Time and consciousness

We think of time as absolute, but we experience time differently when we sleep deeply and indeed as we age.  It may be that our understanding of time is totally wrong.

The nature of consciousness

We live in a world where of space and time where time seems to flow from the past into the future. What  if time is an illusion and everything we have ever experienced is always there? We have a lot to learn!!

Outside of space and time

One of the philosophical questions I have been grappling with recently is consciousness outside of space and time.

We live in a world bounded by space and time. We seem to live in a vast universe with time flowing from the past into the future. Trying to imagine things outside of these is all but impossible. 

I am reminded of a book I read in the 1960s where everything had just 2 dimensions. Thinking outside of these was almost impossible. An object passing through this world might get larger, then smaller, but it might be hard to understand this in a 2-dimensional world. 

The book may have been called Flatland. There are books called this on Amazon, although I am not sure if these are the same book in more recent editions? It was first published as a novella in 1884, so these may well be the same.

I sometimes think we might be like that: unable to think unless they are within the bounds of experience of our finite brains. 

We are used to think in our world view, but this may be a very narrow.

See https://www.amazon.co.uk/

The nature of time

We experience time as flowing from the past to the future. 

According to Einstein, time depends on the observer. What is "now" to us is not "now" to others.  If correct, this means in an infinite universe all time exists "now". This is also the case with quantum mechanics where things may be described as wave functions that exist in all time and space.

Concepts of time and infinity are extremely hard to grasp. It means that to some observers the past has not yet happened and the future already exists.  Really, we know so very little.

Already some really counter-intuitive ideas have been proven. For example, tunnel diodes only work as a result of quantum mechanical tunnelling.

What appears "real" to us may not be.

Time

We are aware of time flowing from the past into the future, but this may be a human illusion. 

As the poet T. S. Eliot said maybe time past, time present and time future are all present now. See the poem Burnt Norton in his Four Quartets.

This ties in to some extent with quantum mechanics.

Time synchronisation

All this with Windows 10. I have no idea what happens in Windows 11.

For years I used an internet time service to ensure my PC time was accurate. A few months ago Steve G1KQH pointed out that internet time sync is built in to Windows 10 and I assume Windows 11. 

Just right click on the date and time in the bottom right of your screen. Choose "adjust date/time" from the menu that appears. 

A box appears and select "sync now". When the tick appears you know your PC is synced to internet time. 

I am not sure how long this syncs for, but on my PC I have had absolutely no issues for a whole day at all using modes in WSJT-X making additional programs for time sync unnecessary. 

Although I am unsure how often you should re-sync, I do this whenever I turn on my PC i.e once a day.

Does time speed up as you get older? - NOT amateur radio

Last night somebody asked me if I had any plans for Christmas and said it only seemed like weeks since the last one! Shops are already putting up Christmas displays and this one has a Halloween display which seems like only yesterday since the last one.

It is my impression is that time passes faster as we age.

Time and parallel lives - NOT amateur radio

We experience time as flowing from the past into the future. We are also aware of one life in one place. However, it is possible that time is an illusion created by human brains. It is also possible all possibilities exist and every "fork in the road" is followed, but were are only aware of one. Life is a mystery and our human brains are limited. 

Multiple lives - NOT amateur radio

We are used to thinking of time flowing from the past into the future and experiencing just one life from cradle to grave. 

However, we are only aware of one life, which is the one experienced now. It is equally possible that we could have been born on a different planet at a different time. We could have multiple lives, not one.

All we know is things are far beyond our imaginations. We are just humans with limited brain power.

Internet time sync - NOT amateur radio

For 10m WSPR, I usually sync time using my atomic clock in the shack. For 8m FT8 and WSPR, I usually sync to internet time using the built-in sync with Windows 10. For some reason (too busy?) this sync was not happening earlier. I shall try again later. As far as I can tell my PC clock error is just a few seconds at most, so I hope this is OK for now.

Human consciousness - NOT amateur radio

Time and again I am amazed by the things that had to happen for me to be here on this planet, at this time, in this country. I am the result of generations and generations of ancestors. If just one had not existed I would not exist. 

The number of planets in the universe is huge. Some estimate this as 100 billion billion billion billion  The number of planets with sentient life is probably huge. On the Earth now there are around 8 billion humans. Yet I exist.

Exactly what is human life? What exactly is self awareness? Why am I here now, in this country, on this planet? 

Some would say there is a religious element. Whilst I understand this, to me the explanation is too small and too Earth centred.

We always think of time going from the past into the future? Is this an illusion?

Digital modes and time synchronisation

Many digital modes need the PC clock to be accurate. To this end, many use online time servers for this purpose. 

For some time now I have not bothered and use Windows 10 to do the syncing. To do this you have to make sure that Windows 10 can synchronise. Once a day seems to be adequate, although I have habit (probably not necessary) of doing a re-sync when I enter the shack.

