Deep Thoughts: Does Time Pass Slower for an Ant?

[Jabba]

Time. Wow. That is a subject that you could talk endlessly about and never find any logical answers for it. Is time a straight line? Is it cyclical? Can the passage of time be altered? The only methods that could possibly figure these questions out are fictional or, if they ever are created, hundreds of years past our generation. So, we must occupy ourselves thusly, by debate as we do with everything we can't explain, the depths of space, the myriad of species in the ocean, the beginning and, eventual, end of subservient life as we know it.

Through all this, a question ---punks--- the back of my mind like a needle about time: Does time differ for substantially different things, be it objects or actual beings? Does time pass faster for an ant, because it is smaller than humans, or does it pass slower for the same reason? Does the primitive mind of a common household fly hold the same perspective of the flow of time, or does it's brain process it slower than the intellectually advanced human mind? Does, say, a box pass through time more slowly than a globe, because the globe's curved body allows it smoother access? All these and more sprout from the same question above, and I haven't come to a logical conclusion yet.


So, I brought it here, for you to discuss. Please, by all means, debate, agree, completely ignore what I said, give your own opinion about it.

[Stingray]

Time definitely passes slower in my office than at home in front of the TV. This is a fact.

-S

[ChadTower]

Time passes much slower between buying the keg and finally tapping it.

[Stingray]

That's why the beer gods gave us six packs.

-S

[ChadTower]

I don't know anyone who drinks that much beer and also has a six pack.

[Stingray]

Oh, you're no fun anymore.

-S

[ChadTower]

Beer is why I do not have a six pack.  I had one before I started drinking beer.

[Zero_Hour]

Time is an illusion, Lunchtime doubly so.

[Stingray]

Time is an illusion, Lunchtime doubly so.

Time passes slower when you're looking for your towel.

-S

[ChadTower]

Or reaching for a paper towel and don't want to sit up.

[Zero_Hour]

Time is an illusion, Lunchtime doubly so.

Time passes slower when you're looking for your towel.

-S

Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's one frood who knows where his towel is.

[Stingray]

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.

-S

[ChadTower]

There's an emergency going on.  It's still going on.  Someone please report to the white corridor 512.  There's an emergency and it's still going on.

[Sephroth57]

indie hard rock FTW!

[ChadTower]

indie = no one will sign us

[Stingray]

indie = no one will sign us

The truth is harsher than a hand rolled cannibal.

-S

[Sephroth57]

hey, we will get signed someday... the key is getting a recording and spamming every record company with a mailbox. were saving up now and going to cut a 9 song cd soon

[ChadTower]

No, that is the method they tell all the sucky bands that can't get signed. 

The key is being good enough that someone comes and finds you.

[Stingray]

I'll buy your CD seph, as long as it sounds like old people muic.

-S

[ChadTower]

Seph can't play Freebird.

[Stingray]

That's okay. I think he's in a Joan Jett & The Blackhearts cover band anyway.

-S

[ChadTower]

What is a jukebox?  What is a dime?  Can it fit on my ipod?

[Zero_Hour]

No, that is the method they tell all the sucky bands that can't get signed. 

The key is being good enough that someone comes and finds you.

Apparently, the guy in charge of finding the non-sucky bands to sign has been away for awhile, and his replacement has been wreaking havoc with the industry.

Sometimes, indie=don't wish to sign over my life for 15 min. on Total Request Live, and a criminally low royalty rate.

[ChadTower]

When the money is extended, they always sign.  The Beatles were the ultimate indy band and even they signed.  Bruce Springsteen had such a following that he published his own albums and they went gold, then he signed.  Motley Crue put out their own first album and it went like double platinum, then they signed.

They always do, in the end.

[Jabba]

Wow, this thread got WAY more replies than my Robert Plant thread earlier... Whats the EE board become?

[ChadTower]

You made us look at pics of Robert Plant without a shirt and with a weird seductive look on his face.

Get to the back of the line.

[Shape D.]

hey, we will get signed someday... the key is getting a recording and spamming every record company with a mailbox. were saving up now and going to cut a 9 song cd soon

Most labels won't even look at unsolicited work.

usually the ones that do are what are referred to as "Indy" labels.

Regular labels = care about marketability of the band. example
Indy labels = care about the musicianship, and songwriting quality of the band. example

[Zero_Hour]

You just offered up some of the biggest exceptions - Artists with a proven track record, who can actually negotiate with the labels (because of their track record). For up and comers, though, it's a vastly different playing field.

Here's an interesting read to make the time pass (on topic reference  ):
http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

While you're never going to match the distribution/marketing power of major lables, lots of bands/artists have had lengthy carreers without signing to a major label.

Digital distribution is feared by the Majors simply because it eats into one of main things they can actually do for an artist.

[Shape D.]

You just offered up some of the biggest exceptions - Artists with a proven track record, who can actually negotiate with the labels (because of their track record). For up and comers, though, it's a vastly different playing field.

I was using those as examples of the labels not the artists. I should have been a bit clearer.

