Brain's Mental Time Travel Shapes Perception and Society

Key Quotes

"But the principle is very simple right just counting the ticks of some sort of time base the brain does not work like that so the brain unlike these clocks on our wrists which are amazing devices right because the same device can tell nanoseconds milliseconds seconds minutes hours days and beyond."

Dean Buonomano highlights a fundamental difference between human-made clocks and the brain's internal timekeeping mechanisms. While mechanical and digital clocks rely on a single, consistent oscillator to measure all time scales, the brain employs distinct systems for different temporal ranges, indicating a more complex and less uniform approach to time perception.

"The brain does not work like that so the brain unlike these clocks on our wrists which are amazing devices right because the same device can tell nanoseconds milliseconds seconds minutes hours days and beyond when I'm snapping my fingers to the right it takes um a certain amount of time to arrive in the right ear and the left ear it takes approximately a few hundred microseconds more to arrive at the left ear from the right ear and that's how we use information auditory information to determine the location of objects in three dimensional space but you can also tell time of course on the circadian time of many of ours and a day but they're totally different clocks."

Dean Buonomano explains that the brain's timing mechanisms are not monolithic like man-made clocks. He points out that different neural systems are responsible for measuring vastly different durations, from the milliseconds used for auditory localization to the 24-hour cycles of circadian rhythms. This suggests a specialized, rather than generalized, approach to timekeeping within the brain.

"So the flow of time implies some self awareness of the of an arrow of time correct yes generally the case because it's generally flowing forwards yeah I would say that's correct from the past to the future but in there if I see some one of my family and I see them get old and die does my self awareness that maybe I'll get old and die too is that part of my sense of the flow of time yeah that's so that's a great question that I I want to come back to that specific point about death but first in terms of the perception of time so many physicists would argue that the perception of time the flow of time that the past is no longer real the present is real and the future is not yet real is an illusion or a mental construct or something imposed by the brain."

This quote introduces a central debate between physics and neuroscience regarding the nature of time's flow. Dean Buonomano notes that while our subjective experience suggests a unidirectional flow from past to future, many physicists propose this perception is a brain-imposed illusion, contrasting with theories like eternalism where all moments are equally real. This highlights the tension between our lived experience of time and its potential physical reality.

"I think that the brain is telling us something true about the physical universe that it is um because we evolved to survive in a universe governed by the laws of physics in a mesoscopic part of that universe not at the micro not at the cosmo but at the mesoscopic level to survive in this world governed by the laws of physics so I think and have argued that it is really flowing and our brain creates this conscious perception of the flow because it's a real part of of what we experience end of the universe."

Dean Buonomano presents a counterargument to the idea that the flow of time is purely an illusion. He posits that because humans evolved to survive within the physical universe, our perception of time's flow likely reflects a genuine aspect of reality at the mesoscopic level. The brain's experience of this flow, in his view, is not an imposition but an accurate reflection of the universe's temporal nature.

"So the answer to that question in my mind the answer to that question is yes because as a presentist I don't think time travel in physics is a possibility so when people look at things like wormholes and and from general relativity what general relativity says is that wormholes are a theoretical possibility they're not really a prediction of general relativity it says well it could happen depending on the assumptions that go into the equations then initial conditions and so forth but I would argue that yes the closest we'll ever get to a time machine is our mental time travel and that in my opinion actual time travel is a theoretical impossibility."

Dean Buonomano firmly states his belief that actual time travel is a theoretical impossibility, even considering concepts like wormholes from general relativity. He argues that the brain's capacity for mental time travel--remembering the past and imagining the future--is the closest humans will get to a "time machine." This perspective aligns with a presentist view, where only the present moment is considered real.

"So first place neuroscience is the most recursive field in science right because it's the only field in which the thing being studied is doing the studying so that's a problem it gives me job security but it but put it this way there may be reasons to believe that no system is capable of understanding itself so I happen to think that we might be able to pull it off but maybe with ai to answer neil's question we might be able to understand ourselves but his first point was understand the universe and I think this is a bit of a trick question what does it mean by understand but the answer to you to your question very informally I would probably say no in one way and that you know quantum mechanics is a good example do we understand quantum mechanics I don't we just calculate with it."

Dean Buonomano reflects on the inherent complexity of neuroscience, describing it as a recursive field where the subject of study is also the entity doing the studying. He suggests that while understanding oneself might be achievable, possibly with the aid of AI, a complete intuitive understanding of the universe, exemplified by quantum mechanics, remains elusive, with humans often relying on calculation rather than deep comprehension.