Experiential Aspects of Time

[gunug]

While I'm not exactly the nature of time can be this simplistic Stanford University professor Stanley Zimbardo, researcher behind the Stanford Prison Experiment, has a nice illustrated lecture.  In a skillful mix of whiteboard artistry and his great conversational style he talks about the ways in which humans experience time culturally and personally. His explanation of our experience of time states there are 6 "time zones" that people live in:

Two focused on the past: one focused upon the fond reminiscence of personal and family events, and one on the regretful recollection of mistakes and missteps along the path.

Two focused on the present: One concentrated on a hedonistic approach to life and the other on the idea that our fate is cast and all of our planning is for naught!

Two focused on the future: The first concentrating on the worker ants approach to life as employment and the other concentrating on the life everlasting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3oIiH7BLmg...player_embedded

other illustrated lectures by Zimbardo and others:

http://comment.rsablogs.org.uk/videos/

This reminds me of a class that I took in college in the mid-1970's that was taught by a Professor Fahey who was a fellow at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Columbia, Maryland.  The class was Topics in Space and Time and whlle Fahey wanted to talk about the hard physics of things the conversations in the class were centered upon our human cultural and personal experience of time.  As the technical is all caught up in how time is spent and experienced I believe this topic should be placed in the Tech Forum and it is pertinent to our understanding of technological subjects.  Take a look at the lecture; I think it's thought provoking and entertaining!  

This is a photo of Stanley Zimbardo and I think he looks a lot like Dr. Strange:



This is Professor Fahey who at that time was a fellow at the Goddard Space Flight Center:



He was a great lecturer and great to have a few beers with after class! His CV link: http://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/staff/CVs/Richard.Fahey/  (I've got to get me one of these!)

[krissel]

Finally got to check this out.  

His comment on how people perceive time nearer the equator is what I've always believed. You rarely hear of any advanced concepts coming from that latitude.  If everyday is the same you tend to become less aggressive toward accomplishing things. Change in the weather tends to generate a sense of action.


I enjoyed the animation part of the lecture as much as the thoughts. Many years ago I had a project in mind that would portray time as I saw it in a 3 dimensional sculpture... but never got around to it.   Ironic, I suppose.  

[MamaMoose]

Fascinating lecture! But, he is talking only about humans and and their perception of time. I believe because we age then die, our perception of time is a major driver in our lives..

But, the laws of physics, at least in the microscopic world, indicate that the laws behave perfectly well whether time goes forward or backward. This invariance under time reversal breaks down in the macroscopic world. Stars are born and then die. Certain elementary particles die a time period after they are created. Here then thermodynamics plays a role in defining what I call physical time.

So, I believe there are two types of time: 1) human time driven because we note that hings in nature are born, live a certain finite time, and then die. 2) On the other hand there is physical time. This is time where as one moves from the microscopic world to the macroscopic world, thermodynamics plays a key role. For example, entropy. What differentiates the two types of time is quantum mechanics.

At this point if you are not as confused as I am about the meaning of time, then you are ready for lectures in general relativity, the Higgs boson, and the God particle.

MamaMoose

[krissel]

[gunug]

Exactly Mamamoose!  I have been hoping for a personal breakthrough in the area moving backward in time.  So much to do. . .

BTW: This is the picture of Dr. Strange I remembered: