Irreversible Time as Quantum Self-Measurement

Abstract

Time’s arrow has long resisted a fundamental explanation. The physical laws governing microscopic dynamics are time-symmetric, yet our experience of reality is not. This paper proposes that temporal irreversibility arises from quantum self-measurement: each discrete act of relational actualization constitutes an irreversible update of the universe’s state. Within the framework of the Discrete Gravitational Ontology (DGO) — where spacetime itself is composed of minimal gravitational relations — time corresponds to the one-way accumulation of realized relations. The universe continuously measures itself into being; what we perceive as the flow of time is the growth of its own record. Entropy, causality, and cosmic expansion appear as complementary expressions of this self-referential process. The work concludes with a metaphor: the universe throws the dice once, and time is the record left on the table.