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Please also note that we do not accept unsolicited posts and we cannot review, or open new threads for, unsolicited articles or papers. Requests to review or post such materials will not be answered. If you have your own novel physics theory or model, which you would like to post for further discussion among then FQXi community, then please add them directly to the "Alternative Models of Reality" thread, or to the "Alternative Models of Cosmology" thread. Thank you.
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Wandering Towards a Goal
How can mindless mathematical laws give rise to aims and intention?
December 2, 2016 to March 3, 2017
Contest Partner: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Fund.
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Trick or Truth: The Mysterious Connection Between Physics and Mathematics
Contest Partners: Nanotronics Imaging, The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, and The John Templeton Foundation
Media Partner: Scientific American
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How Should Humanity Steer the Future?
January 9, 2014 - August 31, 2014
Contest Partners: Jaan Tallinn, The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, The John Templeton Foundation, and Scientific American
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It From Bit or Bit From It
March 25 - June 28, 2013
Contest Partners: The Gruber Foundation, J. Templeton Foundation, and Scientific American
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Questioning the Foundations
Which of Our Basic Physical Assumptions Are Wrong?
May 24 - August 31, 2012
Contest Partners: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, SubMeta, and Scientific American
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Is Reality Digital or Analog?
November 2010 - February 2011
Contest Partners: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation and Scientific American
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What's Ultimately Possible in Physics?
May - October 2009
Contest Partners: Astrid and Bruce McWilliams
read/discuss • winners
The Nature of Time
August - December 2008
read/discuss • winners
Current Essay Contest
Previous Contests
Wandering Towards a Goal
How can mindless mathematical laws give rise to aims and intention?
December 2, 2016 to March 3, 2017
Contest Partner: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Fund.
read/discuss • winners
Trick or Truth: The Mysterious Connection Between Physics and Mathematics
Contest Partners: Nanotronics Imaging, The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, and The John Templeton Foundation
Media Partner: Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
How Should Humanity Steer the Future?
January 9, 2014 - August 31, 2014
Contest Partners: Jaan Tallinn, The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, The John Templeton Foundation, and Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
It From Bit or Bit From It
March 25 - June 28, 2013
Contest Partners: The Gruber Foundation, J. Templeton Foundation, and Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
Questioning the Foundations
Which of Our Basic Physical Assumptions Are Wrong?
May 24 - August 31, 2012
Contest Partners: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, SubMeta, and Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
Is Reality Digital or Analog?
November 2010 - February 2011
Contest Partners: The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation and Scientific American
read/discuss • winners
What's Ultimately Possible in Physics?
May - October 2009
Contest Partners: Astrid and Bruce McWilliams
read/discuss • winners
The Nature of Time
August - December 2008
read/discuss • winners
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RECENT POSTS IN THIS TOPIC
Cristi Stoica: on 12/24/08 at 16:11pm UTC, wrote Dear Dr. Foundalis, I like the explanation based on adaptation, which you...
Harry E. Foundalis: on 10/21/08 at 9:19am UTC, wrote Essay Abstract In physics, the following puzzle exists: there...
RECENT FORUM POSTS
Anonymous: "North Korea's unilateral action of announcing it was shutting down its only..." in Whose Physics Is It...
Georgina Woodward: "Hi Heinrich I'm not convinced that prior knowledge or experience is..." in Why Time Might Not Be an...
Heinrich Luediger: "Hi Georgina, I said ....one way or another. I'm sure you could have..." in Why Time Might Not Be an...
Joe Fisher: "Dear FQXi.org Board of Directors, Irrefutable evidence exists that..." in Whose Physics Is It...
Georgina Woodward: "Hellen jos, you probably only wanted to place a link, however FYI lots of..." in Does Quantum Weirdness...
Eckard Blumschein: "There was perhaps not yet a third crisis of cosmology conference after..." in The Quantum...
Jonathan Dickau: "For what it is worth... I was there! The paper by Louis Marmet cited..." in The Quantum...
Ashish Kochaar: "No words for the Quantumology. As per their figures and Dates in the May..." in Deferential Geometry
RECENT ARTICLES
click titles to read articles
Whose Physics Is It Anyway? Q&A with Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Why physics and astronomy communities must take diversity issues seriously in order to do good science.
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Einstein’s relativity pushes physicists towards a picture of the universe as a block, in which the past, present, and future all exist on the same footing; but maybe that shift in thinking has gone too far.
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Defining a ‘quantum clock’ and a 'quantum ruler' could help those attempting to unify physics—and solve the mystery of vanishing time.
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Calculating the odds that intelligent observers arise in parallel universes—and working out what they might see.
