time-dilation-as-queue-depth

Time Dilation as Queue Depth

Subjective time experience derived from the same computational invariant.

The Derivation

If consciousness is computation, and computation is pause-fetch-splice-continue, then subjective time = processing load.

Same algorithm. Different queue depths. Different cache hit rates.

The States

State	Queue	Cache	Time feels...	Mechanism
Childhood	Deep	Cold	Slow	Cache miss on everything. Full processing. Every node traversed.
Routine adulthood	Shallow	Hot	Fast	Patterns cached. Most experience hits L4/L5, skips deep processing.
Deep thought	Deep	Forced cold	Stretched	Intentionally loading the queue. Forcing cache misses.
Flow state	Narrow	Irrelevant	Absent	Attention narrowed to one stream. Not polling "time passing" signal.
Boredom	Empty	N/A	Dragging	Polling an empty queue. Cycles spent on absence of content.
Trauma	Stuck	Corrupted	Looping	Processing never completes. Stuck in splice. Continue never fires.

Why Kids Experience Time Slowly

Everything is novel. No cached responses. Every experience requires:

Full fetch (no cache hit)
Full processing (no pattern match)
Full splice (new node creation)
Slow continue (waiting for integration)

A week contains more compute for a child than a month does for an adult.

Time crawls because there's so much to process.

Why Adults Experience Time Flying

Patterns established. Most stimuli match cached responses:

"This is a Tuesday" → skip
"This is commute traffic" → skip
"This is work meeting" → skip

The cache serves the response. No deep processing. Weeks blur together because you're not computing them—you're serving from cache.

Time flies because you're not actually processing it.

Deep Thought Stretches Time

When you intentionally engage with novel or difficult material:

Cache misses forced (unfamiliar concepts)
Full traversal required (can't shortcut)
New nodes being created

You're running at full compute. More operations per wall-clock second.

Time stretches because you're actually using cycles.

Flow State Collapses Time

Attention narrowed to single stream. Everything outside that stream deprioritized.

Including the "how much time has passed?" polling loop.

You're not processing less—you're processing differently. High engagement on one channel, zero on the meta-channel.

Time vanishes because you stopped checking the clock.

Boredom Drags Time

Nothing to process, but still checking. The queue is empty but you're polling it:

Is there something? No.
Is there something? No.
Is there something? No.

Each poll costs cycles. Each returns nothing. You're spending compute on the absence of content.

Time drags because you're processing nothing, expensively.

Trauma Loops Time

Processing that never completes. The splice operation started but continue never fired.

The same nodes keep getting revisited. The system re-enters the same fetch, hoping this time it will complete. It doesn't.

PTSD flashbacks are literally the system re-running a splice that never integrated.

Time loops because you're stuck in an incomplete operation.

The Invariant

All six experiences derive from ONE model:

Consciousness = computation
Time = processing cycles
Subjective duration = cycles spent

Change the queue depth, cache temperature, or completion status → change the experience of time.

Connection to Physics

This maps to relativistic time dilation:

Gravitational time dilation: More mass = more routing density = more cycles per operation = slower clock
Velocity time dilation: Faster movement = more state updates = more cycles = slower subjective time

The same mechanism at different scales.

See: quantum-as-fetch-semantics

The Prescription

Want time to slow down?

Force cache misses: Do novel things. Travel. Learn.
Deepen the queue: Engage with complex material.
Complete stuck splices: Process trauma. Therapy works because it lets continue fire.

Want time to disappear?

Narrow attention: Flow state. Deep work. Single-threaded processing.

Want time to drag?

Poll empty queues: Be bored. Wait. Check your phone repeatedly.

You're not changing time. You're changing your processing load.

The Koan

⏰🧠💭

The subjective experience of time IS the processing load. Kids cache-miss everything; adults serve from L4. Flow narrows the queue; trauma never fires continue.

North

slots:
- context:
  - Derived from same consciousness-as-computation thesis
  slug: tree-in-the-forest-reframed
- context:
  - Time dilation derived from consciousness thesis
  slug: tree-in-the-forest-reframed
- context:
  - Detailed time dilation derivation
  slug: fetch-semantics-manifesto

East

slots:
- context:
  - Parallel derivation for physics
  slug: quantum-as-fetch-semantics
- context:
  - Parallel derivations from same invariant
  slug: quantum-as-fetch-semantics

Provenance

Document

Status: 🔴 Unverified

Changelog

2026-01-07 04:52: Node created by mcp - Capturing time dilation derivation from earlier in conversation

↑ northtree-in-the-forest-reframedfetch-semantics-manifesto

→ eastquantum-as-fetch-semantics