Time as a universal absolute
We’ve seen that change happens and is independent of time. In fact time is dependent on change.
But change events are unique to every object. Indeed if a specific object is in a static state, it isn’t experiencing ‘time’ (other than as a measurement relative to external objects – see ‘Interval‘). There is no universal time, unless you called the aggregate of all events, i.e. the universal set of events, time. But that, as a compound set, has no specificity, so can’t be calibrated against anyway.
No two objects will experience the same event-series, every quantum particle (indeed, every composite object) is unique in it’s spatial existence, and hence its energy influences. Hence time can’t be an absolute, because change is not an absolute.
So, there is no “universal” time; time is specific to each quantum event.
But time ticks the same everywhere?
This shouldn’t be confused with time as a calibration. Of course, if you have a standard calibration system, then it is universal (for example, the metric system could be considered universal). So your measurement of change rate is standard.
This comes back again to which time is being referred to – the standard calibration framework, or some aggregation of unsynchronised, specific change events (i.e. the mass noun).