Prototime, Timelessness, and the Hard Problem of Consciousness
Journal of Consciousness Studies February 1, 2026 Barbara Montero
A commentary on Schneider and Bailey's hypothesis that conscious experience may reside in 'prototime', an aspatial, quasi-temporal reality from which space-time emerges. The author agrees this offers a possible solution to the hard problem of consciousness but argues that a timeless reality could serve a similar explanatory role. The author also suggests that the lesson of emergent space-time is not necessarily that consciousness is fundamental to prototime, but that the apparent incomprehensibility of one phenomenon emerging from another should not lead to the conclusion that such emergence is impossible.