Richard William Nelson
[Originally published as Time, Fourth Principle of Natural Selection]
Charles Darwin envisioned life on earth as developing naturally over long periods of time. In The Origin of Species, Darwin varyingly rephrased this principle of natural selection, for example –
I do believe that natural selection will generally act very slowly, only at long intervals of time.
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Time is the fourth of natural selection’s five principles developed by Niles Eldredge of the American Museum of Natural History. V.I.S.T.A. is the acronym developed by Niles to encapsulate Darwin’s five principles of natural selection.
V.I.S.T.A. signifies variation, inheritance, selection, time, and adaptation.
Understanding the scientific principles of time is essential when exploring the scientific foundations of evolution.
Estimates of earth’s age since the nineteenth century have since increased exponentially. At the time, some popular earth estimates were several hundred million years old. Now, some are over 4 billion years old, aligning with Darwin’s limitless time concept:
We may continue the process by similar steps for any length of time.
However, distinct definitions and measurements are essential for scientifically validating any natural phenomenon, like time. Modern concepts of time are infinitely more dynamic and complex than envisioned in the nineteenth century.
The concept of time has intrigued philosophers, scientists, and thinkers throughout the ages. Astronomy and physics offer crucial insights into measuring and defining time scientifically.
Time Measuring Approaches
In the broadest sense, time is a continuous progression of existence from the past and into the future. Mechanical devices such as hour glasses, sundials, and clocks measure the observed progression of present time, while calendars graphically plot time intervals — past, present, and future.
The standard time units are days, months, and years, based on astronomic observations.
- Days correspond to earth’s axis rotation,
- months typically correspond to the moon’s orbit around the earth,
- and a year corresponds to earth’s orbit around the sun.
A day is a prime unit of time – but only on earth.
In the pursuit of discovering a universal prime unit of time, modern physicists introduced time as a distinct dimension. Albert Einstein formulated mathematical and quantum mechanics models to test and decipher the physical dimensions of time throughout the universe.
Understanding the potential and limitations of different time-measuring approaches is vital when investigating time-dependent processes — specifically, evolution.
Astronomical Time Measurements
Days
Time-measuring concepts predated the Sumerian, Egyptian, and Babylonian astronomical observations in the second century BC. Moses explained the day concept in Genesis, writing:
So the evening and the morning were the first day.
Likely, sources of information had long been woven into the culture, with historical documents widely available. First-century historian Flavius Josephus noted that Methuselah had recorded these events on stone obelisks.
The Egyptians introduced the 24-hour day concept to correspond to a 12-star constellation observed in the night sky. If twelve were observed at night, twelve was applied to balance the day — totaling 24 hours.
The Greeks applied the term “hour” to these divisions of the day to signify each as a season — a natural proportion of time. The Sumerians advanced the division of each by 60, a practice popularized by the Babylonians.
A base 60-number system is mathematically more divisible by whole numbers than other base systems. Each hour is divisible by 60 for minutes, and each minute by 60 again for seconds. Measurements of a base-60 system more easily translate into degrees of a circle.
Time measured by earth’s rotation is known as Universal Time. Even though the speed of earth’s rotation varies, the duration of a day remains a prime measure of time.
Astronomers and physicists recently discovered that the earth’s rotation is slowing. When the rotation speed began slowing is under investigation — puzzling astrophysicists.
Months and Years
Civilizations throughout history schematized days into calendars based on astronomical observations. Typically, successive days are grouped into units of time known as weeks, months, and years.
The month is based on the moon’s orbit around the earth, approximately 29.5 days. Years are measured by the earth’s orbit around the sun, approximately 365.2 days. Notably, a day is not a prime number for either months or years.
A universal prime measurement of time beyond a day has long proven elusive. Stonehenge, built in the third century BC, points to pre-historic time-reckoning. The Roman calendar underwent a succession of changes between its founding and the fall of the Roman Empire.
All calendars require ongoing readjustments, defying assumptions that unifying astronomical laws drive the physics of time. A universal measurement of time seems beyond astronomical observations.
Cultural Time Measurements: The Week
In contrast to days, months, and years, a week is a biblical time concept independent of any observed natural phenomenon. The Genesis concept of the Sabbath (Shabbat) is an infinite sequence of seven days.
Noah applied the seven-day concept in the great Flood narrative. As the floodwaters receded, Noah sent a raven, followed by doves at seven-day intervals from the Ark. However, the week concept is unrelated to any measurable natural phenomenon and, as such, does not play a role in defining time scientifically.
The known limitations of measuring time accurately launched the search for more precise methods early in the twentieth century.
Atomic Time Measurements
Atomic clocks are one of the most accurate time-measuring devices ever developed. Quartz clocks were a forerunner of atomic clocks. Natural oscillations of electrons drive atomic clocks.
The precision and stability of these oscillations give atomic clocks a level of accuracy second only to nuclear clocks. The most common atomic clocks are cesium, hydrogen, and rubidium clocks.
Cesium is the most accurate atomic clock and is the basis for the International System of Units’ definition of a second. Atomic clocks are precise, with an unparalleled error rate.
However, is time more than a rate? At the turn of the century, physicists continued their scientific search to discover the natural laws of time.
Physics of Time
After Isaac Newton discovered the laws of motion in the seventeenth century, physicists continued their search to unravel the mysteries of time. By 1916, Einstein proposed a mathematical approach by incorporating a concept developed earlier by Hermann Minkowski. Minkowski coined his concept spacetime.
Space is three-dimensional, defined as width, height, and length. Spacetime incorporates time as a fourth dimension. Einstein defined spacetime as a four-dimensional continuum based on two physical principles: mass and energy.
Einstein’s mathematical model integrated the concept of time dilation and contraction with energy (E) and mass (m): E=mc2. Time dilation sees time traveling at different rates through different frames of reference, with length contracting in the direction of motion.
The theory of spacetime led to the introduction of two interrelated theories, Special Relativity and General Relativity. Together, these opened the field of quantum mechanics and exploration of the subatomic realm.
Although these concepts opened the Atomic Age, the nature of time continues to be a mystery. In 1955, Einstein, writing about the passing of his colleague Michele Besso, noted:
The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.
Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, one of the world’s top 50 thinkers, in The Order of Time, notes the transition of our current understanding:
The past is fixed, the future open … and yet all of this has turned out to be false.
Defining Time
Without a cohesive scientific understanding of the nature of time, time measures beyond the present are mere speculations. According to Rovelli:
The growth of our knowledge has led to a slow disintegration of our notion of time.
Twenty-first-century physicists remain challenged to define the nature of time scientifically. Science excludes presumptions. One research report has this to say about time:
Scientists challenge the long-held presumption that time evolution — the incessant unfolding of the universe over time — is an elemental part of Nature.
The scientific principles of time remain a central, unresolved mystery of the universe. Therefore, perspectives on the intersection of time and evolution are increasingly recognized as mere human interpretations:
Time’s apparent flow is the human interpretation of sequences of causally related events.
Genesis
Time is the opening topic in the Genesis account: “In the beginning.” In The Origin of Species, Darwin comments on Moses’s account:
On the ordinary view of the independent creation of each being, we can only say that so it is… but this is not a scientific explanation.
Paradoxically, Darwin’s view of natural selection is also not a scientific explanation. “Science without religion is lame,” Einstein concluded after finding:
No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word.
