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Time, Causality, and Computational Intelligence

Understanding how we conceptualize time out of the complex present moment opens up possibilities for greater causal impact.

Grant H Brenner MD DFAPA
6 min read5 days ago
Photo by author

Time. We use it to organize our lives, measure our experiences, and impose structure on reality. But what if time, as we conventionally understand it, doesn’t actually exist? What if, instead of being a fundamental dimension, like spatial dimensions, time is more akin to the color purple, a psychological color which does not exist outside of the human mind?

There is evidencethat temporal illusions are common, similar to familar spatial illusions. For example, just as things that are far away appear smaller, intervals that are further in the future appear briefer [1].

If time doesn’t exist in the sense that clocks and calendars lead us to believe it does, how do we make effective choices in the here and now [2]? Philosophers and physicists [3] have long grappled with the nature of time; how often do we stop to deeply ponder what time actually is and means?

The Effectively Infinite Present Moment

Rather than viewing time as the fourth dimension-the corridor of time-imagine that all time may be folded up in the present moment, more…

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Grant H Brenner MD DFAPA
Grant H Brenner MD DFAPA

Written by Grant H Brenner MD DFAPA

Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst, Entrepreneur, Writer, Speaker, Disaster Responder, Advocate, Photographer

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