Is it true that HomoSapiens literally can't see the present but only?

Question

the past? That eyesight, and other sensory apparatus, is to slow to capture real time.

Answer 1

As electro-chemical systems, our neuro sensory systems (eyes, ears, skin, nostrils, tongue) take time to process the senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, taste. So in a literal sense (pun intended), our brain is behind the curve so to speak. It never really catches up to t = 0 events; it's always at t = 0 + epsilon, where epsilon is some tiny increment of time depending on age, the sense perceived, health, etc.

This reaction or processing time is one reason carrier aviation pilots are taught to not chase the deck as they are making their approaches to an arrested landing. That is, they would always be behind where that tossing landing area (the deck) on the bobbing aircraft carrier was due to that reaction time.

Try this experiment. Have a friend hold a piece of ordinary paper between the open flats of the palms of your hands. Then without signal, have the friend drop the paper. You try to catch that paper by bringing your hands together, like if you were clapping. You'll likely not be able to catch that paper if you don't cheat. And that's because your reaction time, the time it takes to process what you see (the dropping paper), is too slow.

Good question.

Answer 2

This is true, but because the delay time is so tiny (About 1/10^10 seconds) that we deem it negligable. So the fact that we can "only see the past, not the present" is just a mere technicality and it holds no real substance to our everyday life.

Answer 3

technically yes, by the time light gets to our eyes, travels through our nerves, and is processed in the brain what we see happened 1/10^10 or so seconds ago.

Answer 4

That is true, but the delay is a very TINY fraction of a second.

Answer 5

No, we have the capacity to see imaginary time. But now we are delving in the realms of physics.