The nature of time has plagued thinkers for as long as we've tried to understand the world we live in. Intuitively, we know what time is, but try to explain it, and we end up tying our minds in knots.

Three years ago, I joined TIME with a clear purpose: to honor, extend, and revitalize a brand built on more than a century of trusted journalism. The challenges then—and now—were real: declining print ...