The hands of time: Moving my body to keep time order in the brain

TL;DR

This paper proposes a philosophical conjecture that the brain's network structure cannot internally generate the present moment, implying that behavior and external interactions are essential for temporal processing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel thought experiment linking brain network limitations to the necessity of external behavior for time perception, challenging internal-only models.

Findings

Highlights the role of external behavior in temporal processing

Suggests limitations of brain networks in generating the present

Proposes a new perspective on brain-environment interaction

Abstract

The brain is very often viewed as a network, be it at small scale made of cells, mostly neurons, or at larger scale made of neuronal assemblies. Here we introduce a conjecture, in the spirit of a philosophical though experiment, which proposes that the present cannot be obtained from within such networks, and that this limitation imposes burdens on network efficiency in information processing. We aim to argue this conjecture imposes recurrent contacts from within the brain to outside in the physical world via behavior, which create a flow of time stamps. This though experiment may contribute to make the divide between the foci toward inside versus outside, for example opposing ecological psychology and many frameworks adopted in neurosciences, superfluous. This piece proposes an ambulation triggered by a thought experiment: What if I was a neuron listening to another one and talking to a third? It is a modest attempt to walk in the footsteps of classical thought experiments, like Molyneux problem, the imitation game and the anti-sequel Chinese room, key gedankenexperiments in an elevator in physics, or the cogito in philosophy.