An answer to a question that has vexed me, after the jump ...
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In my mis-spent youth: during a conversation about a past event, I could usually state when said event took place — such as “Didn’t that happen 2-3 years ago?” — reasonably close. Nowadays, my recollection is usually off by ten years or so.
I use the word “velocity” to indicate my bewilderment at how quickly time seems to pass. Summertime in my childhood seemed never to end, and so the title to an old Beach Boys album Endless Summer seemed apropos. Now, whenever I am struck by how far-off my thoughts are: I use a line that the former CBS Sunday Morning host Charles Osgood once described: placing a service-call into the Calendar Repair Department, whose investigative skills will surely reveal a simple misunderstanding. (With a nervous laugh, of course).
It turns out that I am not alone: the psychologist and BBC columnist Claudia Hammond described this as “One of the biggest mysteries of the experience of time”. And there are researchers who have done studies on what has been referred to as Mind time vs. Clock time.
Scientific American cited a 2005 project (by a Bavarian university psychologist duo) who surveyed a wide range of people on the subject. When they were quizzed on items that took place in the past twelve months, there was no significant difference depending upon the age of the participants. Yet that broke-down when it came to longer periods of time:
When asked to reflect on their lives, the participants older than 40 felt that time elapsed slowly in their childhood but then accelerated steadily through their teenage years into early adulthood.
One of their conclusions was that childhood brought constant new experiences, whereas when adults settle into a more routine life, “Our early years tend to be relatively over-represented in our autobiographical memory and, on reflection, seem to have lasted longer”.
In an essay first published in 2019 by a Romanian-born professor of engineering at Duke University: this phenomenon is attributed to physics. Adrian Bejan believes this applies to other fields such as economics, and writes:
When we get older, the rate at which changes in mental images are perceived decreases because of several transforming physical features, including vision, brain complexity, and later in life, degradation of the pathways that transmit information. And this shift in image processing leads to the sense of time speeding up.
Professor Bejan cited his days more than fifty years ago playing basketball, when he noticed that time slowed down when he was rested … and that he could predict how well the team would do depending upon the time of day of games, road trips, sleep habits and the like. It sparked his interest for his later studies.
"People are often amazed at how much they remember from days that seemed to last forever in their youth," Bejan said in a press release. "It's not that their experiences were much deeper or more meaningful, it's just that they were being processed in rapid fire."
One analyst posited that this effect is even more pronounced for people who live in a climate without distinct seasons: “If (the weather) is the same all the time, the brain is not processing new things like the turning of leaves or the first snowfall”.
The good news, the various researchers seem to agree: is that there are workarounds available. Professor Bejan cites good sleep habits (as part of overall health) and others suggest that by re-creating the conditions of our youth, we can alter our perceptions. These include: learning new skills, languages, travel to new destinations (rather than familiar ones) and simply having new experiences at every age. Sounds like a plan.
Two songs to conclude with — one is a James Taylor song that I find helpful.
Secret O’ Life has been performed by many other performers (India Arie, Richie Havens, Art Garfunkel and especially Rosemary Clooney) — here is a version by the cabaret singer Nancy LaMott, who sang at the Clinton White House yet was cursed with disease much of her life (dying of uterine cancer at age forty-four).
The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time Any fool can do it There ain't nothing to it Nobody knows how we got to The top of the hill But since we're on our way down We might as well enjoy the ride Now the thing about time Is that time isn't really real It's just your point of view How does it feel for you? Einstein said he could never understand it all Planets spinning through space The smile upon your face Welcome to the human raceYouTube Video
The other is by the British blues-rock-jazz band Colosseum, with Three Score and Ten— close to the median lifespan of a male at the time of this 1971 song.
YouTube VideoNow, on to Top Comments:
Highlighted by lexalou:
In the front-page story about lawmakers describing the Trump CDC briefing as the worst of all time— ksmoore777 posits a theory about inadequate testing.
Highlighted by Deep Dark:
In the diary by Brubs, relating a report from an Army wife in Italy— rexymeteorite expresses feelings of anxiety that affect many Americans.
And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the diary by SkepticalRaptor about those who are hawking quack remedies to the coronavirus — Ozarkblue fills-us-in on one of those peddlers … a televangelist you thought (maybe hoped) was gone …. but has simply decamped to smaller quarters.
And in the front-page story about the head of the CDC agreeing with Rep. Katie Porter’s insistence that the agency conduct coronavirus testing for all— Crashing Vor lists several reasons why that director’s walking papers will soon arrive and sierramimi believes at least one person will be relieved if that happens.
TOP PHOTOSMarch 11th, 2020 Next - enjoy jotter's wonderful *PictureQuilt™* below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo. (NOTE: Any missing images in the Quilt were removed because (a) they were from an unapproved source that somehow snuck through in the comments, or (b) it was an image from the DailyKos Image Library which didn't have permissions set to allow others to use it.) |
And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
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