The Theory of Conscious Time

With no unifying theory for General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, and inspired by the Double Slit Experiment, I devised my own: The Theory of Conscious Time. I believe it explains some mysteries while illuminating others I hadn’t set out to address.

Recognising that many theories in physics, particularly in Quantum Mechanics, rely heavily on mathematics paired with imagination, I wondered if it might be possible to develop a theory rooted primarily in imagination—a resource I have in abundance. Starting with a single, simple yet radical idea, I devised a theory that not only provides logical explanations for certain mysteries but also raises intriguing questions. I then sought to address these questions, aiming to refine and complete the theory. This approach deliberately disregards many existing theories, as I wanted to think beyond conventional boundaries and propose something truly different.

For centuries, the quest to explain Quantum Mechanics and other mysteries of physics has led scientists to develop complex theories and mathematical frameworks. Today, billions of dollars are invested in large-scale experiments, such as particle colliders, to investigate the fundamental building blocks of the universe and uncover its origins. In stark contrast to this monumental effort, my theory begins with a simple premise concerning the nature of ‘time.’ From this foundational idea, I propose that our perception of time is an illusion. While Einstein famously suggested that time itself is an illusion, this theory aims to delve deeper into explaining the nature of that illusion and addressing related enigmas.

The fundamental view of this theory

This theory suggests that we have been looking at time in the wrong way. The fundamental principal of the theory is that our perception of time is not a product of the universe or space, rather it is a function of our brain or consciousness with space itself existing without time. Thus we experience space or the universe with data being processed by the brain and it is our senses that feeds the brain with signals which are interpreted as reality using a logical linear sequence of information packets which is why we experience time. Waves of energy are divided into into logical chunks of data which are streamlined to our brain.  This is how the brain makes sense of a universe where all things exist in all allowable locations at once, but one snapshot at a time because the brain is finite.

How Time and Space interact

If the universe consists of waves, our brains process these waves linearly, creating a simulation we perceive as particles and the physical world. Space and the quantum realm are fundamentally the same, but perception creates the illusion of two sets of laws. Particles are simply waves sliced by time, which itself is merely a product of information processing.

Our reality is a simulation—a brain-generated interpretation of the universe. Waves are divided into “time chunks,” giving us a sequential experience of past, present, and future, while the universe itself remains a realm where particles exist in all possible locations simultaneously. This explains why observation alters experimental results, such as in the Double Slit Experiment.

Different sensory organs detect waves from a vast spectrum, which the brain converts into electrical signals to form our perception of reality. The universe itself is a unified entity, while our experience of it is filtered and processed, turning waves into particles of data experienced moment by moment. Without time, particles exist everywhere they are allowed to be, reflecting their quantum behaviour.

Instead of time being a dimension of space, it is better understood as a perception imposed on space. Space-time is simply space perceived through the lens of time. There is the observer (us) and the object (a timeless universe).

Einstein linked time and space as interdependent, like the axes of a graph: the faster we move through space, the slower time flows, and vice versa. My theory provides a straightforward explanation for this relationship.

This theory proposes the following: The faster you move through space, the greater the amount of information your brain is exposed to. Like a computer, the brain has a processing limit. To handle the increased data flow while maintaining its constant processing rate (the speed of light), the brain slows down the perceived passage of time. This slowing of time allows the brain to balance its workload. When stationary, the brain processes the default rate of data, resulting in time moving at its fastest from our perspective. Movement doesn’t change the total amount of data received, only the rate at which it is processed, causing time to slow as information increases.

This theory aligns with the brain’s finite processing capacity in a universe with near-infinite data. The interplay of time and space ensures a constant data rate capped at nearly 300,000 km/s. This even explains why the loss of one sense often enhances others: less data from one source allows for more from another, keeping the brain’s data intake balanced. Time, then, is the sequential processing of aligned information packets.

We know if a spaceship travels near the speed of light and shines a torch, the light still travels at the speed of light. This constancy occurs because time slows to balance the processing of information. In essence, the speed of light represents the rate at which data can be processed, tying time and space directly to the brain’s limitations. The resulting equation reflects this balance.

Light Speed = Space + Time.

This phenomenon is noticeable even when driving. At higher speeds, we perceive less detail because the faster rate of data flow limits the brain’s ability to process finer information. Conversely, walking allows us to observe more detail in a smaller area, but we cover less distance. In both cases, the total amount of data processed remains the same, either detailed data from a small area or less detailed data over a larger area.

