On Sun, 12 May 1996, Stuart Hameroff wrote:
In physics, there is no provision for a flow of time, yet our consciousness seems time-directional. In 4-dimensional spacetime, time is merely one axis, with no favored direction. Neither is there a universal now'. According to relativity, there is no universal time frame. The only apparent truly irreversible event in physics is collapse of the wave function. ......
Unfortunately it appears to me, physical theory does not follow its own logic, and as a consequence is unable to account for the flow of time. A simpler explanation is available from relativity theory itself, provided we take as a starting point the logic of the transmission and communication of information about events from the physical world to our senses, and to instruments as extensions of our sensory inputs.
All information from one event to another in the physical world is via radiation, as described by Maxwell's equations, by Minkowski's equation, by relativity theory, by the light cone paradigm. I do not know how quantum theory deals with this, but apparently there is some kind of impasse. Nevertheless the basic theory of quantum dynamics is entirely concerned with the energy of radiation, in the formula frequently cited by Hameroff as E = h/dt.
It is difficult for me to see how the conclusion can be avoided that all information about events, whether in consciousness or in the physical world is, according to the current paradigm, in the form of radiation events. If there is some other way that information is being transmitted from one event to another I have seen no reference to it in any physical theory.
Since physical theory has been unable to account for time, and particularly for its one-directional aspect, except by reference to entropy, which is itself a form of radiation equilibrium, doesn't it appear that there is something fundamentally amiss in our current conceptions?
Roland Cook
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