Time Is a First-Class Dimension

Time is not metadata. Time is not an attribute. Time is law.

Any system that treats time as secondary cannot tell the truth.

I. The Collapse Caused by Ignoring Time

Most systems model time as:

created_at

updated_at

deleted_at

These are timestamps. They are not time.

Time is not when something was written. Time is when something was true.

Confusing the two destroys correctness.

II. Truth Exists in Time, Not Outside It

Every fact is temporal.

A statement without time is incomplete.

“This invoice is valid.”

Valid when?

Without time, truth is undefined.

III. Legal Reality Is Time-Bound

Law is temporal by definition:

contracts start and end

permissions expire

obligations activate and cease

liabilities change over time

A system that cannot answer:

“What was true on date X?”

is legally blind.

IV. System Time vs Business Time

There are two independent clocks:

System Time — when the system knew

Business Time — when it was true

Conflating them produces false history.

Correction is not mutation. Correction is temporal branching.

V. Updates Are Temporal Crimes

UPDATE overwrites the present and erases the past.

In temporal reality:

facts do not change

new facts supersede old ones

A system that updates rows commits temporal forgery.

VI. Bi-Temporal Truth Is Mandatory

A lawful system must model:

valid_from / valid_to

system_from / system_to

Without both:

corrections are indistinguishable from lies

audits are impossible

responsibility is unclear

Bi-temporality is not complexity. It is honesty.

VII. Replay Requires Time

Replay is meaningless without temporal context.

Re-executing decisions requires:

inputs

law

time

Time determines applicability.

VIII. Final Conclusion

Time is a first-class dimension.

A lawful system:

treats time as intrinsic

records truth across timelines

never overwrites temporal facts

answers “what was true when?”

Anything else produces systems that exist only in the present and lie about the past.