How our brains create time (Humans)

by David Turell , Wednesday, July 10, 2019, 14:46 (1962 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: No organism but humans see time. It exists only for us and is real only for us. It only exists in our heads.

dhw: So you really do believe that there is no such objective reality as before and after, cause and effect? Try standing in front of a moving bus.

DAVID: Of course I do, but we are again discussing apples and oranges. Of course there is sequential time, but it is an immaterial concept of the human mind as it analyzes a real sequence.

dhw: If the sequence is real, then it is clearly absurd to say that “our brains create time”! Our brains name, describe and try to explain realities of all kinds, and the sequence of time is one of them.

DAVID: Our brain names the sequence as time. That is still a concept. Of course the sequence is real. The real question still is: is 'time' in space-time real or use of a concept entering it as a fourth dimension?

dhw: Sorry, but that is not the “real” question for me. I object to the statement that the brain creates time. You agree that the sequence is real and therefore exists independently of the brain, just like every other reality that we name, describe and try to explain, so I don’t know why you are trying to muddy the waters with space-time and the fourth dimension. Do you agree or not that the brain does NOT create time?

I've agreed and so I'll repeat: "Our brain names the sequence as time. That is still a concept. Of course the sequence is real."

TONY: Or is it a higher consciousness that is defining time?

DAVID: Of course a greater consciousness started time with creation of the universe

dhw: I suggest that time is the sequence of before and after, cause and effect. Even if you believe your God started time, you will still have to admit that our brains do not create it. Our brains only define it.

Of all organisms, only our brain recognizes it.

Dhw (as above): So you really do believe that there is no such objective reality as before and after, cause and effect? Try standing in front of a moving bus.

TONY: So, again, you miss the point. I never said that it was OUR consciousness holding things together. Some consciousness that must have been available to observe prior to the big bang.

You started this thread with the title “How our brains create time”. My point is that our brains do not create time, but it has a reality of its own. You may believe that the universe required a consciousness to “hold things together”, but that is a completely different subject. However, it might help to clarify your views if you would give us your own definition of time, assuming it is NOT the sequence of before/after and cause/effect.