any amount n, then time will also decrease its speed by the same amount n. In other words, if you can think faster, time will last a lot longer.


True or false?


Reasoning:
A. Possible explanation for why time seems to appear to move faster and faster as you grow up...your brain slows down.

B. Given snakes can strike faster than we can comprehend, it appears to move super fast. If we sped up our comprehension to 1,000,000 times n per sec, the snake would appear to strike slowly.




[Edited on January 11, 2011 at 1:36 PM. Reason : .]

1/11/2011 1:30:20 PM

give me any odds of increasing comprehension by any amount n.

Let's do something large.

Let's do something like....

"There's a 1 out of 1x10^10 chance."

That means there's a one in ten billion chance of aliens existing.

Is that not rare enough for you? Okay. Let's do 1 out of 1x10^15. That's a one in one quadrillion chance.

Based on observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, there are at least 125 billion galaxies in the universe.

It is estimated that at least ten percent of all sun-like stars have a system of planets, there are 6.25×10^18 stars with planets orbiting them in the universe.

If even a billionth of these stars have planets supporting life, there are some 6.25×10^9 (billion) life-supporting planetary systems in the universe.

6,250,000,000.

Now, what are the odds that NONE of these have any life on them?

1/11/2011 1:33:15 PM

^ hahahaha

1/11/2011 1:34:58 PM

1/11/2011 1:36:03 PM

wow kudos on the replies

and for all you copypastas out there thats how you use a fucking meme. You don't just fucking paste it because you don't have anything creative to say.

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

1/11/2011 1:37:05 PM

memes themselves are becoming [old] and [played out]

1/11/2011 1:39:29 PM

k

1/11/2011 1:39:54 PM

i believe the OP is going to unload a 9mm magazine in a public space, someday.

1/11/2011 1:40:00 PM

something something 9 inch in public

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

1/11/2011 1:40:37 PM

There's no research that suggests you think more slowly as you age.

1/11/2011 1:40:56 PM

Quote :

"believe the OP is going to unload a 9mm magazine in a public space, someday."

Why in the world would I unload a ~111 page magazine in public?

1/11/2011 1:44:26 PM

you are so clever and funny. i aspire to be just like you.

1/11/2011 1:46:41 PM

no matter how fast you comprehend... you only see @ 24 frames per second so that will eventually be your barrier. You will just comprehend more of each frame.

1/11/2011 1:49:48 PM

Quote :

"There's no research that suggests you think more slowly as you age."

Ask a 90 year old a question like "How long was it since the last time you went to the bathroom" towards the end of their life. How long will it take for them to respond? How long does it feel to them?

How long do you stand there waiting for their reply?

Who would win in a strategy game that a group of teenagers and adults have never played before? Teenagers or adults?

The answer is obvious.

Who can learn languages faster? Children or Teenagers?

The answer is obvious.

Also, when you're sleeping, times seems non-existent when you're not thinking or comprehending time.

The answer is obvious.

1/11/2011 1:51:51 PM

Whoa whoa whoa. I seem to remember that smileys at the end of d7freestyler's posts indicate the he does not, in fact, mean what he says.

1/11/2011 1:53:53 PM

Quote :

"Ask a 90 year old a question like "How long was it since the last time you went to the bathroom" towards the end of their life. How long will it take for them to respond? How long does it feel to them?"

Thinking slowing with age, and old people thinking slowly are different concepts (picture an S-curve).

Your post implied there was a constant, gradual decline with thinking speed, when this should at the very least be intuitively not the case.

1/11/2011 1:55:37 PM

This took me .24 seconds to comprehend.

1/11/2011 1:55:39 PM

People move slower and heal slower with age too. I think there is some kinda magic going on there too

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

1/11/2011 1:56:30 PM

Quote :

"24 frames per second so that will eventually be your barrier. You will just comprehend more of each frame."

I'm glad you mention that! "You will just comprehend more of each frame" is synonymous with "slow motion" footage. It takes more frames for us to comprehend the frames that occurred faster than we could comprehend. However if we were to comprehend faster, like 240 frames per second, then time as we know it will last 10 times longer.

1/11/2011 1:57:21 PM

Quote :

"Thinking slowing with age, and old people thinking slowly are different concepts"

Why?

