time exists because there are hard functions to compute
#theory #crazy #thought
parents:: computational complexity and physics
- I have this theory that the true explanation for the arrow of time is explained by computational complexity
- If it were easy to compute, given a particular state of the universe (or some effective theory), what state it will be at in a day, in a year, or in a galactic year. Then what point would there be in living this year?
- In a sense, now, and a year from now would become equivalent. And that time should therefore collapse.
- I guess you also run into the usual circularity of the one doing the predicting cannot be a part of the system which is predicted.
- As we better and better at predicting certain regularities in the world (e.g. that certain galaxies will collide at certain times), then that in and of itself has some effect on time.
- This is corroborated by our personal experience:
- Time seems to pass at qualitatively different rates, depending on how many conscious decisions we make during that time.
- The fewer conscious decisions, the more rote/predictable things are, the faster time seems to pass
- The more conscious decisions, the more a prior unpredictable things are, the slower time seems to pass.