We live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
~ John Archibald Wheeler
Physicists love this number not just because it is dimensionless, but also because it is a combination of three fundamental constants of nature. Why do these constants come together to make the particular number 1/137.036 and not some other number?
Individual events. Events beyond law. Events so numerous and so uncoordinated that, flaunting their freedom from formula, they yet fabricate firm form.
Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once.
Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.
