Q: Does consciousness flow continuously?
I envision the flow of a person's consciousness as a (unidirectional) sequence of mental states. In the analysis that I give below [see http://home.att.net/~Andemicael/Geo.html], I indicate that there are "discontinuities" present on an individual's subjective timeline. In a certain sense, these temporal "gaps" can be ignored. We can ignore them because "memory" is present within the individual's mental states on the line. The presence of memory within individual states allows the individual mind to experience his or her mental life as a coherent succession of states.
Q: Does one sense abrupt breaks between mental states?
A discontinuity on the timeline can never be experienced by the person because the length of the "gap" on the timeline is zero. An experience cannot "occur" if it does not persist for a duration greater than zero. An "experience of discontinuity," therefore, cannot "occur," by definition.
Q: What is the meaning of the word "singularity" in this context?
I use the word "singularity" when discussing subjective time. I use this word roughly in the sense of the big bang singularity--i.e., "a boundary to physical time in the past." In my theory of subjective time, subjective time flow is represented by a line segment of finite length, with the endpoints removed (i.e., "missing") from the line segment. This is somewhat analogous to the big bang and big crunch singularities.
Q: Does physical time flow?
I distinguish between subjective/mental time flow and the physical (i.e., static) time of general relativity. My discussion of consciousness and the motion of the present is concerned with subjective time flow.
Q: How long does mental life exist?
I believe mental life consists of a finite, not infinite number of mental states...
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