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Paradox of linear versus circular time: strange loops


Cognitive Implication of Globality via Temporal Inversion (Part #3)

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Time: linear versus circular? Reference is frequently made to the linearity of the "arrow of time". However as to whether time is to be understood as linear or circular remains a matter of continuing debate, as well as a cultural preference

The circularity of time is also fundamental to understandings of eternal return, namely the theory that the universe and all existence and energy has been recurring, and will continue to recur, in a self-similar form an infinite number of times across infinite time or space. This recurrence has been traditionally depicted by an Ouroboros, as separately discussed (Complementary visual patterns: Ouroboros, MÖbius strip, Klein bottle, 2017). That discussion highlights the toroidal hole which is thereby framed -- whose mysterious nature bears consideration in the light of the above-mentioned arguments of Roberto Casati and Achille C. Varzi (Holes and Other Superficialities, 1994).

Confusing negativity: time reversal versus time inversion? Much has been made of the irreversibility of time, despite theoretical recognition of time reversal symmetry, the time reversibility paradox, and exploration of its possibilities in fiction. It has recently been demonstrated that time can indeed be reversed ('Arrow of time' reversed in quantum experiment, ScienceNews, 27 November 2017; Physicists Demonstrate How to Reverse the Arrow of Time, MIT Technology Review, 22 December 2017; Kaonan Micadei, et al, Reversing the thermodynamic arrow of time using quantum correlations, arXiv.org, 9 November 2017). Such thinking also extends to retrocausality (Mike MCrae, This Quantum Theory Predicts that the Future might be Influencing the Past, ScienceAlert, 17 June 2018)

Such reversal can be explored in terms of understandings of "negative time" (Does anyone know whether or not negative time exists. in any way shape or form. PhysicsForums). For Paul Kiser:

The ramifications of Negative Time exceed what we can imagine and challenge our foundations of science, philosophy, religion, business, in fact, all aspects of life as we know it. It is a concept that is a long way from becoming provable in our experience of the universe, but the possibility of Time being a two-way phenomenon is excitingâ-...even if it makes my head hurt. (Negative Time: the self-fulfilling prophecy a scientific possibility? PAULx, 27 September 2010)

Such understanding of negative time is readily confused with the implications of higher derivatives of time as indicated above. The confusion is highlighted by the argument of Jerry Davidson Wheatley The Structure of Reality: Theory of Everything Equation Revealed : Scientific Verification and Proof of Logic God Is, Research Scientific Press, 2001

The CPT theorem is the magic mirror needed to understand cosmic structure. However, its meaning has not always been clear. A puzzling problem for scientists has been difficulty in assigning meaning to temporal inversion. The difficulty is caused by two circumstances. One is confusion of temporal inversion with temporal reversion. Temporal reversion occurs in an inverted universe. The other circumstance is finding the "missing antimatter" exhibiting temporal inversion. Specifically, inversion allows a mirror image cosmos that balances the requirements of symmetry. When one cosmos is in Phase I, the other is in Phase II. Our anti-cosmos is always in an opposite phase from our own. This explains why a balancing of matter by antimatter has not been empirically determined.... Although intimately connected, temporal reversion and temporal inversion are different phenomenon. (p 190-1)

Temporal inversion is a common feature in narrative (Which way you Going? : Some Examples of Temporal Inversion and Narrative Structure, Hap Stance Dep Art, 28 February 2011). Curiously, despite the comprehensive scope of some studies of time, no consideration is given to higher derivatives of time as discussed here (Michael Lockwood, The Labyrinth of Time: introducing the universe, 2005; Philip Zimbardo, The Time Paradox: the new psychology of time that will change your life, 2008; Roger Penrose, Cycles of Time: an extraordinary new view of the universe, 2012).

Singularity: There is extensive comment on the variety of forms of singularity as an effective disruption of either linear or circular time. A singularity is discussed in relation to succeeding derivatives introducing units of increasing negative powers of time (Kent H. Lundberg, Haynes R. Miller, and David L. Trumper, Initial Conditions, Generalized Functions, and the Laplace Transform Troubles at the origin, MIT)

Of relevance here is insight into the possible nature of psychosocial singularities, as may be variously discussed (Cognitive singularities, 2005; Emerging Memetic Singularity in the Global Knowledge Society, 2009; Aesthetic singularity prior to Technological singularity? 2014; Jerusalem as a Symbolic Singularity: comprehending the dynamics of hyperreality as a challenge to conventional two-state reality, 2017).

Circumscribed time and porous time: The notion of a temporal logic has recently been introduced to characterize sets of organizing principles that perpetuate particular orientations to the lived experience of time .(Melissa Mazmanian, Ingrid Erickson and Ellie Harmon Circumscribed time and porous time: logics as a way of studying temporality, 2015). For the authors:

We identify a dominant temporal logic, circumscribed time, which has legitimated time as chunkable, single-purpose, linear, and ownable. We juxtapose this logic with the temporal experiences of participants in three ethnographic datasets to identify a set of alternative understandings of time -- that it is also spectral, mosaic, rhythmic, and obligated. We call this understanding porous time. We posit porous time as an expansion of circumscribed time in order to provoke reflection on how temporal logics underpin the ways that people orient to each other, research and design technologies, and normalize visions of success in contemporary life.

The approach is explicitly framed in terms of a "temporal inversion" -- moving time from its usual position in the background up into the foreground of the research.

