means that by tracing backward from the current moment, we can know what has been happening up to that point — and therefore, by moving forward from the beginning, we can also know what will happen. This leads to the conclusion that everything has been known from the very beginning. It’s like the gradual formation of a leek, layer by layer, over time. Complicated, isn’t it? Then let’s make it clearer with the movie frame analogy.

Just like in a film reel, when you go backward from the present frame to observe the earlier state, it’s like rewinding the film — you see the developmental stages of the story. So whether you call it a plan or a coincidence, you encounter the reality of a precisely functioning process that has led to the current moment. As in the leek example, at some moment the leek begins to grow and no matter how many moments pass, it completes itself exactly as it should.

Here’s the issue: if there’s no plan, what initiated the process that results in a leek? Another puzzle: despite being exposed to countless different physical interactions around it, how does the leek maintain its structure and reach its intended result? If it’s the present moment that ensures this outcome, then that moment must contain not only the information for the next moment but also for all future moments until completion. Prof. Carroll already stated this: “Each moment contains enough information to determine all others.” This means that even in its first moment, the outcome is already encoded. Otherwise, the continuity of the process would be inexplicable. Consequently, it seems as though there really is a plan or scenario.

Science compares time to a movie reel, but there is a crucial difference. Movie cameras capture images of events that already exist, whereas nature’s “camera of order” not only records but creates the events it captures. It produces each frame itself. Seen this way, time arranges the frames of existence much like early Disney cartoons — think of Tom and Jerry, for instance — where hundreds of artists drew every frame by hand according to the scenario. Each frame had to match the next; otherwise, the motion would break. That’s essentially how time, likened to a film reel, operates structurally.

In fact, science says there is no plan or purpose, but at the same time, it emphasizes that there is information. Naturally, this creates confusion. If there’s no purpose in the development of events but there is information, then every phenomenon must contain within itself, like a seed, a kind of internal plan that allows it to form itself. Without such a property, what would exist is merely an object that somehow began to form but whose future state is undefined. Returning to the leek example — if it had no predetermined size or structure, it would exist merely as an object with the potential to keep growing for billions of years.

There’s another side to the coin: let’s say a leek somehow came into existence once. What causes it to appear again and again in the same form? Even if it came into being once by chance, it would then be an object containing information. But if it’s not like a seed — and a seed is a plan — then where does this information reside? In which part of the leek does it exist, and more importantly, why does it repeat?

In the end, everything seems to converge on the laws of physics — that is, mathematics, or more precisely, statistical mathematics.

(Translated from Turkish by Semih AYDIN – November, 2025)