Our experience of the universe doesn’t fully represent its true nature. Instead, it is a simplified interpretation that the brain can manage. While the universe exists as a realm of all possibilities in all states and locations, our brain cannot process this vast dataset. Instead, it extracts manageable chunks of information, presenting them in a linear sequence. This creates the perception of frozen moments, allowing us to make choices that influence outcomes.

The linear flow of time, past, present, and future, is simply the brain’s method of organising data. If the brain processed data in reverse, the total experience over a lifetime would remain the same, though interpreted as either insight or hindsight. Time’s direction is not an inherent property of the universe but rather a reflection of how our brains process information.

• Our past -> Our present -> Our future = Total amount of data that we have observed or experienced in our life time. (Insight)
• Our future -> Our present -> Our Past = Total amount of data that we have observed or experienced in our life time with an emphasis on learning how it happened. (Hindsight)

In conclusion, our brain receives this information but, like any processor, cannot handle everything simultaneously. An immense stream of information is processed by the brain, which we perceive as the flow of time.

Unifying Quantum and Relativity

This theory suggests that General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics appear different because observation introduces time. Our bodies are not equipped to observe the quantum scale naturally, leaving particles like electrons in an unobserved state. Our brains are not designed to perceive particles inherently, which is why electrons exist everywhere at once in the quantum world. When unobserved, an electron behaves like a wave. Upon observation, it appears in a specific state or position, determined by time.

If, for example, we could enlarge an atom to the scale of a solar system, with the nucleus as the sun and electrons as orbiting planets, it would exhibit gravitational behaviour. However, on the quantum scale, where observation is not natural to the brain, electrons exist in all their possible states because time is not applied. Similarly, if we imagine the solar system travelling through the galaxy at 70,000 km/h, its path would form a vortex, resembling a wavelength. Each planet and moon can be visualised as a particle, with its orbital path representing a wave and its frequency.

Solving the Double Slit Experiment

The Double Slit Experiment has puzzled scientists for over 100 years. The reason that the laws of Quantum are so weird is because things are too small to be naturally observed, so they behave in a manner without our influence. Upon observation, we impose time to the information we receive using a finite resource, our brain. Bigger things actually work the same way as they do at Quantum scale, except we are naturally conscious of things at our scale and always perceive them by observation. Observation of bigger things are naturally filtered by our brain which imposes time and sequential ordinance to the experience. It is so seamless that it makes us believe that time is a product of the universe itself and have not noticed that our brain is slicing reality up for us in order to make sense of all the information as it needs to be processed by the brain. A bit like a fish that doesn’t know what water is, we do not naturally know what time really is.

As soon as we observe things at quantum level or any level, then we see it through the eyes of time because that is what our brain serves up in the usual manner a sequential information. This further leads into concluding that not only is the quantum level weird, but the whole universe is weird. It seems that Quantum level experiments merely show a loophole in the system where this seamless processing of reality by the brain is essentially not invoked because we cannot naturally observe things at this small level.

The Double Slit Experiment can be explained through the role of observation. When particles are not observed, they leave an interference pattern because they behave as waves of the electromagnetic spectrum. Without observation, time is not applied, and the particles remain in this wave-like state. However, when observed, information is received by us with finite resource processing. So the brain processes the experiment in moments or snapshots, presenting us with a view of particles instead of waves and time instead of all information at once.

Even when a measuring device is placed after the slits but before the back plate, particles behave as particles because observation introduces time. This act collapses their wave-like behaviour into discrete particles. Likewise, the ability to fire particles relies on observation, maintaining their particle-like nature during that stage of the experiment.

The challenge lies in our reliance on observation to learn. This means we almost always perceive the world as filtered through the brain and shaped by time. However, this experiment offers a rare opportunity to glimpse the universe in its unprocessed state. The unobserved portion reveals a closer representation of the universe’s true nature.

In reality, both results of the experiment coexist and are correct. When observed, the brain interprets the outcome through time, displaying particles in fixed positions. When unobserved, time is absent, and the particles behave as waves, either spreading into all possible positions or bouncing off one another. If time were removed entirely, all particles would behave simultaneously, either interacting directly or existing across their full range of possibilities.

