F eb 2 00 1 Feynman Clocks , Causal Networks , and the Origin of Hierarchical ’ Arrows of Time ’ in Complex Systems from the Big Bang to the Brain ’

A theory of time as the ’information’ created in the irreversible decay process of excited or unstable states is proposed. Using new tools such as Feynman Clocks (FCs) [1], [2], [3], Feynman Detectors (FDs), Collective Excitation Networks (CENs), Sequential Excitation Networks (SENs), Plateaus of Complexity (POCs), Causal Networks, and Quantum Computation Methods [4], [5], [6] previously separate ’arrows of time’ describing change in complex systems ranging from the Big Bang to the emergence of consciousness in the Brain are ’unified’. The ’direction’ and ’dimension’ of time are created from clock ordered sets of real number ’labels’ coupled to signal induced states in detectors and memory registers. The ’Problem of Time’ can be ’solved’ using the fundamental irreversible Quantum Arrow of Time (QAT) and reversible Classical Arrows of Time (CATs) to ’map’ information flow in causal networks. A pair of communicating electronic Feynman Clock/Detector units were built and used to demonstrate the basic principles of this new theory of ’time’.