... with elegant simplicity.

It is human's way of detecting, measuring, recording and predicting change in the state and relative location of matter. We humans invented methods and devices to demarcate and measure time because we saw the connection between the occurrence of events and natural rhythms and cycles. No other entity gives a damn about time. The flora and fauna go by day, night and season. They have no concept of seconds, minutes or hours.

Furthermore, as physical entities approach the speed of light, time doesn't slow down. The devices recording the time slow down.

Wheeler's quip is cute, but it doesn't explain time. A small mouth keeps a large hamburger from going in all at once.

Were Einstein's Special Relativity true, light would stop in its tracks.

Because many physicists have points of contention amongst themselves, it just goes to show that some, if not all, of them could be wrong. Sometimes, unproven science takes on a political attribute. Just look at "Climate Change".