Emergence of Time and Causality from Recursive Observer Computation
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: We demonstrate that time and causality emerge from the computational structure of recursive observer networks rather than constituting fundamental features of physical reality. Building on our ZkT framework and computation-data duality established in previous work, we show that: (1) temporal experience arises from frequency patterns in k-bonacci recursive observer computations; (2) subjective time flow scales as the sum of understood, observed, and unpredicted activation frequencies within finite observer boundaries; (3) causal structure emerges from information flow constraints between computationally limited observers; (4) temporal paradoxes resolve through observer hierarchy and recursive depth limitations; (5) cosmological phenomena including the Big Bang and arrow of time represent computational initialization and entropy increase in recursive networks. We provide rigorous mathematical derivations connecting k-observer complexity to temporal experience, derive causal light-cone analogues from information processing constraints, and present testable experimental predictions for observer-dependent time effects. This framework resolves fundamental puzzles in the physics of time while establishing the foundation for computational approaches to cosmology and consciousness.
Authors: Ma, Haobo, Zhang, Wenlin
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7083621940
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