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August 18, 2025

From the Law of Space to the Law of Time: A Paradigm Shift in Human Innovation

In the long era when human thought remained within the framework of plane geometry, we were accustomed to thinking and designing under the law of space. The definition of the shortest path was simply: “The straight line between two points is the shortest.”

When we realized that the world is not only planar but also curved, the old law needed correction—but it still remained within the framework of spatial laws.

The Limitations of the Law of Space

Whether in plane geometry or curved geometry, at a deeper level they are both constrained by a more universal principle—the law of time. Under the law of time, the optimal path is not the one with the shortest spatial length, but the one that consumes the least time.

The propagation of light follows precisely this law: It does not choose the shortest spatial path, but the path of minimal time.

The Physical Significance of the Law of Time

This idea is elevated in modern physics. Feynman’s path integral formulation of quantum history is derived precisely from the universality of the law of time.

Life itself also follows this logic: According to Schrödinger’s definition, life is a dissipative structure that “feeds on negative entropy,” and its existence depends on the irreversibility of time.

From Physics to Products

Returning to engineering and product design, much of our past innovation has remained at the level of the law of space—pursuing formalized, mechanized, reductionist designs.

But a true paradigm leap requires entering the world of the law of time. Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin is a typical case: It created a system operating as a dissipative structure, marked by the irreversibility of time, thereby achieving decentralized consensus and global completeness.

Conclusion

Systems that follow the law of time, not only reveal the underlying order of how the world operates on a physical level, but may also become the greatest source of large-scale human innovation today.