The "Present" and Perception Delay

Light takes time to reach the eye, and the nervous system processes visual signals with a delay. Across an ordinary room, light-travel time from a lamp is tiny, while neural delay is tens of milliseconds; the brain also predicts motion, so perception is not simply viewing a “late frame.” Across cosmic distances, light-travel time becomes substantial, and distant objects are seen as they were in the past. Special relativity has no single absolute “now” for distant events, but that is different from saying that everything experienced is already past.