By some definition, anything that allows measuring time is a clock. It might be a weird clock, but clock still.
this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2026
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These are words that are possible to put together in a headline, but don't actually make any sense.
Terry Pratchett stuff
If you want to make a clock, you must first invent the universe.
Builds a cage. Shakes it, things inside rattle. Leaves it be, things inside do not rattle.
What am I missing? ELI5
So here is the actual article and not the pop-sci woo: https://journals.aps.org/prresearch/abstract/10.1103/1h9j-df4k
What's interesting to me from the abstract is the fact that they experimentally construct an ordered parameter, derive an effective Schroedinger equation that uses this parameter as if it were time, and then show that this equation actually does properly describe the experimentally observed evolution of the system.