Fumfer Physics 4: The Emergence and Embodiment of Time
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Vocal.Media
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/09/25
In this Fumfer Physics dialogue, Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner explore the layered nature of time. Jacobsen frames three concepts: time at quantum scales where it appears quasi-atemporal, the emergent unfolding of objective cosmic time, and the subjective, often dilatory, human experience of time. Rosner explains time as embodied in the differentiation of matter and the creation of information, comparing it to the sequential turning of pages in a book. He argues that the universe defines itself through particle interactions and their cumulative history, with the total information constrained by matter content, expansion, and entropy reservoirs.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How do you—this is for Fumfer Physics 4—how do you distinguish between the quasi- or atemporal notion of the world at very small magnitudes, and an emergent sense of time, and then the subjective sense of time we have, which has a dilatory quality? Three concepts: one, the emergent nature of time; two, the objective time embodied in the larger world apart from us; and three, our own subjective sense of time.
Rick Rosner: Let us start with the embodiment and emergence of time. Time is embodied. It is inextricably linked to the creation of information through the differentiation of matter. As matter evolves from an undifferentiated soup into distinct particles, forming relationships and clumping into larger objects, time unfolds in conjunction with this process. It is not that the process occurs inside a pre-existing framework of time. Time itself is an inextricable property of the unfolding. Imagine a sequence of pages in a book: each page is the next moment. Time is the unfolding of information at the active center of a universe. A universe has reservoirs to absorb entropy, allowing for a continuous blooming and unfolding of information, which drives and embodies the forward progression of time. All right, next question. Rotten Tomatoes.
Jacobsen: What do you think of the title Fumfer Physics, by the way?
Rosner: It is fine. Pretty funny if you know what fumfering is.
Jacobsen: I learned that from you.
Rosner: Yes.
Jacobsen: Because you do sometimes. There are numerous additions to the informational content of the universe that have been built through interactivity. The information is defined by its internal interactions and that contributes to the total information content of the universe.
Rosner: I am not sure exactly what you are asking, but I think the answer is that the universe defines itself—the space it occupies, the particles, the sharpness and scale of those particles, their interactions, and the cumulative history of those interactions. So what was the question again?
Jacobsen: Is information added to the universe through its self-interaction? So it cumulatively adds more information into parts of itself.
Rosner: There is a limit to how much information a universe can contain based on the number of particles it has. These particles, through interactions, can only define each other and their space to a certain extent. The definition of particles and space tends toward a maximum: particles, through interactions, maximize the information possible in a universe of this size. To increase definition, the universe must add more particles. The amount of information in a universe is roughly proportional to the amount of matter—the number of particles it contains. That looks like a Big Bang universe: expanding but decelerating. You can call it a flat universe—one with just enough kinetic energy to expand indefinitely, no more. An icy universe resembles this flat state. It never reaches the Big Bang’s end state of endless coasting and expansion until all stars burn out, leaving a slow, cold, empty landscape. An icy universe avoids that fate. As the universe decelerates, other galaxies from near T0 become visible as their light finally reaches us while our relative velocity slows. That is how new matter from the early universe becomes, gradually, observable.
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