Consciousness, Time, and the Universe: An Interplay of Observation and Change

Ayush Jain

I’ve been exploring the nature of consciousness, time, and the universe, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on these ideas:

1. Consciousness as Fundamental:
Consciousness is not just an emergent phenomenon but a fundamental property of the universe. It creates a dual multiverse: one shaped by each being's unique experience and another formed by the set of all possible human experiences through decision-making.

2. Free Will as a Journey, Not a Choice:
Decisions often feel like free will, but they may be pre-determined by prior experiences and values, akin to retrieving answers from a "cache." Active reasoning feels like control because we consciously live through the line of reasoning.

3. Reality Requires Observation:
The universe exists only when observed. Without observation, there’s only potentiality—an idea resonating with quantum mechanics and idealism.

4. Time as a Byproduct of Entropy:
Time is not an independent entity but a construct emerging from the increase in entropy. For the universe to exist beyond nothingness, time is essential to define and characterize change.

How do these ideas resonate with you? What are your perspectives on the interplay between consciousness, observation, and the structure of reality?

Arne

pre-determined — Ayush Jain

Irregardless, pre-determined and determined are the same.

SophistiCat

↪Ayush Jain

These are kind of random musings. Discussion would be more productive if you took one of these theses, thought it through, and developed in a separate post.

Here is one that you may not have thought through:

Time is not an independent entity but a construct emerging from the increase in entropy. For the universe to exist beyond nothingness, time is essential to define and characterize change. — Ayush Jain

"[T]ime is essential to define and characterize change [over time]." That is a truism, of course, and it highlights the problem with trying to derive time as "emerging from the increase in entropy." Entropy increases - changes - over time. You need to have the concept of time before you can talk of an increase in entropy. Deriving time from entropy is circular, because the latter concept depends on the former.

Entropy, arguably, can explain the arrow of time: the fact that past and future are asymmetric. It is by way of entropic processes that memories are inscribed in our brains, and thus we remember the lower-entropy past and not the higher-entropy future.

Ayush Jain

↪SophistiCat

Thanks for the feedback, and I agree with you. This was my first post here, and I couldn't contain my excitement to be discussing on all the topics, so I had put all of them to see how the discussion flows. Will develop each thought deeply.

Also, on the entropy piece. I think that entropy is more fundamental than time itself, which is the reason why I used entropy to define time.

In a universe where nothing ever changes, time has no meaning. Time emerges only when change or entropy is introduced.

SophistiCat

Also, on the entropy piece. I think that entropy is more fundamental than time itself, which is the reason why I used entropy to define time.

In a universe where nothing ever changes, time has no meaning. Time emerges only when change or entropy is introduced. — Ayush Jain

Yes, you said this already in your opening post, and I explained why this is unworkable.

Consciousness, Time, and the Universe: An Interplay of Observation and Change

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