Seeing further: the story of science & the Royal Society — 20 GREGORY BENFORD

1. 1. The Royal Society is 350 years old, and science continues, but understanding time remains elusive.
2. 2. Two ancient traditions—Greek order and Judaic linear time—shaped Western views of time, contrasting with cyclic time in other cultures.
3. 3. Einstein's relativity showed that time is relative to motion and gravity, with no universal clock or universal present moment.
4. 4. Einstein considered the distinction between past, present, and future a stubbornly persistent illusion.
5. 5. The second law of thermodynamics defines an arrow of time through increasing entropy, which also applies to black holes.
6. 6. Life does not violate the arrow of time; it relies on a local negative entropy flow driven by the Sun's energy.
7. 7. Deep Time—the vast geological and cosmological timescales—challenged religious views and expanded human perspective.
8. 8. The universe is 13.7 billion years old, and its expansion is accelerating, possibly due to a cosmological constant.
9. 9. Time is a fundamental concept that we still do not fully understand, despite centuries of scientific progress.