Alon Halperin > Quotes

“Three significant processes which took place in the 20th century have completely changed our view of reality: Firstly, the understanding that the world is random and has an inherent component of uncertainty, which doesn’t stem from a lack of information. Quantum theory has taught us that the world at its very base includes components which don’t have certain properties in advance, and that they only appear at random for no reason. Secondly, the understanding that a system which includes components affecting each other is highly sensitive to initial conditions. Chaos theory has taught us that we can never accurately define initial conditions, and so any observation of reality is approximate and will never allow us to accurately predict how the system will develop moving forward. Thirdly, the understanding that nature includes systems which can process internal and external information and develop into very high levels of order, without the need of a planning or overseeing agent. Such systems are based on three principles: random or semi-random movement of components, transmission of information between components (communication, synchronization, physical contact) and feedback between the components and the system itself. The combination of these three principles causes the development of emergent order and organization in the entire system.”
― Alon Halperin, The Network of Time: Understanding Time & Reality through Philosophy, History and Physics

“Space and time are compared to a family tree; they do not exist in themselves but as a system of relationships between the objects of which they consist. In a way, it is like a network of relations, since the network itself does not exist without its relations and the relations are what create the concept of a network.”
― Alon Halperin, The Network of Time: Understanding Time & Reality through Philosophy, History and Physics