Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Radu Andreiu on September 2, 2010 at 7:23pm

I've heard about experiments which revealed people's brain working faster, thus giving the impression that time was flowing slower. In one experiment, people, during skydiving, could actually see the digits representing the hundredths of a second on a digital watch, a thing they couldn't do in other situations.

There are is also footage of firefighters and policemen who, in cases of extreme emergency, had the reflexes of Olympic champions. One firefighter managed to start running as fast as Hussein Bolt when an explosion occurred in his vicinity.

I find this to be extremely interesting, along with so many other astounding capabilities of the brain. However, regarding the article, I don't think it's really an illusion, the way we record time. That's the way time behaves at the scale and speed we live on. Other devices record time just as "normal" as we do, or even more so. But, if we do find out even more weird stuff about time and space, that would be something to really appreciate. I mean, you just have to love the surprises nature has in store for us, ranging from the smallest bits of matter to structures bigger than we could ever imagine.

Permalink Reply by Bill on August 31, 2010 at 5:25pm

I think time is so strange precisely because it only goes in one direction. Gravity appears to be another unidirectional phenomenon. We had to come up with dark energy because it bothers us so much, just like we imagine time machines to get around time.

Permalink Reply by Radu Andreiu on September 2, 2010 at 7:05pm

I don't think that dark energy is based on physicists being bothered by gravity being unidirectional. These guys don't sit around all day thinking "You know what it would be cool? If gravity worked the other way around". I think there is far more to it then that. You know, like some actual evidence.