What is the present?
The root of living a good life starts with making the most of the present, but what is the present?
The best definition for the present will be the one that is most consistent across everyday human experience, as I don’t care to make a metaphysical argument. This provides an equal foundation for anyone to consider the subsequent ideas presented in this essay.
A few examples of definitions of the present that are not consistent are: physical presence (where you are located), awareness of your surroundings (what is going on around you), or social context (the age of AI). Each of these examples varies tremendously from person to person.
A temporal definition is more consistent than experiential definitions, save for timezones. Let’s proceed with considering the present temporally. We still don’t have a clear picture of what time constitutes the present, though.
It is commonly accepted that the past is what has happened, the future has not happened yet, and the present is happening now. To narrow down what exactly constitutes the present, it is helpful to consider a lower and upper bound.
Surely this moment, right now, is the present. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "Direct, unitary perception of duration occurs up to a maximum period of approximately 1.5 to 2 seconds from the beginning to the end of a continuous sensory stimulus.”
Therefore, when we refer to now, we’re talking about roughly a couple seconds. I understand this as a limitation of being human, and accept that defining now in this way is purely from a human lens. It is reasonable, then, to say that now is the present’s lower bound, as anything before it has happened and therefore is in the past.
Regarding the present’s upper bound, we must determine when the present ends and when the future starts. If the future has not happened yet, then theoretically anything beyond this moment is not the present. At the same time, one could assert that this minute, hour, day, week, month, year, etc. is currently happening, and that argument would not be false. Both views hold merit and lead to a stalemate.
Continuing to think temporally in order to break this stalemate, it is useful to consider words that delineate between the present and the future: today and tomorrow. Today is happening already. Tomorrow is the day after today, and cannot begin until today ends. Again from a human lens, there is an obvious perception that tomorrow is part of the future.
Therefore, today is the clearest upper bound for the present because it includes now and unlike tomorrow, is not part of the future. Today is also an easily accessible idea for anyone to apply to their own life.
That leaves us with the following definition for the present: the remainder of today.
In a future post (one that I am definitely not finishing today!), I will explore how to make the most of the present.