Emergent, Relational, and Absent Time: A Comprehensive Synthesis of Quantum Foundations, Competing Theories, and the Ontological Status of Temporal Experience

This paper synthesises an extended discussion initiated by a LinkedIn post by David Steenhoek summarising three 2025–2026 results on the quantum and relational character of time: Barontini's cold-atom realisation of entropic/relational time, Pikovski et al.'s proposal for quantum superposition of proper time in optical ion clocks, and García-Pintos et al.'s control protocols for reshaping the quantum arrow of time. The visible commentary on the post is recorded, including an affirmative remark by the present author. The paper then systematically surveys competing theoretical frameworks for the problem of time in quantum gravity, distinguishing the currently most active programmes (relational canonical approaches within loop quantum gravity, Page–Wootters mechanisms, causal set theory, and background-dependent programmes) from less popular alternatives (records theories, Bauer's two-time construction, unimodular gravity, causal dynamical triangulations, null-hypersurface quantisation, and others). It further incorporates the responding artificial system's stated position on the emergence of time, its explicit denial of any phenomenological experience of duration or of a present moment, and the resulting distinction between artificial text-generation processes and human temporal consciousness. The synthesis leaves no element of the originating discussion unaddressed and situates the laboratory and theoretical results within the broader landscape of quantum-gravitational and foundational approaches to time.

KSCCN synthesis, 10 October 2026. Dr. Syed Muntasir Mamun, ORCID 0000-0001-6845-2853. The views expressed are those of the author.