The paradox of the conscious “now” in the block universe: the multitrack consciousness conjecture

This essay examines the important inconsistency between the relativistic block universe view of spacetime and subjective conscious experience, particularly the paradox of the privileged now moment in the context of a timeless reality. Addressing two postulates—that we live in a four-dimensional block universe where all moments are embedded within spacetime, and that conscious experience of the present moment is real—in this essay, the multitrack consciousness conjecture (MCC) is advanced as a solution for this paradox. This conjecture suggests the existence of multiple identical instances of our conscious selves in time, each one only being capable of experiencing a single moving now. The implications of the MCC for self-identity, emotion, memory, and shared experiences are discussed within the block universe framework and in more heterodox physical scenarios. The MCC offers a new perspective on the relations among the subjective nature of time, consciousness and the structure of events in spacetime.