9 Science Videos That Will Make You Question Everything

7. What Exactly Is The Present? - Veritasium

People often say that you shouldn't live in the past, but that's pretty much impossible.

The linear way in which we experience the world is something of an illusion created by the brain, but it takes a little while for it to gather all of the necessary data and reassemble it in the correct order. This means that, but the time you become aware of something, the universe has already moved on.

This doesn't just translate into an imperceptible time lag either. As demonstrated in the video, the brain's way of cutting corners, playing tricks and filling in the gaps, can have some pretty trippy consequences for our perception of causality. By anticipating certain events, and lagging behind on others, our ideas of cause an effect can get mixed up, making it appear as though the consequences of our actions are occurring before we make them.