Hi Georgina
Memories, records, artifacts are information. The universe exists independent of our consciousness. Products of consciousness: brain-driven images and activities. The "present" is the period of time in which all processes go: physical, chemical, biological. The movement of time creates thermodynamics. I will post about this on the time podcast.
Biological processes do not act against thermodynamics. absorbed energy (from photons to meat) has more energy than the resulting product. Biological processes implement Newton's 3 law - by opposing the movement of energy, absorb and transform energy. Every Action Gives Rise to Opposition