If you have Windows 10, this may be all you need.

The universe and time - NOT amateur radio

On Mondays, I have been attending lectures in Cambridge on cosmology. This is part of my University of the Third Age course. It is very hard, quite the hardest course I have ever attended

Now, one thing is clear. We really know so very little. Yes, the theories hang together pretty well,  but there is so much we do not understand. Take, for example, dark matter. Apparently this has to exist for the universe we know to exist. Sadly, we haven't a clue what dark matter is!

Also, time. We experience this as linear flowing from the past into the future. Some think time itself is an illusion created by man. Some think there are an infinite number of universes.

All we can be sure about is that whatever we believe today will be wrong or, at best, incomplete.

Despite all that I have learnt, I am left with a feeling that some time in the next 100 years a new theory will emerge that we will find hard to fathom at first, yet will soon help to comprehend some of what we do not understand.

It is hard to think about what we don't know about. Early in the last century, the Internet was impossible to conceive. What will the next 100 years bring?

Time - NOT amateur radio

We experience time as a linear thing flowing from the past into the future. 

All our memories are assumed to be the accumulation over our lifetimes. But what if each day we are awake to these memories, but the past never happened?  What I am pondering is this: is our experience of time and living correct?  Could it be that consciousness is not as we thought? Is each moment actually an illusion?

No, I have not been sniffing glue or am not high on something!

If you look back over the last century or two, lots that we just accepted has proved to be doubtful. Many things we believe correct may prove not to be. Think of creation, evolution, the nature of the universe, genetics, quantum theory, relativity etc. We can only know so little. 

I have no idea what is correct, even if there a "correct" answer. All I know is there is so much to know and we are just humans.

We look though a glass dimly...

Time sync

In the shack I have an Asus laptop that is several years old, so I would expect the battery to be losing capacity, In the past I used an online time server to sync to internet time when using WSJT-X. I have found this a waste of time. 

Every morning, I resync the PC clock using the facility in Windows 10. I find that this is perfectly fine. Occasionally, I resync the clock "just in case", but get the feeling this is overkill.

So, I do not think anything special is needed.

Linear time? - NOT amateur radio

We experience time as linear, running from the past into the future. 

We assume our brains store our memories. All this could be an illusion, with our experience just of now being fresh every time. We could have no knowledge of anything other than our experience right now. 

So, it is possible that we could unknowingly wake up as a Polynesian in 2000BC!! To us, this could be normal and totally real. We could also be a resident of the planet Zog in a distant galaxy millions of years in the future.

All I am saying is we could experience things very differently and must keep an open mind.

Time's arrow - NOT amateur radio

Often, new discoveries in science are counter-intuitive and they do not sit comfortably with our experiences. 

One of these is quantum mechanics, where everything can be described as a wave that exits in all space and all time. OK, the experience now is the most probable.

Time may be a bit like this. In our everyday experience, time flows from the past into the future. However, the future and the past may be always there. In the future we may find out that time is an illusion.

Think of Schrodinger's cat: we cannot know if it is alive or dead until we open the box. Various interpretations have been put forward.

All I am saying is time is a mystery and one day our understanding of it could be totally different.

Time - NOT amateur radio

Time puzzles me. It seems to flow from the past into the future, but this can be an illusion. It could be that all our memories of the past are not there at all, but fresh every day. We make wake up every day with all our memories there, but they are actually new. It may be that my universe is unique to me. It is impossible to know what others experience.

What is certain is just how little we know or can know. Think of Schrodinger's cat. I am pretty certain we will look back in amazement at what we believed, much as we do now about witches and fairies.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat .

Time - NOT amateur radio

Over 50 years ago I did a very mathematical course at university on quantum mechanics. It was fascinating. 

One thing I remember was that everything can be thought of as a wave function existing in all space and all time. What we experience here and now is just most probable. Tunnel diodes only work because there is a finite probability of electrons existing the other sides of a wall by a process known as quantum mechanical tunnelling.

Now, I may have some things wrong, but what this taught me is that a very radical view is equally possible. We experience time as going from the past into the future, whereas this may be totally wrong. What if memories are new every day? What if time is just an illusion? One thing is sure: in the next 150 years some of our views and assumptions may prove to be quite wrong. Think how are views have changed in the last 150 years. In the future I am sure we will look back in amazement.

What we know today is fuzzy. As time goes by we may change our world view radically.

Time - NOT amateur radio

Most of us think of time as going forward from the past to the future. We have memories of our lifetimes and ways, with book, internet and objects, to look back at things way before we were born. We take it for  granted that these memories have been forming since the day we were born.

However, this assumption could be wrong. Each day we could have new memories which we feel we have always had. Just like quantum mechanics turns our thinking on its head, so in 100 years from now we may find that time is just a man-made illusion.