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

In a recent CBC radio program I was listening to (IDEAS: SPIRITUAL MACHINERY) they were discussing the fact that one's perception of time fluctuates with changes in the temperature of the brain. For instance. I assume the reason is this, time is percieved by our brain by a number of chemical reactions. As the temperature increases, those reactions are faster.

So, say we have three people, Tom, Dick and Harry. Tom has been sitting in a sauna for fifteen minutes, Dick has been sitting in his house for fifteen minutes(room temperature), and Harry has been freezing his nipples off in Northern Canada for fifteen minutes.

If you were to ask these three how much time had passed, Dick would give you an answer around fifteen minutes, our "normal" time perception.

Tom, however, in his sauna would probably say that closer to twenty minutes had passed. His brain has been working faster and thus has had less time-per-second.

Harry, luckily, has only perceived around ten minutes as having passed. His brain is working slowly and thus has more time-per-second.

Cool, huh?
-Matt the Rat

PS - The CBC website has this program in RealAudio format, and I highly recommend dl'ing it.

www.radio.cbc.ca

Then find the programs section, then go to either the IDEA's website or the "Tapestry" website (the show was broadcast on both programs.

The Show is called:
"Spiritual Machines: Time, Space, and Mind"

Would neither Tom, Dick nor Harry have the intelligence to perhaps glance at a clock?


I mean seriously how thick are these people?

You're assuming, of course, that a clock is a reliable observer of Time. It's all relative, baby.

-Matt The Rat

Yes I am bloody well assuming that!

But that is a pretty silly assumption. Watches are affected by relativity just like everything else.

Send a watch out for a trip to the edge of the solar system and back and see if it tells the same time as a watch here on earth.