{"id":233745,"date":"2026-03-20T23:04:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T04:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/does-entropy-control-time"},"modified":"2026-03-20T23:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T04:04:30","slug":"does-entropy-control-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/does-entropy-control-time","title":{"rendered":"Does Entropy Control Time?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wGKRdl8xHnY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice speak with physicist Sean Carroll about whether entropy actually creates time. Sean explains that entropy does not generate time itself, but it gives time an arrow\u2014a direction from past to future. Even if the universe were to stop expanding and begin collapsing, entropy would still increase. The key distinction is between time (which can exist without direction) and the arrow of time, which entropy provides through statistical mechanics and phase space dynamics.<\/p>\n<p>From \u2018The Complex Universe, with Sean Carroll\u2019: \u2022 The Complex Universe, with Sean Carroll.<\/p>\n<p>Get the StarTalk book, \u2018To Infinity and Beyond: A Journey of Cosmic Discovery\u2019 on Amazon: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3PL0NFn\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/3PL0NFn<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Support us on Patreon: \/ startalkradio.<\/p>\n<p>FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE to StarTalk:<br \/> Twitter: \/ startalkradio.<br \/> Facebook: \/ startalk.<br \/> Instagram: \/ startalk.<br \/> TikTok: \/ neildegrassetyson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice speak with physicist Sean Carroll about whether entropy actually creates time. Sean explains that entropy does not generate time itself, but it gives time an arrow\u2014a direction from past to future. Even if the universe were to stop expanding and begin collapsing, entropy would still increase. [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-futurism","category-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233745\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}