An Experimental Information Gathering and Utilization Systems (IGUS) Robot to Demonstrate the Physics of Now
This addresses a foundational issue in physics and philosophy of time, but it is incremental as it builds on existing IGUS concepts with experimental demonstration.
The paper tackles the problem of whether the past, present, and future are inherent in physics by constructing a robot that processes information differently to experience varied 'nows', using a VR system to allow immersion in the immediate past, supporting the IGUS hypothesis.
The past, present and future are not fundamental properties of Minkowski spacetime. It has been suggested that they are properties of a class of information gathering and utilizing systems (IGUSs).The past, present and future are psychologically created phenomena not actually properties of spacetime. A human is a model IGUS robot. We develop a way to establish that the past, present, and future do not follow from the laws of physics by constructing robots that process information differently and therefore experience different nows (presents). We construct a customized virtual reality (VR) system which allows an observer to switch between present and past. This robot (human with VR system) can experience immersion in the immediate past ad libitum. Being able to actually construct an IGUS that has the same present at two different coordinates along the worldline lends support to the IGUS hypothesis.