1/11/2011 1:58:15 PM

Lets dump everything we know about comprehension in here, TWW; technical, political, financial, everything is welcome. This in my new industry, I am investing all my money and time and I need your help. I've been taking classes in this for a while now and will be doing much more in the near future culminating in a new business venture to begin within a year. I have just broken my arm so I have lots of down time and can't really study that hard because of the meds, so lets just chat it up for the next few days. I especially hope to hear from all of the encouraging, helpful people from whom I've been receiving PM's. Lets get it all out there and discuss it, maybe even get some google docs going. By day, you can grind away at your engineering jobs but your heart can be here with me in Florida. Our mission is to reach critical mass and start a Comprehension Revolution!

1/11/2011 1:58:42 PM

Quote :

"It takes more frames for us to comprehend the frames that occurred faster than we could comprehend. However if we were to comprehend faster, like 240 frames per second, then time as we know it will last 10 times longer."

This is how time works.

1/11/2011 1:59:59 PM

So here's the story, and please hear me out before commenting:

I realize this thread is about increasing comprehension by any amount n ....which I am not. Hear me out, maybe I can give odds of what you think increasing comprehension by any amount n is.

I am in outside sales, which is currently salary+commission, but will move into straight commission starting at the beginning of July 2010. I have been in this position since July 2009. I have competition from several direct manufacturing sales reps, large distributors, and local distributors. I play trivia every Tuesday and Friday night with D, the Director of Quality at a company I used to work for (and would like to work for again some day), and his gf, N. One night we're all getting ready to leave the bar so I go to pay for my tab, and the bartender tells me Let's do something large - my debit card was declined. Confused, I ask her to Let's do something like.... try it again, again declined. By this point, D and N are looking over and I'm starting to get embarrassed. N asks me what's up, I say "There's a 1 out of 1x10^10 chance my card is being declined," D says no worries, that means there's a one in ten billion chance of my card being declined, and picks up my tab. Although super embarrassed, I was grateful because I wasn't carrying any other form of payment on me. Is that not rare enough for you?

Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each:

Direct Advantages: Immediate knowledge of new technology, no middle man mark up, one shipping bill (paid by manufacturer or buyer of goods), access to larger range of non-commodity items, control inventory, have access to many distributors that can effectively sell their goods which increases market share, and set prices of commodity they manufacture.

Direct disadvantages: Typically have 1-3 sales reps per region (i.e. southeast, mid-atlantic, northeast, etc.) limiting the number of accounts they can successfully manage/cold-call, lack physical customer service or physical technical service available to or affordable for smaller users or altogether, are sometimes not trustworthy because they will go in behind their distributors that sell their commodity to one account in large quantities (i.e. they missed a big account, and have found out about it through a distributor selling their particular product) which leads to the distributor not selling their product anymore, have too many distributors selling the product ultimately driving the set price down through deviations, possibly rely on distributors to actually sell the product, and competition from other direct sources.

I get home and check my bank account balance online and everything is normal. No unauthorized transactions or anything. I try again the next day to use my card at Old Navy, but this time brought an american express giftcard that I had with me just in case. Sure enough, debit card is declined and I pay with the gift card. I then exit the store and call my bank angrily and explain what had happened to me and asked what was up. The customer service rep told me that customers who did not have fraud protection would temporarily not have access to their accounts due to system upgrade/maintenance/IT blah blah. I was like OK.... Okay. Let's do 1 out of 1x10^15. That's a one in one quadrillion chance, and decided I'd just pay with my credit card for the next day or so, no big deal.

Large distributor advantages: have access to other commodities that go hand in hand with other manufacturers (poor example- grocery stores sell milk as well as cereal), get direct pricing, many locations regionally or nationally easing the shipping burden of buyers with multiple locations, personal service either customer or technical, many sales reps that are able to cover a broader territory, access to multiple manufacturers of the same commodity allowing to keep prices in check, service programs that smaller companies can't offer and direct providers can't match in price or value, and experts of many many commodities as opposed to one or a few.

A few days go by and I want to get a snocone at Pelican's, but they're cash-only. Based on observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, there are at least 125 billion ATMs in the universe. It is estimated that at least ten percent of all ATMs have a cash dispenser, and there are 6.25×10^18 ATMs with money in them in the universe. I go to the cashpoints ATM and put in my debit card and PIN and the machine says "Unauthorized use: card retained". The ATM ate my debit card. Pissed off, and on a Sunday, there was nothing I could do.

