Invited Article T-computers and the Origins of Time in the Brain

Recent research has identified the components of the brain that appear to time label information from observed sensory events, store the labeled information in memory and then using the time labels for two or more events to compute their time differences, time intervals, elapsed times or 'lifetimes'. Time differences are the basis of the 'time ' numbers we read from clocks and compute in our brains. Time is our map of change. Maps are abstractions of information and can be used to construct useful devices such as space-time. A general time computer or T-computer model is outlined that shows how observed signals can be processed into time labeled information states infostates by our instruments or our brains. The observer can communicate the 'time ' computed for observed events using consciousness and language signals to drive sound signals in the vocal cords for instance. The ‘problem of time ’ is near a realistic solution now that the brain's T-computer has been identified. The brain is the 'local ' creator of time, space, and space-time as our special maps of the reality we 'observe ' and participate in