  The process of identifying a time variable in time reparameterization
invariant theories results in great ambiguities about the actual laws of
physics described by a given theory. A theory set up to describe one set of
physical laws can equally well be interpreted as describing any other laws of
physics by making a different choice of time variable or ``clock''. In this
article we demonstrate how this ``clock ambiguity'' arises and then discuss how
one might still hope to extract specific predictions about the laws of physics
even when the clock ambiguity is present. We argue that a requirement of
quasi-separability should play a critical role in such an analysis. As a step
in this direction, we compare the Hamiltonian of a local quantum field theory
with a completely random Hamiltonian. We find that any random Hamiltonian
(constructed in a sufficiently large space) can yield a ``good enough''
approximation to a local field theory. Based on this result we argue that
theories that suffer from the clock ambiguity may in the end provide a viable
fundamental framework for physics in which locality can be seen as a strongly
favored (or predicted) emergent behavior. We also speculate on how other key
aspects of known physics such as gauge symmetries and Poincare invariance might
be predicted to emerge in this framework.
