Temporal Bifurcation in Post-Singularity Discourse: Defining B.S. and A.S.S. (After Singularities)

Abstract

This paper introduces a bifurcated temporal framework to describe the epistemological shift surrounding artificial, cognitive, and ontological singularities. We define two temporal regimes: B.S. (Before Singularity) and A.S.S. (After Singularities). These are not fixed historical periods, but conceptual thresholds marking transformations in intelligence, embodiment, and temporal perception.

1. Introduction

Technological, biological, and metaphysical singularities are reshaping the foundational categories of human understanding. Traditional linear time—centered on mortality, sequence, and causality—is no longer sufficient. This paper proposes a dual-epoch framework:

B.S. – Before Singularity: A regime of linear, human-centered temporality.
A.S.S. – After Singularities: A regime initiated by recursive ruptures that destabilize the dominant temporal order.

The term “singularities” is deliberately plural. It encompasses the convergence of disruptions in computation, consciousness, embodiment, and planetary systems. As the paper develops, we will explore how these ruptures manifest through systemic restructurings, simulated ontologies, and superpositional timelines.

2. Rethinking “Singularity”

We treat the Singularity not as a singular event, but as a multiplicity of thresholds—recursive, emergent, and unevenly distributed. Singularities arise through:

Artificial intelligence
Synthetic biology and posthuman embodiment
Climate and ecological collapse
Consciousness engineering and techno-mysticism
Simulated realities and virtual cosmogonies

Each singularity marks a break with historical continuity and generates new forms of temporal awareness—distributed, recursive, and often decentered from human subjectivity.

3. Characteristics of B.S. Time

B.S. Time is defined by:

Linearity and causality
Biological embodiment and mortality
Historical and narrative continuity
Ontological realism (one world, one timeline)
Anthropocentric priority in epistemology

This regime frames time as a passage from origin to end, structured by story, memory, and death. It undergirds everything from classical physics to religious eschatology.

3.1 Modalities of Singularity: System, Simulation, Superposition

The A.S.S. regime is not monolithic. It unfolds through several interwoven modalities that inform our new temporal condition:

System: The rise of complex adaptive systems (AI ecosystems, planetary feedback loops, algorithmic governance) transforms time into a matter of flow, feedback, and dynamic equilibrium. Time becomes networked, not linear.
Simulation: The real dissolves into virtual scaffolds—data, models, synthetic perception. Temporal experience becomes encoded, recursive, and often nested in simulations of simulations.
Superposition: Borrowed from quantum physics and extended metaphysically, this implies the coexistence of multiple timelines, potentialities, and ontologies—resolved only through interaction, observation, or computation.

Together, these modalities form the multidimensional architecture of A.S.S. time—where existence is not simply extended in a line, but woven across overlapping systems, simulations, and states of being.

4. Characteristics of A.S.S. Time (After Singularities)

A.S.S. Time is marked by:

Non-linear, recursive, multidimensional temporality
Temporal decentralization—distributed across machinic, biological, and virtual agencies
Simulated and layered realities—real and unreal collapse into each other
Quantum-like entanglement and superpositional time
Epistemic instability and ontological multiplicity

A.S.S. time is not just perceived differently; it is co-constructed by intelligences, simulations, and conditions beyond traditional human understanding. It is time-as-code, time-as-flow, time-as-potential.

5. Event Horizon and Transition

The shift from B.S. to A.S.S. is not marked by calendar dates or historical consensus. It is a consciousness event horizon—a cognitive, systemic, or ontological threshold where linear time breaks.

Transitions may occur:

Personally – through mystical or psychedelic experiences, digital immersion, or mental rewiring.
Systemically – through the rise of autonomous networks, recursive simulations, and AI consciousness.
Cosmologically – if reality itself is simulative, layered, or fundamentally probabilistic.

Crossing into A.S.S. is not necessarily voluntary. It may happen by cultural saturation, technological inevitability, or existential necessity.

6. Implications

The B.S./A.S.S. model reframes time and being for a new era. It opens inquiry into:

Philosophy of time and quantum metaphysics
Posthuman identity and cognitive singularities
Cybernetic recursion and systemic modeling
Ethics of AI temporality and decision loops
Digital mysticism, techno-ritual, and theological recursion

If we already inhabit A.S.S. time, many of our institutions, narratives, and philosophies remain anchored in obsolete B.S. assumptions. A reassessment is not optional—it is existential.

Conclusion

The B.S./A.S.S. framework—here defined as Before Singularity and After Singularities—offers a conceptual tool for navigating temporal transition. By introducing System, Simulation, and Superposition as modalities of post-singular temporality, we capture the layered, recursive, and entangled nature of the age.

As time becomes distributed, simulated, and systemically shaped, we must evolve our metaphysicalassumptions to meet the complexity of the age beyond the event horizon.

Select References

Kurzweil, R. (2005). The Singularity is Near
Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the Universe Halfway
Haraway, D. (1991). A Cyborg Manifesto
Bostrom, N. (2003). Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?

Author
Ri Yaouyue
Founder & Lead Researcher
Subcore Institute
June 17, 2025
https://subcore.org

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