The structure of observation: is is never now as now was always then

The present tense is a reading, not a state. “Is” does not name a property of reality. It names a relation between a discrete stepping and a resolution rate. What we call “now” is the integration of past steps that arrive below threshold: was, processed as is. No step is ever read at the moment of its stepping. Every reading is of a step already taken. “Now” is the name we give to the proximity of was to the excluded limit of perfect presence, a reading we can approach but never arrive at. There is no moment readable as is.