25.2.14

Just A Thought #1

I know that a second is a fixed unit; however, since I first heard about how some dinosaurs were so large it took seconds for nerve signals to travel to the brain, I've separated the idea of absolute time and experienced time.
Experienced time is the rate at which our nervous system can process stimuli and act. In absolute time, this time is unique to each species, since each species has a unique anatomy. It is with this time that we measure our days and our lifespans. We view mice and insects as preternaturally fast. Spider-Man's precognitive spider sense is one example that comes to mind. We view the behemoths of ages past as plodding imbeciles and wonder how they could possibly have survived at such a slow pace. However, our opinions are based on our experiential time.
If I was to somehow become a diplodocus, mamenchisaurus, or even a amphicoelias, in absolute time my experienced time would have lengthened, but I wouldn't notice the difference. Experienced time is constant. What I would notice is that I lived in a world of incredibly fast little creatures that somehow seemed to know in advance if I was trying to squish them.
If I were to become a fly, I still I wouldn't notice a difference in the passing of time, but I'd live in a world of incredibly slow giants. I'd laugh at them as they try to squish me and wonder how beings could possibly exist if they move and react that slowly.
I think it boils down to relativity and perspective. We say a worker bee has a lifespan of a year, but if it can process its environment 40 times faster than we can, has it not lived 40 years in that span?

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