Time and Causality: A Thermocontextual Perspective

Abstract

The thermocontextual interpretation (TCI) is an alternative to the existing interpretations of physical states and time. The prevailing interpretations are based on assumptions rooted in classical mechanics, the logical implications of which include determinism, time symmetry, and a paradox: determinism implies that effects follow causes and an arrow of causality, and this conflicts with time symmetry. The prevailing interpretations also fail to explain the empirical irreversibility of wavefunction collapse without invoking untestable and untenable metaphysical implications. They fail to reconcile nonlocality and relativistic causality without invoking superdeterminism or unexplained superluminal correlations. The TCI defines a system’s state with respect to its actual surroundings at a positive ambient temperature. It recognizes the existing physical interpretations as special cases which either define a state with respect to an absolute zero reference (classical and relativistic states) or with respect to an equilibrium reference (quantum states). Between these special case extremes is where thermodynamic irreversibility and randomness exist. The TCI distinguishes between a system’s internal time and the reference time of relativity and causality as measured by an external observer’s clock. It defines system time as a complex property of state spanning both reversible mechanical time and irreversible thermodynamic time. Additionally, it provides a physical explanation for nonlocality that is consistent with relativistic causality without hidden variables, superdeterminism, or “spooky action”.