May 16, 2008
Why does time fly when you’re having fun?
I’m reading Stefan Klein’s excellent “The Secret Pulse of Time“. Recommended - Klein’s style is charming, if rather German, and his grasp of the science is strong. He covers the biology, psychology and physics of time and yes, it really is all relative. One observation that struck home was that we do not remember time as a continuum but as a series of events; that is why a fortnight recuperating in bed seems like an eternity (because we have no events to observe) but almost vanishes from the memory (because there are no events to remember). That is also why a wonderful day’s sightseeing can fly by, yet when looking back over an evening drink, that morning’s coffee can seem impossibly distant. Much to enjoy.
Do we discount time in the same terms as we perceive it? My guess is yes. If so, what is a time discount rate?
When I was seven, a lady of seventy years explained to me that time goes much faster as you get older. Nearly seventy years later, I have found no reason to doubt what she said. My subjective guess is that - despite having a drastically shortened life expectancy - my subjective time discount rate (on the hypothesis that something of the kind exists) today is at least an order of magnitude lower than it was seventy years ago.
I am telling family and friends that this book would be a welcome birthday present next month.
Posted by: David Heigham | May 16th, 2008 at 12:48 pm | Report this commentTim
Both you and (by your comments) Stefan Klein show your western perception of time as a continuum. A more oriental perception is of past, present and future overlapping.
There is no doubt that our past influences our present, and the both past and present influence our future. But then, both our present and our future will influence our perception of the past. Can be confusing.
Then again, of course, the ancient Greeks had two words for time - indicating distinct differences - in what is “time”.
But maybe that is what Stefan Klein’s book is all about?
Posted by: derek tunnicliffe | May 16th, 2008 at 5:00 pm | Report this comment