random babble 03 - perception of time
One of the subjects that has been bouncing around in my gourd for years is the relationship of the passage of time with our perception of it. When we are in a normal state of consciousness and awareness, we experience time as a pretty consistent linear progression, but there are many physical/mental states where this is not the case. The multiple chimays I drank last night definitely altered my overall sense of time somewhat, and the (dare I say) many vodka-red bulls I had the night before altered that perception significantly ;).
(by the way... the CCP party (people that make eve-online) was great. The Game Developer's Conference was this week, and Mike Stamps, Ken Klopp, Paul Meegan and a bunch of other former co-workers were in and at the party... good times)
Anyway, back to my babble. Other experiences are even less predictable. Dreaming has virtually no consistent sense of time. One minute in a dream can seem like hours or you can spend an entire night and only feel like you dreamed for 5 minutes.
Again, I don't actually know much information about this, so I'm running on some assumptions and am okay with that (although I would like to learn more, so feel free to post real info :) ).
It seems to me that we never actually experience any given moment. We exist entirely in the information that is recorded in our brains. That information is a reaction to a moment in time... a recording of it. Essentially we are reading about the event that actually occurred just after it happens. I can't be sure this is true, so I'm going to try and research how sensory input is actually processed in the brain... it seems likely that it's working this way though.
If that is the case, we are essentially limited to the 'accuracy' of our memory, which obviously varies in many situations. Much of this thought process came up when I was thinking about death. I was trying to conceive of what the mental experience would be like (cause I'm morbid like that) and came to the conclusion that the recording of memories must slow down and stop eventually. I'm not certain about the slow-down part but it seems likely. If that is the case (I'll see if there's info out there after this) I would guess that time would appear to pass faster and faster until it became infinite (also known as stopping... infinite doesn't really exist, but it's kind of what happens).
The basic idea is that the sense of time is measured by the number of data-points, or definable events, within a given period of time. If you are extremely aware of a situation, it seems to last longer... especially when recalling it. If you are only noting a couple events over a long period of time it collapses in your mind to a very short experience.
I know people are going to react to that statement with 'time flies when you are having fun' or the idea that when you are bored time seems to drag on forever. Those things aren't quite the same as what I am describing though. 'Time flies when you are having fun' really denotes the idea that enjoyable time is something we don't want to end, and therefore we are viscerally aware of it not lasting as long as we want. The boredom thing happens because we ARE very distinctly aware of the passage of time, specifically because we aren't doing anything and are annoyed or disappointed at this... thinking about it constantly.
The specific thing I'm talking about is honestly a night of intoxication or dreaming. In either of those situations, the apparent length of time can seem much shorter in recollection if we did not record many distinct memories. Many people don't remember their dreams, and most only remember them vaguely. I often have dreams that seem to last forever, with tons of events happening in a single night. I also have dreams where I seem to only experience a small scene over the course of an entire night. My perception of how long the night was is completely different depending... even though it was the same amount of time. If I have several drinks, the same thing happens. I get less and less of a distinct sense of events or memories. I still usually feel like I remember everything that happens, but I pay a lot less distinct attention to the world around me and seem to record a lot fewer data-points. A full night basically turns into several rather blurry (but fun ;) ) events, and it seems to have flown by in recollection.
This also relates to hamsters. Really. I've always been fascinated by small animals that have excessively fast movements, reactions and metabolisms. Or bugs that only live for a day. What is that experience like? Are they aware of that time passage and are their thoughts or perceptions accelerated to make the passage of time seem more drawn out and balanced with their life-span (not that someone is turning a dial, but it seems like it would have to be for them to behave like they do)? That may seem silly, but it has always intrigued me. One of the biggest problems here is that all of this really has to be theoretical, since you can't actually experience life as a hamster (which we can all be thankful for).
One simple way to think about this: If you were to simply stop thinking and go into some stasis for 1000 years, when you woke up it would feel like that time passed instantly. You would not have any sense for the passage of that time because you would not have marked it's passage in your mind. Essentially it would equate to time-travel as far as you were concerned. And then you would have to pay for keeping yourself in storage for 1000 years... ouch. That can't be cheap.
This whole idea has always taken a lot of the fear of death away for me. Essentially I would imagine that death simply means that time and experience stops. There is no bad or good involved. The only thing that SEEMS kind of freaky is the idea that your last thought essentially lasts forever. To you it is simply an instant though... there is just no instant after it. Kind of freaky to imagine, but not actually scary to me in any way.
Oh, and I'm going to try and visit Boulder soon, for all you boulder peeps. Jen and Jessica (Jen's sister) will probably come with me. We are going to go look for a new kitten for Jessica right now :)