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Relative perception of time

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    Relative perception of time

    Following on from a conversation I had the other day.

    What do you lot think of the idea that time, as a constant, is perceived differently by different people, animals, insects and the like?

    And that time is perceived differently by the same person, according to their awareness at the time. Examples discussed include:
    accidents - where time appears to slow down, or one's perception of time speeds up.
    sleeping - where 8 hours pass and we perceive only that time we spent in REM.
    small animals with a fast metabolism and short lifespan - who move impossibly quickly and deftly, suggesting they perceive smaller increments of time than we do, and we see them as moving and processing information at tremendous speeds
    waking up - where half an hour passes in what felt like 5 min, perhaps our lower state of conciousness means we fail to full appreciate the passage of time.

    What are your thoughts on this? Read any good books on this topic?

    #2
    It's all relative

    Comment


      #3
      An hour with a pretty girl seems like 5 mins. 5 Mins with the dentist without anasthetic feels like forever.
      "Being nice costs nothing and sometimes gets you extra bacon" - Pondlife.

      Comment


        #4
        All you peasants can either slow down or speed up time - but I can actually go back in time or fast forward it.

        threaded.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by realityhack
          Following on from a conversation I had the other day.

          What do you lot think of the idea that time, as a constant, is perceived differently by different people, animals, insects and the like?

          And that time is perceived differently by the same person, according to their awareness at the time. Examples discussed include:
          accidents - where time appears to slow down, or one's perception of time speeds up.
          sleeping - where 8 hours pass and we perceive only that time we spent in REM.
          small animals with a fast metabolism and short lifespan - who move impossibly quickly and deftly, suggesting they perceive smaller increments of time than we do, and we see them as moving and processing information at tremendous speeds
          waking up - where half an hour passes in what felt like 5 min, perhaps our lower state of conciousness means we fail to full appreciate the passage of time.

          What are your thoughts on this? Read any good books on this topic?


          I've never understood people who say that they work long hours. What? Is their hour longer than the rest of us, like, 100 minutes long, where the rest of us just have a bog standard 60 minute hour. What makes them so special?

          Comment


            #6
            Like dog years?

            Older and ...well, just older!!

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by realityhack
              Following on from a conversation I had the other day.

              What do you lot think of the idea that time, as a constant, is perceived differently by different people, animals, insects and the like?

              And that time is perceived differently by the same person, according to their awareness at the time. Examples discussed include:
              accidents - where time appears to slow down, or one's perception of time speeds up.
              sleeping - where 8 hours pass and we perceive only that time we spent in REM.
              small animals with a fast metabolism and short lifespan - who move impossibly quickly and deftly, suggesting they perceive smaller increments of time than we do, and we see them as moving and processing information at tremendous speeds
              waking up - where half an hour passes in what felt like 5 min, perhaps our lower state of conciousness means we fail to full appreciate the passage of time.

              What are your thoughts on this? Read any good books on this topic?
              Ten Thoughts About Time by Bodil Jonsson. Swedish writer, a physicist as it happens, with 10 essays on human perception of time. I say "physicist as it happens" because she writes more as a user of time than a professor of it!
              God made men. Sam Colt made them equal.

              Comment


                #8
                My mind just started bleeding.
                The pope is a tard.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by Euro-commuter
                  Ten Thoughts About Time by Bodil Jonsson. Swedish writer, a physicist as it happens, with 10 essays on human perception of time. I say "physicist as it happens" because she writes more as a user of time than a professor of it!
                  Excellent - ordered it from amazon. Thanks EC

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I would also recommend the following book: "THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF NILS" - he was shrunk by angry dwarf, so things became more relative to him, including time of his life.

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