Identity as Commitment Continuity: Persistence Under Irreversible Time

Identity persistence is commonly attributed to continuity of memory, consciousness, or psychological traits. Under irreversible time, however, persistence requires more than continuity of internal content; it requires continuity of directional binding. This work introduces a foundational account in which identity persists through conservation of binding commitments across change. Because prior states cannot be revisited or replayed, identity cannot be anchored in preserved configurations, representations, or experiences. Instead, persistence is maintained by stable self-binding constraints that exclude incompatible futures and shape continuation across temporal extension. On this account, identity is neither sameness nor narrative continuity, but commitment continuity under irreversible time. Identity loss occurs when binding structures fragment, erode, or are replaced without preserving exclusion relations. This reframing positions identity as a commitment-based invariant generated by temporal irreversibility, independent of psychological content, representational structure, or substrate-specific realization.