The Observer's Arrow — On the Desire-Dependent Nature of Temporal Direction and the Impossibility of Observer-Neutral Physics

The arrow of time — the asymmetry between past and future that makes experience move in one direction only — has no solution in current physics. The equations of physics are time-symmetric: they work identically forward and backward. Yet experience is irreversibly directional. This paper proposes that the arrow of time is not a property of the universe. It is a property of the desiring observer imposing sequence on neutral physical events. Remove the observer and you remove the direction. Without observer there is no past, no future, only state. This framework introduces three connected concepts: Desire-Dependent Temporality — time flows in the direction of desire, not entropy; the Bug Axiom — the existence of the observer precedes all conclusions the observer makes about its own significance; and Spider Physics — every observer builds a complete and internally consistent framework from its observable domain that is systematically blind beyond it. The paper connects to Observable Universe Privilege (the author, 2026), Mandatory Author Self Critique (the author, 2026), and independently converges with partial positions held by Wheeler, Rovelli, and Nagel while extending beyond each. Version 2 — March 11 2026. Ultra Instinct replaced with Latent Instinct throughout. Latent Instinct is the author's own coined term.