Measuring Time in Alba
Created | Updated Apr 30, 2003
It struck me only a few days ago that in trying to eliminate some of the stress from my revision, I had actually stumbled upon a rather unusual phenomenon. What I was doing was sitting down with a few CDs to work to, and using that as an indication as to how long I'd been working. For example, night before last, I did English for a full two 'alba': my only measurement of time was in the albums I had listened to whilst working.
It is widely accepted that time is neither absolute nor constant, due to the linked curvature of space-time. So, time can be viewed as a discrete variable, in a similar vein to the description of 'month' mentioned in the article entitled 'Measuring Time'. Thus, any random album played as background music to an activity which will (at least partially) occupy the mind may as well take any value within certain realistic limits. The time taken to perform an activity is proportional to the immersion of the participants in said activity, and the perception of passing time changes in a similar manner (ie, "time flies when you're having fun"). So, here we have perceived time, used instead of 'real' time and therefore subject to quite wild fluctuations. In relative terms, then, it may be suggested that a random album, lasting between forty and eighty minutes, may as well be of constant duration in comparison to the apparent passing of time experienced by the person(s) engaged in the activity to which said album provides a background.
In this way, it is not hard to understand why I only ever seem to get a certain amount of work done: if I'm working slowly, I notice the music playing, and it takes me longer to reach the end of the album. The result is that an amount of work has been done. On the other hand, should I be enjoying the work, I will be working faster. So in theory I should get more done, correct? Unfortunately not the case. The interest I have in the work means that the album passes outside my notice; the effect is then that it takes less perceived time to listen to the whole CD, and because it takes less time, working faster serves only to cancel out the effect. The result is that I end up having done THE SAME AMOUNT OF WORK and no more!
I doubt the examiners will accept the excuse come the summer, but it just goes to show - it's really not my fault...
It is widely accepted that time is neither absolute nor constant, due to the linked curvature of space-time. So, time can be viewed as a discrete variable, in a similar vein to the description of 'month' mentioned in the article entitled 'Measuring Time'. Thus, any random album played as background music to an activity which will (at least partially) occupy the mind may as well take any value within certain realistic limits. The time taken to perform an activity is proportional to the immersion of the participants in said activity, and the perception of passing time changes in a similar manner (ie, "time flies when you're having fun"). So, here we have perceived time, used instead of 'real' time and therefore subject to quite wild fluctuations. In relative terms, then, it may be suggested that a random album, lasting between forty and eighty minutes, may as well be of constant duration in comparison to the apparent passing of time experienced by the person(s) engaged in the activity to which said album provides a background.
In this way, it is not hard to understand why I only ever seem to get a certain amount of work done: if I'm working slowly, I notice the music playing, and it takes me longer to reach the end of the album. The result is that an amount of work has been done. On the other hand, should I be enjoying the work, I will be working faster. So in theory I should get more done, correct? Unfortunately not the case. The interest I have in the work means that the album passes outside my notice; the effect is then that it takes less perceived time to listen to the whole CD, and because it takes less time, working faster serves only to cancel out the effect. The result is that I end up having done THE SAME AMOUNT OF WORK and no more!
I doubt the examiners will accept the excuse come the summer, but it just goes to show - it's really not my fault...
