The Arrow of Subjective Time
Perception
• All perception is of change.
• If there is no change, there is no perception.
• Therefore, a single unchanging thought,
memory, or perception could never be
perceived.
• Examples: All perceived sights, sounds, and
sensations are pulsing, shifting, or cyclic in
nature. Also, our attention is constantly
shifting, resulting in changing perceptions.
Subjective and objective perception
• Definition: “Subjective” perception is change
in thoughts or body sensations normally
thought to be internal to the mind.
• Definition: “Objective” perception is change in
sensory impressions of objects normally
thought to be external to the mind, such as in
the outside world.
Memory
• A memory is a thought or body sensation that
refers to an event that appears to have
occurred in the past.
• A single memory alone cannot be perceived
because it contains no change.
• In order to perceive change, at least two
memories are required.
• These two memories must also contain the
thought that the event had happened in the
past.
Objective and subjective memory
• Subjective memory is a thought or body
sensation that refers to an apparently past
internal event.
• Objective memory is a thought or body
sensation that refers to an apparently past
external event.
• As defined here, no storage device is required
for either subjective or objective memory.
The arrow of objective time
• The arrow of objective time is the
directionality of change in objective memory
as measured by objective devices and
processes such as:
• 1. Clocks, calendars, electronic instruments,
positions of planets, suns, and galaxies;
• 2. The directions of chemical and
thermodynamic reactions;
• 3. The direction in which the entropy of the
universe increases.
Subjective memory
• Even though experiments can show statistical
correlations between some kinds of brain states
and some kinds of mental states, objective
experiments on the brain cannot show that brain
states are the source of thoughts.
• Neither can subjective observation of thoughts
show that thoughts are the source of brain states.
• Thus, we must be open to the possibility that at
least some memory thoughts are purely
subjective, i.e., not related to any brain state.
The ordering of memories
• Both objective and subjective memories may
appear in an ordering.
• Some memories in an ordering are thought to
refer to events occurring at earlier times.
• Other memories in an ordering are thought to
refer to events occurring at later times.
• The times in an ordering are purely
conceptual.
The concept of time
• The time ordering of memories, whether
objective or subjective, determines the sense
of direction in time.
• Random thoughts and sensations either have
no time ordering or have random time
ordering, and thus have no directionality.
Subjective memory and subjective
time
• Subjective time is independent of objective time.
• The arrow of subjective time is the directionality
of change in subjective memory.
• If there is no directionality of change in subjective
memory, there is no sense of subjective time.
• Random background thoughts and body
sensations do not produce directionality (think of
background hums or hisses) so they do not signify
the passage of time.
Perception in quantum mechanics
• In quantum mechanics, perception occurs
either when the wavefunction collapses
(Copenhagen interpretation) or when it
branches (many worlds interpretation).
• Both of these processes are irreversible, thus
perception in quantum mechanics is
irreversible.
• The irreversibility of perception results in both
the sense of time and its direction.
All perception is of memory
• Because, even in quantum mechanics, change
cannot be known without memory, perception
requires memory thoughts or sensations.
• Therefore, all perception is equivalent to
changes in memory.
• Objective perception is not different from
subjective perception because both are of
changes in memory.
• Therefore, there is no difference between
external and internal perception.
Time in quantum mechanics
• In quantum mechanics, the directionality of
time is determined by the process of
observation.
• In the Copenhagen interpretation,
wavefunction collapse is irreversible, making
observation unidirectional.
• In the many-worlds interpretation, branching
of the wavefunction is irreversible, making
observation unidirectional.
Time is a thought
• Time is the concept of time-ordered
memories.
• Memories are thoughts; time ordering is a
thought; thus, time is a thought.
• In the absence of thoughts, there is no time,
e.g., in deep meditation, deep sleep, under
anesthesia.
That which is aware of the thought of
time is Awareness
• The thought of time cannot appear without
the awareness of it.
• Awareness is timelessness.
• Thus, time appears to Awareness and is not
separate from It.
• Since time is not separate from Awareness, it
is not different from It.
• Therefore, the substance of time is
timelessness.
Memory implies change
• A single memory contains no change.
• But, for there to be experience, there must be
change.
• Therefore, there can be no experience of a
single memory.
What can give a sense of directionality
to change?
• A sense of directionality can result from a
sense of sequentiality in memories, e.g., the
sense that one memory came before another.
• This requires at least two memories to be
present, plus a way of determining which
came first.
A single thought could not be
experienced
• A single thought could never change.
Therefore it could not be experienced.