Time, a Useful Illusion

Ronald P. Gruber is Adj. Clinical Professor at Stanford University. He is an interdisciplinary scientist in the fields of medicine, cognitive science and physics. In the early years focus was largely on medicine and reconstructive surgery culminating in over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, a surgical text book, and several new operations. Currently, he devotes all efforts to the study of time. He constructed the first virtual reality, backwards time travel machine to help resolve the dilemma regarding Einstein’s view that the past/present/future is a stubborn illusion. With his colleagues he recently introduced the Dualistic Mind Theory that indicates that the brain has within it two systems of temporal experiences, one veridical and one illusory. The latter is said to be a product of evolution for the purposes of better behavioral adaptation.