The Rhythm-Information Time Principle (RITP): Time as Observer-Dependent Rhythmic Grouping of Information Change

Recent scientific discussion proposes that in relativistic spacetime, the number of fundamental constants needed to express all physical quantities can be reduced to one (Matsas et al., 2024). While this single constant is operationally defined as time (the second), this reduction leaves unexplained how observers—biological, artificial, or instrumental—actually experience the temporal flow that clocks measure. This working paper proposes the Rhythm-Information Time Principle (RITP): experienced time arises through observer-dependent rhythmic grouping of continuous information change. We formalize this as T = g(R(ΔI), O), where time (T) emerges from an observer-dependent mapping function (g) applied to rhythmic patterns (R) detected within changes of information state (ΔI), as conditioned by observer characteristics (O). The critical insight: while information changes occur continuously and independently (ΔI), rhythm is not inherent in nature but is created by observers imposing grouping boundaries on repetitive patterns. Different observers create different rhythmic groupings from identical underlying repetitions, generating legitimately different temporal experiences. This framework complements rather than replaces physics, extends the structural definitions in the Unified Intelligence Framework (UIF) Glossary v1.1 (Tang, 2025b), and provides mechanistic grounding for phenomena including the Lambda-State anticipatory dynamics (Tang, 2025a), flow states, time dilation in trauma, AI temporal processing rates, and cross-species temporal perception differences. Because RITP places the observer at the center of temporal construction, it has implications not only for scientific models of time, but also for how humans find meaning, coherence, and agency in a changing world.