Observer Latency, Biological Bandwidth, and Consciousness Drag: A Restricted Readout Model for the UAE Program

This paper develops the observer-latency branch of the Universal Algorithm of Existence (UAE) in its most restricted and review-safe form. The central question is whether perceived temporal flow can be modeled, at a coarse-grained level, as a consequence of finite biological bandwidth and temporal integration rather than as direct access to an underlying substrate-scale rate of change. To make that question scientifically evaluable, the manuscript avoids broad ontological claims about consciousness and instead reframes Consciousness Drag as a formal latency ratio between a hypothesized substrate transition scale and measurable biological sampling scales. The paper does not claim that this ratio has already been empirically established as a law of time perception. Its purpose is to define the parameter conservatively, connect it to existing neuroscience on gamma-band coordination and temporal integration windows, and identify what success or failure would look like for a restricted observer-readout version of the UAE program. In the broader UAE paper sequence, this paper functions as the observer-readout / latency pillar, building on the biological-persistence paper and providing a cautious bridge from nonequilibrium life-systems language to formal models of temporal readout limitation.