Robert Hazen & Mike Wong: Time’s Second Arrow

Robert M. Hazen, co-author Dr. Mike Wong, co-author

In Time’s Second Arrow, co-authors Robert Hazen and Michael Wong propose a striking idea: alongside entropy’s well-known pull toward decline and disorder, there exists another “arrow” of time—one that points toward increasing complexity, structure, and creative possibility. In this 45-minute tandem talk, Wong introduces the foundations of this emerging theory, while Hazen traces its echoes through human expression, from art and culture to the deep, patterned beauty of music. 

For listeners gathering before the BSO’s performances of The Creation, these ideas resonate in a particularly vivid way. Works of art do not simply resist time’s decay—they embody its generative power, revealing how novelty, meaning, and form can arise and flourish. In this light, Haydn’s luminous meditation on beginnings becomes not only a reflection on origins, but a testament to time’s enduring capacity to create. 

Books will be available for purchase at the event.