Going Beyond Einstein: Linking Time And Consciousness

This is day 2 of Essentia’s Time and Mind conference, our scientific discussion of the profound mystery of the passage of time and how it relates to consciousness. Many physicists maintain that the passage of time is purely a feature of mind, beyond physics itself, while others argue that it points to some new physical paradigm, perhaps associated with the marriage of relativity theory and quantum theory. Certainly, the status of time in any final theory of physics remains unclear. What is clear, however, is that a theory that encompasses time and mind will have to go beyond Einstein’s Block Universe. The possibility that physics may eventually accommodate and elucidate the nature of consciousness and associated experience suggests the need to address issues that are currently viewed as being on the borders of physics and philosophy. It also impinges on developments in neurophysics, cognitive science and psychology. So this is an interdisciplinary problem and this conference brings together experts in all the relevant fields. There are contributions from the physicists Bernard Carr, Paul Davies, George Ellis and Lee Smolin, the neurophysicist Alex Gomez-Marin, the cognitive neuroscientist Julia Mossbridge, and the psychologists Jonathan Schooler and Marc Wittmann. Although the conference is organized by Essentia Foundation—which is associated with the philosophical tradition of Idealism—it covered a wide range of approaches. Our vision is to cover topics that are relevant to Idealism, but not to exclude alternative views from the conference. Timestamps: 00:00 General introduction 06:11 Bernard Carr- Conference introduction 17:15 Marc Wittmann - Subjective time during ordinary and altered states of consciousness 53:17 Alex Gómez-Marin - The consciousness of neuroscience 1:34:15 Paul Davies - The muddlescape of time 2:15:03 Julia Mossbridge - How do precognition and other perceptual anomalies shed light on models of consciousness, unconsciousness and time? 2:54:04 Panel discussion and wrap up Bernard J. Carr PhD, is the host and co-organiser of this conference. He is Professor of mathematics and astronomy at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) Marc Wittmann PhD, is a research fellow at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health in Freiburg. Alex Gómez-Marin PhD, is researcher at the Human Cognition and Behavior Scientific Program at the Instituto de Neurociencias (CSIC-UMH) in Alicante. Paul Davies PhD, is a theoretical physicist, cosmologist, astrobiologist and director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University. Julia Mossbridge PhD, is visiting scholar in the Psychology Department at Northwestern University and Associated Professor in Integral and Transpersonal Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Copyright © 2023 by Essentia Foundation. With the exception of archival footage under fair-use policy, all rights are reserved.