Book excerpt: Einstein penned a letter in his final days. In it, he wrote, "The distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." The Machine That Breaks Time asks the question: What if he was right? While most of the writing on the subject is entombed in academic texts, The Machine That Breaks Time uses short installments, plain-spoken language and pop culture references to paint an astounding picture of four-dimensional spacetime for the curious layperson. The book is a roadmap to consider - and finally visualize - the impossible implications of something called Block Universe Theory. The book then harnesses this vision of time and leaps headlong into another mystifying topic: the singularity (the moment technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible). For the first time, everything from the existence of free will, to reincarnation, to time travel is examined through both of these lenses at once. In the end, the author invites the reader to consider how the rise of artificial intelligence will expose this "stubbornly persistent illusion." And then, how it might be exploited - to turn time inside out.