Merging science and religion

While science and religion are poles apart for many people, there is much common ground between the two. For example when people experience NDE (Near death Experience), they often note that they are conscious while outside their bodies and can still see things including a view of their own body while in some kind of floating state. Both science and religions have explanations for this and it is interesting to note that many people who experience a NDE say that the experience lacked the dimension of time. It is common for them to note that they sort of existed or experienced a realm of eternity. These observations fit well with this theory because time being a construct of the brain means that once a patient becomes brain-dead, then time will no longer exist for them. They will perceive the universe outside of time, and upon being brought back to this life and time, their explanations would use religious overtones like ‘eternity’ and ‘infinite’. They also mention that the experience is much richer, so perhaps time dilutes our experience of life because we experience a finite part of what there is to experience.

Religious experiences are often called spiritual experiences which means it is an experience that is not physical. Because the brain is a physical organ, it is naturally assumed that reality looks differently without it, while science holds that the brain is absolute in order to remain conscious, thus our existence is purely physical. Science explains NDEs as the result of a lack of oxygen to the brain leading to hallucinations. Religions says otherwise because they generally believe existence is not physical even though we exist in a physical universe, but that the physical realm is only part of an even greater realm. Similarly, time is part of an even greater experience of eternity.

I am not really trying to bridge the gap here between science and religion or even prove that there is life after death, but to say that the scientific conclusion of NDEs seems weird because we have to take for granted that NDE patients experience the same hallucinations or dream the same themes at least. While both religion and science explain these experiences in their own ways, both agree that the lack of brain activity leads to a different perception of reality with religion saying that what is being experienced is real, while science says it is merely hallucinations or illusion. Ironically, many famous scientists including Einstein say that reality itself is the illusion, so it could turn out that an experience without the brain is reality and with it is the illusion, simulation, or a mere perception of reality.

NDE’s are also experienced from people of all walks of life including brain surgeons and Atheists who have totally changed their view of reality after their experience. The common themes of NDE’s include: a dark void with a light in the distance leading through a tunnel, then being overwhelmed by a sense of immense love, and an existence without time. NDE’s fit well in this theory because time being a construct of the brain means that when the brain dies, perception of the universe changes to perhaps a direct experience of the real universe or existence. Further, science has never proved that NDE’s are not real, it only assumes that consciousness is a product of the brain. Many religions hold the view that the brain simply acts like a computer with the real ‘me’ as the ghost in the machine or the soul in the physical body.

Regardless of your view here, NDE’s support this theory and if we understood that consciousness can exist outside of the brain, then it could radically change science and bring it closer to a belief in an afterlife of some kind. If the brain does generate time, then many religious experiences could be real experiences without influence of time.

Rebuttals & likely questions to this theory

There are a number of questions that one could ask in opposition to this theory. I will highlight the ones I expect people will ask and give possible explanations for them.

Q: If the Double Slit Experiment can be explained as seeing the universe without time and then seeing it with time due to observation, then how come we do not see the same thing when doing experiments at normal scale?

A: Our body and brain are designed to perceive the universe at our scale. We can observe things at a certain scale and thus experiments at this scale will always result in being ‘observed’. A challenging experiment would be to get the same results as the Double Slit Experiment but at our scale by turning off all effects of observation. Remember that observation is more than seeing with the eyes. It is perceiving things at this scale measuring them, and directly observing them. There are many ways we can perceive things that do not involve seeing them. The need to turn them all off somehow could yield an interesting result. If an experiment could replicate the Double Slit Experiment but at our scale, then this would go a long way to supporting the idea that time is a construct of the brain.

Q: What about people with brain damage. Surely there would be people that have damaged part of their brain that affects their perception of time, if time is solely created in the brain

A: It could be that if you damage this function of the brain it leads to death which explains why NDE patients experience what they call ‘eternity’ or being conscious in a state without time. Perhaps this function of the brain is fundamental in order to be a conscious person. People in comas who have some brain function, have damaged the part of the brain that gives us the experience of time. The result then could be a dream state, where coma patients cannot experience the universe in its particle state meaning they are not conscious in this reality. The same goes for dreaming. Are they just experiences without linear time? You could be dreaming of a time when you were a child and then as an adult. Dreams do not seem to follow linear time so perhaps the part of the brain that processes information in a linear fashion is switched off during the dream state.

Q: if time is a function of the brain, then why would two people in different times but same location, not see each other or bump into each other?
A: They are in two different areas of space. Remember that when I occupy the same space as someone else or even myself, everything has moved or particles are in a different arrangement. So we are not in the same space but different time, but in different states or particle arrangements.