Cristi Stoica: on 12/24/08 at 16:11pm UTC, wrote Dear Dr. Foundalis, I like the explanation based on adaptation, which you...
Harry E. Foundalis: on 10/21/08 at 9:19am UTC, wrote Essay Abstract In physics, the following puzzle exists: there...
RECENT FORUM POSTS
Anonymous: "North Korea's unilateral action of announcing it was shutting down its only..." in Whose Physics Is It...
Georgina Woodward: "Hi Heinrich I'm not convinced that prior knowledge or experience is..." in Why Time Might Not Be an...
Heinrich Luediger: "Hi Georgina, I said ....one way or another. I'm sure you could have..." in Why Time Might Not Be an...
Joe Fisher: "Dear FQXi.org Board of Directors, Irrefutable evidence exists that..." in Whose Physics Is It...
Georgina Woodward: "Hellen jos, you probably only wanted to place a link, however FYI lots of..." in Does Quantum Weirdness...
Eckard Blumschein: "There was perhaps not yet a third crisis of cosmology conference after..." in The Quantum...
Jonathan Dickau: "For what it is worth... I was there! The paper by Louis Marmet cited..." in The Quantum...
Ashish Kochaar: "No words for the Quantumology. As per their figures and Dates in the May..." in Deferential Geometry
RECENT ARTICLES
click titles to read articles
Whose Physics Is It Anyway? Q&A with Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Why physics and astronomy communities must take diversity issues seriously in order to do good science.
Why Time Might Not Be an Illusion
Einstein’s relativity pushes physicists towards a picture of the universe as a block, in which the past, present, and future all exist on the same footing; but maybe that shift in thinking has gone too far.
The Complexity Conundrum
Resolving the black hole firewall paradox—by calculating what a real astronaut would compute at the black hole's edge.
Quantum Dream Time
Defining a ‘quantum clock’ and a 'quantum ruler' could help those attempting to unify physics—and solve the mystery of vanishing time.
Our Place in the Multiverse
Calculating the odds that intelligent observers arise in parallel universes—and working out what they might see.
FQXi FORUM
April 26, 2018
CATEGORY:
The Nature of Time Essay Contest (2008)
[back]
TOPIC: Why Does Time “Flow” but Space Is? Answers in Evolution and Cognition by Harry E. Foundalis [refresh]
TOPIC: Why Does Time “Flow” but Space Is? Answers in Evolution and Cognition by Harry E. Foundalis [refresh]
Essay Abstract
In physics, the following puzzle exists: there appears to be a physical device, the human brain, which manages to detect properties absent from the formulas of physics; namely, the one-way direction of time and its “flowing” quality. So, either (a) these two properties are physical and physics is an incomplete theory, or (b) they are cognitive (reducible to quantum physics after several levels of reduction, i.e., the neurobiological and chemical levels) and physics is complete as far as our knowledge of time is concerned. This essay claims that (b) is true: both the directionality and the flowing quality of time emerged as evolutionary adaptations in cognitively complex animal species. The main contribution of this essay is to explain why these adaptations emerged in such species, and thus to help disengage discussions on the directionality and flowing quality of time from physics proper.
Author Bio
Harry E. Foundalis has a Ph.D. in cognitive science (2006) from Indiana University, an M.Sc. in computer science, and a B.Sc. in mathematics. He also has keen interests in physics, astronomy, biology, cosmology, philosophy, classic literature, and more.
Download Essay PDF File
In physics, the following puzzle exists: there appears to be a physical device, the human brain, which manages to detect properties absent from the formulas of physics; namely, the one-way direction of time and its “flowing” quality. So, either (a) these two properties are physical and physics is an incomplete theory, or (b) they are cognitive (reducible to quantum physics after several levels of reduction, i.e., the neurobiological and chemical levels) and physics is complete as far as our knowledge of time is concerned. This essay claims that (b) is true: both the directionality and the flowing quality of time emerged as evolutionary adaptations in cognitively complex animal species. The main contribution of this essay is to explain why these adaptations emerged in such species, and thus to help disengage discussions on the directionality and flowing quality of time from physics proper.
Author Bio
Harry E. Foundalis has a Ph.D. in cognitive science (2006) from Indiana University, an M.Sc. in computer science, and a B.Sc. in mathematics. He also has keen interests in physics, astronomy, biology, cosmology, philosophy, classic literature, and more.
Download Essay PDF File
Dear Dr. Foundalis,
I like the explanation based on adaptation, which you provide for our EGN worldview and for the perception of time as flowing. Nice essay.
Best regards,
Cristi Stoica
I like the explanation based on adaptation, which you provide for our EGN worldview and for the perception of time as flowing. Nice essay.
Best regards,
Cristi Stoica
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