Paradoxical strange loops: Cybernetics has drawn attention to positive feedback loops and negative feedback loops -- fundamental to that discipline of control. (Magoroh Maruyama, The Second Cybernetics: deviation-amplifying mutual causal processes, American Scientist 51, 1963, 2, pp. 164-179). However, as argued by Timothy Morton (Dark Ecology: for a logic of future coexistence, 2016):

Yet there is another loop, the dark-ecological loop: a strange loop. A strange loop is one in which two levels that appear utterly separate flip into one another. Consider the dichotomy between moving and being still. In Lewis Carroll's haunting story, Alice tries to leave the Looking Glass House. She sets off through the front garden, yet she finds herself returning to the front door via that very movement. A strange loop is weirdly weird: a turn of events that has an uncanny appearance. And this defines emerging ecological awareness occurring to "civilized" people at this moment.

Alice: Which way should I go? / Cat: That depends on where you are going / Alice: I don't know / Cat: Then it doesn't matter which way you go. (Alice in Wonderland).

Leigh Van Valen coined the Red Queen hypothesis in the light of his interpretation that species have to "run" or evolve in order to stay in the same place, or else go extinct. The phenomenon's name is derived from a statement that the Red Queen made to Alice in her explanation of the nature of Looking-Glass Land:

Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place (Through the Looking-Glass).

The preoccupation with the acceleration of global growth might be usefully seen in this light. Is "sustainability" then to be framed in terms of growth or acceleration of growth? (Gregory Unruh, Red Queen Sustainability, The Huffington Post, 27 September 2011; Christian Rammel, Sustainable development and innovations: lessons from the Red Queen, International Journal of Sustainable Development, 6, 2003, 4).

Related inspiration has been used in the argument of Michael Hiscock (Alice in Wonderland, NASA and Einstein: all have something very strange in common -- down the rabbit hole we goâ-...The Loop, 26 November 2015). That understanding has also been explored in fiction with respect to the construction of a vessel capable of spacetime travel (M. A. Foster, The Game Players of Zan, 1977), as discussed separately (Converging preoccupations with time; Enabling the cognitive vehicle, 2010).

As discussed elsewhere with respect to imaginal education, vital to sustaining community 'renaissance' (Imaginal Education: game playing, science fiction, language, art and world-making, 2003), the challenge of sustainability may in part be one of constructing a 'timeship' rather than a 'spaceship' (Timeship: conception, technology, design, embodiment and operation, 2003; Embodying a Timeship vs. Empowering a Spaceship, 2003). In contrast to 'standard operating procedure -- and rather than an Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (as articulated by R. Buckminster Fuller) -- i the governance challenge may be simultaneously a case of spaceship, timeship, both-spaceship-and-timeship, and neither-spaceship-nor-timeship.

Being a strange loop: As author of a magnum opus on self-reflexivity (GÖdel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, 1979), Douglas Hofstadter, explored those insights as they applied to his sense of personal identity (I Am a Strange Loop, 2007). This can evoke fruitful reflection on the collective implications of strange loops (Sustaining a Community of Strange Loops: comprehension and engagement through aesthetic ring transformation, 2010).

A related approach is central to the work of Steven M. Rosen with respect to the cognitive paradoxes associated with the Mobius strip and the Klein bottle:

Given the references above to the mysterious nature of "holes", it is especially intriguing to consider the nature of the "hole" framed by a strange loop.

Being a "walking wave function": The possible implications may be taken further in the light of the challenges to conventional understandings of identity emerging from considerations of quantum reality as articulated by Alexander Wendt (Quantum Mind and Social Science: unifying physical and social ontology, 2015; video; interview). Wendt argues that quantum consciousness theory is speculative, but compared to the alternative its simplicity is hard to beat (p. 292). He concludes with a bold claim: "whatever their current force as explanatory virtues, the coherence, breadth, and simplicity of the quantum hypothesis make it too elegant not to be true". (p. 293).

Fortunately or unfortunately, speculation with regard to "quantum consciousness" has become fashionable in many domains -- seemingly to little effect with respect to understanding of global crises. Wendt offers a quantum model of man in sections on quantum cognition and rational choice, agency and quantum will, and non-local experience in time. The points made are remarkably argued.

Given the limitations of Newtonian mechanical models highlighted above, Wendt argues that:

The idea that people are just very complicated machines has a long pedigree, and became dominant in cognitive science and beyond with the advent of the computational theory of mind in the mid-twentieth century. In this picture we are walking computers, constantly crunching data from the environment to realize pre-programmed objectives. (p. 153)

As discussed separately (On being "walking wave functions" in terms of quantum consciousness?), Wendt imagines a contrasting perspective, variously stressing that humans are effectively walking wave functions:

In this book I explore the possibility that this foundational assumption of social science is a mistake, by re-reading social science "through the quantum". More specifically, I argue that human beings and therefore social life exhibit quantum coherence -- in effect, that we are walking wave functions. (p. 16)

Wendt develops this argument from various perspectives in response to existing schools of thought:

Quantum consciousness theory suggests that human beings are literally walking wave functions. Most quantum decision theorists would not go that far, and indeed -- perhaps wary of controversy -- they generally barely mention quantum consciousness, and then only to emphasize that they are making no claims about what is going on deep inside the brain (much less about consciousness), but are only interested in behavior. (p. 164)

With respect to how humans exist over time, beyond any patterned slice in the moment, Wendt argues:

If we are walking wave functions, then even though our experiences at each moment are actualities, at the quantum level of the unconscious, "there are many histories that are there as potentialities". (p. 211)

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