Chapter 14, Noise, Nuisance and necessity, p. 127-128
• von Baeyer did not originate the quip about time, which dates back at least as far as the 1929 book "The Man Who Mastered Time" by Ray Cummings, where it appears on p. 1.
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Time has been called God's way of making sure that everything doesn't happen at once. In the same spirit, noise is Nature's way of making sure that we don't find out everything that happens. Noise, in short, is the protector of information.

— Hans Christian von Baeyer

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Time has been called God's way of making sure that everything doesn't happen at once. In the same spirit, noise is Nature's way of making sure that we don't find out everything that happens. Noise, in short, is the protector of information." in the context of "Chapter 14, Noise, Nuisance and necessity, p. 127-128
• von Baeyer did not originate the quip about time, which dates back at least as far as the 1929 book "The Man Who Mastered Time" by Ray Cummings, where it appears on p. 1." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Hans Christian von Baeyer" (Quotes, Information, The New Language of Science (2003)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Hans Christian von Baeyer

About Hans Christian von Baeyer

Hans Christian von Baeyer (born 1938) is a Chancellor Professor of Physics at the College of William and Mary.