01 March 2008

phiLOSTophy


Consciousness is independent of space and time. Present is defined by mean consciousness.

First thing to think about: Is our future predetermined? Yes it is, but it is predetermined by us. You see, we're not living in the future, we're living in the present, but just because no one is in the future consciously, it doesn't mean that the future doesn't already exist. Time is a dimension, like an axis on a graph, with values reaching to infinity. Think of time as the distance to a place that you can go to. Think of Jupiter’s moon I.O. Just because we're not on the moon I.O., doesn't mean it's not there. It's just a matter of reaching it. So the future exists, it's there, but our consciousness only exists in the present.

Take a simple function y = t. Say john is running, and we suppose that he runs forever (all in the same direction). The value of y would be his distance from his starting point, and it would depend on the value of t, which is time after he started running. So say when t = 20 seconds, y = 20 meters, meaning that john is 20 meters away from the starting point. So if we were to ask, “where is john in the present?”, we may be disposed to say that in the present, john is 20 meters away from his starting point. But we are then assuming that the present exists at t = 20. This is not necessarily true. The present isn’t determined by t, as t is a variable value that can be anywhere between infinity and negative infinity (the amount of time before he started running). Therefore, the present is not t, but a coordinate of t. The value of t that is the present is the value of t at which john is conscious. So let’s suppose that john is conscious at t = 10, then therefore john’s distance from the starting point would be y = 10 meters. But just because the present is at t = 10, the value of y at t = 20 is still y = 20 meters, just like the value at t = 0 is still y = 0. We know that john will run for an infinite amount of time, and therefore he is at an infinite distance, but because his consciousness is independent of t, he can be conscious at t = 10, and therefore we define the present at t = 10.

To say that the future is not predetermined is to say that there is no future, only present.

Ok, time to get a bit more complicated. Say that mindy is also running, from the same starting point as john, but she starts 10 seconds after he does. That means when t = 20, john is at y = 20 meters, and mindy is at y = 10 (y = t – 10). This means that both mindy and john are in the same place in time, but a different place in space. We also know that when john and mindy are at y = 10, john is at t = 10 and mindy is at t = 20 (t = y + 10). This means that john and mindy are in the same position in space, but in a different position in time. Now if we define the present as being t = 10, then that means that john is consciously at y = 10, and mindy is consciously at y = 0, just beginning to run. Now let’s imagine that mindy wants to travel back in time. Since we’re assuming that mindy existed before she began running, and that she will run forever, then in actuality mindy exists in all times. But what we’re concerned with is the position at which mindy’s consciousness is. So if she is indeed travelling back in time, then really what is happening is that her consciousness is changing position in time. So say her consciousness is at t = 0, 10 seconds away from the position of john’s consciousness. So, at t = 0, let’s say we know that mindy is at y = -10 (10 meters behind where john starts running). Since we know that at t = 0, john is at y = 0, mindy would therefore see john 10 meters ahead of her, but since john’s consciousness is still at t = 10, mindy would not be seeing the conscious john, but the unconscious john, running forwards. She would then see the unconscious john repeat, step for step, everything that the conscious john has already done. This mean’s that the unconscious john’s actions are predetermined by the conscious john.

Now there’s the issue of defining present again. If john’s consciousness is at t = 10, and mindy’s consciousness is at t = 0, then at what position is the present? Well, to understand that, we must look at time travel in the other direction.

Let’s say mindy wants to travel (be conscious) into the future. Let’s say she is conscious at t = 20, at this point, her position in space is y = 10 meters from the starting point. Now john’s consciousness is still at t = 10, so the john at t = 20 is unconscious. So mindy would still see john 10 meters ahead of her, but because john is unconscious at this time, his actions must be predetermined by his conscious self, and his conscious self is still at t = 10. So his actions at t = 20 are determined by his actions at t = 10. This makes intuitive sense because we usually think that choices precede actions, and making a choice is in itself an action.

Now, back to the issue of present. Now, when mindy travelled back in time, meaning that she was conscious 10 seconds away from where john was conscious, she saw john follow actions that were predetermined by his conscious self 10 seconds ahead of his unconscious self. When she travelled into the future, she saw john carry out actions that were being determined by his conscious self 10 seconds behind her. Now, what we also have to consider is john’s perspective of mindy. If mindy is 10 seconds behind john (after travelling into the past), then her actions at t = 10 are being determined by her consciousness at t = 0. So, by this logic, john’s ‘present’ would be mindy’s ‘future’. But that would mean that present is relative, and not a definite value. But think about it, if mindy (conscious at t = 0) is seeing john’s actions predetermined, and john is seeing mindy’s actions predetermined, then neither of them is in the present. The present would then be the mean point of consciousness for the both of them. So if john’s consciousness is at t = 10, and mindy’s consciousness is at t = 0, then (10+0)/2 = 5. Thus the present is at t = 5.

Your past and your future are determined by your present. You present determines what you’re about to do, and it also determines what you will have done already. Since mindy is at t = 0, watching unconscious john do what was already determined by conscious john ten seconds in the future, and since john is watching unconscious mindy do what will be determined by conscious mindy ten seconds in the past, then the present must be somewhere in between the consciousness of john and mindy.

We have failed to consider the fact that consciousness does not last a single instant. John may be conscious at t = 10, but that is just where his consciousness is in the timeline. Our conscious minds cannot perceive space and time in more than one instant. Even though john will hypothetically keep running forever for an infinite distance, and therefore be in an infinite amount of positions, he is only aware of his position where his conscious mind is in time and space.

Now, there still exists the obvious problem of how mindy is able to consciously exist in a different time, essentially time travel. The issue becomes somewhat foggy, as we do not have a substantial proven definition of what consciousness is, or what comprises it. If we can accept that consciousness is intangible, meaning that it is not a ‘thing’ that we can point to, then we are accepting that it is not matter in space. If consciousness is therefore not defined by a position in space, then perhaps it is not defined by a position in time. As an example, say I want to move my conscious mind 3 meters to my left in space, I would then move my consciousness through my body by stepping 3 meters to my left, and then my consciousness would have changed its position in space by going to my body when it’s in a different position. Now let’s say that I want to move my consciousness 10 seconds into the past, because it is not defined by one particular position in time, I could then move my consciousness to where my body was ten seconds ago. Just as in the example before, mindy moved her consciousness through time by moving it to where her body was in that time.
A more solid explanation may be required for this. If consciousness isn’t simply ‘the brain’, but rather, a configuration of the brain, then consciousness can be transported through time by configuring the brain of someone in the past to the configuration of that person in the present. It’s similar to how we send images from one phone to computer. A phone will take a picture, and instead of sending the actual picture, it sends the ‘code’ for the picture to a computer in another position in space, configuring the computer screen to display the same picture. Consciousness could be considered as this ‘code’. But in order for it to be able to move through time just as the phone’s radio waves would move through space, it would have not been defined to a particular position in time.

2 comments:

Alexander said...

what is this? It's weird.

Alexander said...

whoops! I answered mine own question!