Time Reborn and the Location of Time

[wmikewells]

I am toward the end of reading Smolin's Time Reborn for the second time, and it occurred to me that there was a missing piece. There is very little mention of where time exists. If time is real, I would think that it exists at some point or within some volume. I do not wish to point out a shortcoming of the book. I was just wondering if someone could elucidate that point for me.

The only parts that I could find that came close were on the following pages:

Chapt. 11 Page 129 - If we are to deduce predictions from the theory, it must establish how many universes have such-and-such properties at each moment of time. This time must be meaningful not only throughout each universe but across the whole population. So we need a notion of time that gives us a picture of simultaneity within each universe and across that population.

Chapt. Page 249 - Time is the most real aspect of our perception of the world. Everything that is true and real is such in a moment that is one of a succession of moments.

Given these quotes, I can only come up with a couple of interpretations that make sense to me:

1. Time exists everywhere and at every point in the universe (or multiple universes if natural selection cosmology is true).
2. Time does not have a location since it is what everything occurs in and therefore defines location.

These interpretations might be mutually exclusive, but I can't say why just yet. It may be that I missed further clarification in the book (since some of the points went over my head). Or it may be the case that this question is still an open issue to be determined by the theory beyond quantum mechanics.

If someone could shed some light on this, it would be greatly appreciated. Please keep your explanations high level if possible.

 

[wmikewells]

I missed a quote that makes sense of where time is. I don't know how I missed it.

Chapter 13 Page 171 - As noted, one quantity not allowed to change when you expand and shrink scales is the overall volume of the universe at each time. This makes the overall size of the universe and its expansion meaningful, and this can be taken for the universal physical clock. Time has been re-discovered.

The universe taken as a whole is a huge clock. Time exists everywhere and each point. That is some pretty heavy metaphysical baggage for such a simple statement.

 

[wmikewells]

And I am not sure, but I also think the book posits that the universe is a big clock because it is composed of a bunch of smaller, synchronized clocks (residing at each node or particle in a quantum-graphity model).

Chapter 15 Page 191 - But in a quantum universe where every particle is potentially one step away from every other particle, everything is essentially "at the same place." In such a model, there's no problem synchronizing clocks, so there is a universal time.