How did we become fixated on a present that disconnects us from the flow of time and established systems of meaning? In this introductory volume, Bernd Scherer, director of HKW, and Helga Nowotny, emeritus professor of science studies at ETH Zurich, examine how concepts of time have evolved amidst capitalism, war conflicts, and technological progress, how we experience time today, what this means for the experience and shaping of our own time, and what alternatives might exist to the framework of pacing and acceleration dictated by algorithms.