“The Age of Time” explores the possibility that the universe may possess
memory of the past. The discussion starts by explaining the relationship between time
and age. The chapter explains that, even though time is just an imaginary concept, age
seems to be something real that irreversibly advances with time. To understand this
connection, the chapter quickly reviews the scientific definition of time, from the
sundial to the atomic clock, and it then continues with the history of entropy from the
steam engine to the theory of communication. It concludes that entropy behaves as an
immaterial memory that takes note of every action and remembers it for the rest of
eternity. Metaphorically speaking, entropy behaves as if the universe must remember
the past in order to avoid repeating it in the future.
Keywords: Age and time, old and new, past and future, reversible and
irreversible, cycles, ephemerides time, sundial, pendulum clock, atomic clock,
perpetual motion machine, the bone digester, steam engine, heat engine, mechanic
work, entropy, second law of thermodynamics, kinetic theory of gases, chaos and
disorder, theory of communication, universal memory.
