Event Detail

Thu Oct 15, 2026
Howison Library, Philosophy Hall
4–6 PM
Philosophy Colloquium
David Albert (Columbia University)
The Beginning of the World and the Sense of the Passing of Time

People often ask – when they are introduced to the modern Boltzmannian account of the direction of time – how the macro-condition of the universe 15 billion years ago could possibly be up to the task of explaining our experience, now and on earth, of the passing of time. I want to try to address this puzzlement here by means of a detailed examination of the inner workings of a familiar pendulum clock.