h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Assuming that the trees are as real as the skyscrapers, if the magic of the woods makes four hours seem like four days, how does life among honking horns and skyscrapers affect our perception of time? Perhaps it means we dwell among them for years and it passes so fast that we barely notice anything that happens around us. Fits my experiences, anyway!

Thanks for the read.

Time fascinates me. We are almost dictated by it, yet most people have little understanding (and little interest in knowing more) of what it is. And no one truely knows why we experience time.

Like you I've noticed that time in the countryside - in our more natural habitat - travels slower. In the artificial landscapes we have created, we almost encourage the rapid leakage of time from our world, by plain and often featureless designs. In contrast nature is ever changing and infinite in its variety. The greater complexity of nature inspires us and conveys more beauty to us, in contrast our grey standardised buildings do little to stimulate our minds - and as such do nothing to slow the passage of time.

It is shown in numerous texts, that our perception of time does actually change when we are confronted with new material - this is why summer holidays seem so much longer as a child because so many more things are new when we are children - in fact very young children appear to have virtually no concept of time.

Fascinating subject, and an inspirational story. Thank you for the story, and thank you Bomba for the thread! I like to stretch my vebal ramblings from time to time