Daniel P. Sheehan | It's About Time

The phenomenon of time is one of the most familiar yet one of the most perplexing aspects of our existence. Questions surrounding it are legion and it now appears ripe for scientific revolution and redefinition. Perhaps its most vexing feature is that, whereas the central equations of physics are time-symmetric (that is, they admit both time-forward and time-reversed solutions), our everyday experience is time-asymmetric, unidirectionally toward the future [1-3]. The various forms of precognition (e.g., presentiment, premonition) stand as counter-examples to this temporal unidirectionality. Although there is no consensus scientific explanation for it, precognition likely does not involve new physics; rather it requires that currently accepted physics be interpreted in a more forthright manner. In this talk, I will introduce the rudiments of time's symmetry and asymmetry, then propose an explanation for precognition in terms of currently-accepted physics. New research directions will be suggested, includi