Q: Why do we see the past when pointing at distant stars and galaxies.
A: We are seeing other particle arrangements of the universe. Particles are in superposition, the more light we observe, the more different arrangements we observe. Again our brain creates time.

Q: Where are the complex mathematical equations to explain your theory.

A: If you can come up with an equation to give this theory some mathematical evidence, then please feel free to do so. However, bear in mind that Einstein already created the math behind time and space. I am simply saying that time is a function of the brain, so his math can stand as it is, with the additional understanding of what time really is.

Q: If time is a construct of the brain, then does that mean the universe didn’t have a beginning?

A) It doesn’t mean that. Whether the universe had a beginning or not, this theory suggests that all things in the universe are in all possible states and possible locations and we isolate these states and locations with our brain which feeds our mind perhaps one qubit frame after another in order to process the incredible amount of overall data our brain receives.

Q: How do you know that particles are waves with time applied to them?

A: I am saying that particles have places where they can and can’t go. Imagine all the possible places a particle can be including bouncing off other particles. An electron is said to be everywhere (possible) at once, so to me that is a perfect description for a particle’s existence without time. Once we observe it, then it doesn’t appear everywhere at once because our brain feeds us one frame of that particle’s superposition thereby seeing its location. So we see its location anywhere we look within its possible range. Similarly, if I took a million year snapshot of our solar system, then all the planets and moons would be in superposition and if I took a photo of the Solar System then I would see one of the possible locations for the objects in the Solar System.

Q: Is time travel possible given your theory?

A: The universe is a dimensional construct that contains all things in all possible places in all time. If we could tinker with our brain’s interpretation of waves, i.e., resulting electrical signals, then many realities that we extrapolate from the universe could be possible. People claim that they can do such things through meditation or with the aid of drugs. Or think about dreaming, which is a series of memories that are usually not linked in a logical time sequence such like when we are awake.

What this theory explains

This theory is based on a simple premise, yet it adequate explains quite a few current mysteries from physics and also other fields too.

1. It explains what the illusion of time is.
2. It explains how to unite Quantum Mechanics with General Relativity in one unifying theory by essentially saying that both are actually the same except that things at our scale are always observed one way or another meaning our perception of large scale objects is created while atoms are not.
3. It explains synced fluctuations or the relationship between time and space by saying that the brain handles a certain size of data packet with movement slowing down the amount of data packages to keep the stream of data at the same constant size .
4. It provides a simple explanation for the famed ‘Double Slit Experiment’ which has baffled scientists for over 100 years by saying that time is a function of the brain, and we do not naturally observe things on a Quantum scale. So the Quantum realm is perceived as a place without time with particles being everywhere and nowhere at once. In short the universe without time.
5. It provides an explanation as to why people who do not have use of a sensory organ end up with stronger input in their remaining senses. e.g., loss of eyesight can give better hearing. Due to a cap in the amount of data the brain can handle in any one frame, if there is no sensory input through the eye, then more data can be interpreted through the ears.
6. It explains why some people are able to experience other levels of consciousness. Our brains are designed to give us this physical interpretation of the universe. But under the influence of drugs, sleep, brain damage, and even a near death experience, humans experience reality with no respect for time. Perhaps to be a normal functioning human is to have our brains wired to receive the physical universe simulation that we believe is real. If the brain is altered to affect our feed of reality, then we fall out if sync with time itself and to the rest of the world we appear as being in a trance, asleep, or dead.
7. It opens up the possibility that there exists life that experience a greater range of the spectrum than us or who can tune into a different reality stream. They could even be right next to us or even inside us.

Conclusion

The micro to macro world are not actually different, only the way we perceive them. We are not wired to understand the micro world because it is not essential for our reality. Our brains make sense of the universe by receiving waves in the spectrum via the senses and then creating the experience we call reality. This is not the case in the micro-world because we are not wired to understand that scale as it is beyond our natural observation. If time is an illusion, then it is our brain that creates this illusion as part of the processing of information. Time is not a dimension of the universe, it is created in our minds to make sense of it all. Hence observation produces this result, and non-observation doesn’t apply that filter, which supports the differences we see in the Double-slit experiment with observation and non-observation.

We know that the universe is made up of data/information. We receive this information through our senses, but like all computers, the brain cannot process everything in a moment. Information is streamed for processing and that is the arrow of time. Our physical reality is created in the brain from signals within the spectrum.