And yes, artists who have had large ammounts of success in the past can get a lot more out of a label than an unknown artist.

[paigeoliver]

Back on the subject originally mentioned.

The passage of time is very subjective. But there is a bit of a constant to how long it SEEMS to take.

When you experience time you are adding to your memory, and your life. The older you get the faster time passes subjectively. When you are 50 years old one year comprises but 2 percent of your life. Subjectively it flies by, and very little you experience will be new to you.

When you are 4 years old a single year is 25 percent of your life. Everything is new, every day is a new experience.

Thats why in grade school the summers went on forever, and now 6 or 8 months will go by in the blink of an eye.

Subjectively your life is half over at age 10. (That is based on age 20 being the reference point for when a year feels like a year.)

So even animals with short lifespans still subjectively live full lives.

The ironic thing is that we don't really remember what is subjectively the longest period of our lives (birth to age 4).

[Bones]

I believe the perception of time is measurable only to life forms that are self aware of their own existence. Collectively ants are able to build air conditioned homes and mount large scale attacks on their enemys but individually they show no signs of intelligence or self awareness. They are executing their mission as blindly as a computer program.

Does, say, a box pass through time more slowly than a globe, because the globe's curved body allows it smoother access?

If box & globe experience the same gravitational forces then they will pass through time at a constant and fixed rate that is relative to each other. The weight, surface area or shape will have no effect in a vaccum. (Excluding other external physical factors)

[Zakk]

Time definitely passes slower in my office than at home in front of the TV. This is a fact.

-S

Your squirrel in your hillbilly clock is drunk.

[DarkKobold]

I saw a quote in the Smithsonian American History Museum.
"Two hours seems like two minutes in the company of a beautiful woman. That is relativity." - Albert Einstien.

[Stingray]

Your squirrel in your hillbilly clock is drunk.  Get a fresh squirrel and time should return to normal!

I don't like the looks of his replacement.

-S

[nostrebor]

Back on the subject originally mentioned.

The passage of time is very subjective. But there is a bit of a constant to how long it SEEMS to take.

When you experience time you are adding to your memory, and your life. The older you get the faster time passes subjectively. When you are 50 years old one year comprises but 2 percent of your life. Subjectively it flies by, and very little you experience will be new to you.

When you are 4 years old a single year is 25 percent of your life. Everything is new, every day is a new experience.

Thats why in grade school the summers went on forever, and now 6 or 8 months will go by in the blink of an eye.

Subjectively your life is half over at age 10. (That is based on age 20 being the reference point for when a year feels like a year.)

So even animals with short lifespans still subjectively live full lives.

The ironic thing is that we don't really remember what is subjectively the longest period of our lives (birth to age 4).

Am I the only one here that now hears all of Paige's posts in allegidly evil but found to be not-evil in the mirror episode Spock's voice? This one could have come directly for a Trek episode. Maybe the crazy Bones time travel episode.

(note: edit to clarify Mr. Spock's evilness to less irritate/infuriate nerdy trekkies such as Stingray.)

[Stingray]

<trekkie nerd>It's Mirror Spock do you hear me? Mirror Spock!!!</trekkienerd>

-S

[nostrebor]

Adjustments made as noted. The real question remains though. Is Paige really an alter-ego of Mirror Spock?

[Stingray]

Hey don't ask me, I'm only here for the cheesecake.

-S

[Jabba]

Good one Paige, I think we concur...I've been thinking about this one a little more....

I would theorize that time is PERCEIVED (if the organism is even capable of perceiving time) differently. As a human, I hope to live around 100 years. As fruitfly, I hope to live about a month or so. Because a fruitfly could never even dream of living 100 years and the idea of only living 1 month is hardcoded genetically into their being, then I would posit that 1 month seems like a long time to a fruit fly just as 100 years seems like a long time to a human.

Also, I think that we as humans are one of the very few animals that have the ability to exerience existance beyond animal instinct and passive stimuli. In my eyes we invented the idea of "time" to break our events that we percieve into messurable instances so that it is organized and referenceable in a 3 dimensional-spatial way.

[Stingray]

Also, I think that we as humans are one of the very few animals that have the ability to exerience existance beyond animal instinct and passive stimuli.

I don't know about that. My cats know that it's time for breakfast, they know that it's time for dinner. They're out all day, some of them only come around the house when it's time to eat. Furthermore, there are a couple of them that I allow to come inside the house, but only after work. They won't even try to come in during the morning & early afternoon, but they're hanging around the front door around 4:30 every afternoon hoping to be let in. This seems to indicate to me at least a rudimentary understanding of the passage of time.

-S

[danny_galaga]

Does time pass faster for an ant, because it is smaller than humans, or does it pass slower for the same reason? Does the primitive mind of a common household fly hold the same perspective of the flow of time, or does it's brain process it slower than the intellectually advanced human mind?

does a bee care? i suspect that insects have no immediate concept of the passing of time as it isnt required. they do of course have biological clocks for certain events, but they dont really need to think about it...