Monday I'm getting lunch with my bf and decided to be nice and pick up the bill, so I go to pay using my CREDIT card, and the server comes back saying my card was declined. Again, embarrassed, I was thankful to have my bf there to cover the payment. If even a billionth of these payments have Large distributor disadvantages: smaller local distributors creating price wars (think Michael Scott Paper Co vs Dunder-Mifflin), direct mfg's going in behind and stealing business, limited access to all of the mfg's (you won't find Harris Teeter name brands in Food Lion and visa versa), can't truly set prices because it's based on both supply and demand, territory management, and tough growth prospects in slower economies (this is true for direct as well really), there are some 6.25×10^9 (billion) Local distributor advantages: Typically a good ol' boy setting where the seller and the buyer know each other for years (this does happen at all levels, but mostly at the local level), local folks are right down the street and can be used in emergencies, if the local guy buys at high enough volumes then there is no shipping charge to the end user, and access to both direct mfg's and large distributors in the universe.

6,250,000,000.

Monday afternoon I go to my bank and tell them what has happened. My card was retained by the ATM because my bank statements had been returned to the bank by my mail carrier. When that happened, the bank sent a replacement debit card to my address, which was also returned. This is what I have noticed in my six months, I am sure there are plenty more that need mentioning. The way I am setting myself apart as a sales person is this: I go after the big accounts right now while I am new. The big accounts, if I land them, will take care of me while I am new and building a customer base. The money made off of those allows me to focus free time on smaller accounts that get me higher margins. I build up big accounts, I would like to have 5-10 of these, then get 20-30 medium accounts. If I lose 1 or 2 big accounts, the 20-30 medium accounts keep me afloat while I go after new big accounts. I don't really waste time on small accounts simply because they basically pay for breakfast or something really small. I found this really odd considering the address on file was my current one and I successfully receive other bills (electric, insurance, etc) there. Bank tells me they'll send a replacement card again, and give me a temp card for the meantime.

I then call my credit card company. Same story: card statements returned by the USPS, which caused them to put a hold on my card.

Aggravated, I went to the USPS station nearest me and explained the issue. They said to write a note to my carrier and put it in my box. I wrote on a post-it note two days ago "Hi, please deliver all mail addressed to jessiejepp to this box. This includes bank/credit card statements. All mail addressed to other individuals should be RTS. Thank you!" and put it in the back of my box where he/she inserts the mail. Both yesterday and today I have received mail (not for me, but for my address), but my note is still there.


I will say this, if you can't get a big account in the first 6-8 months (assuming you have cash flow that you can ride this long) you could be in a world of trouble. If you can get one, it will really make going after the others a lot more enjoyable and less stressful. I know a lawsuit for punitive damages against a federal agency isn't possible, but I was wondering what (if any) other legal action I can take in this case. It's simply just very exhausting wasting any time on anything other than big accounts in the very beginning. You work just as hard on the medium sized accounts and see 1/3 to 1/36 of the money in my situation.


Now, what are the odds that increasing comprehension by any amount n doesn't exist? If you have any other questions, you can PM me. I hope this helps in the slightest!

1/11/2011 2:00:59 PM

LOL

1/11/2011 2:02:23 PM

Quote :

"This is how time works. "

Precisely.

Is it not true that some people can think faster than other people?

If some people can think faster than other people, then it means it's a physical problem, not a meta problem.

If it's a physical problem, then time can be manipulated to slow down and speed up! (but not go backwards)

Right?

[Edited on January 11, 2011 at 2:08 PM. Reason : .]

1/11/2011 2:02:54 PM

If Earth implodes on itself and all life ceases to exist, will time stop?

1/11/2011 2:04:08 PM

It doesn't matter.

1/11/2011 2:04:55 PM

Quote :

"memes themselves are becoming [old] and [played out]"

the simple fact that a meme exists is itself a meme.

1/11/2011 2:05:53 PM

Anybody that has been in a car accident or any other life threatening situation with a massive adrenaline rush can tell you that time does indeed slow down but I don't know if it's because of an increase in comprehension or if it just seems like an increase in of comprehension. I don't really know enough about what adrenaline does other than the basics (heightened senses, pupils dilate, heart races, etc) to say that it makes you "comprehend" faster/better.

Quote :

"It takes more frames for us to comprehend the frames that occurred faster than we could comprehend. However if we were to comprehend faster, like 240 frames per second, then time as we know it will last 10 times longer."

I'm pretty sure you can comprehend that fast. If you were to be shown a static image at 240 fps I'm pretty sure you'd notice the flicker from 1 different frame. You may not be able to say exactly what it was, but I think you could definitely notice that it was "something different."

1/11/2011 2:07:45 PM

Time dilation is definitely a real thing, but GeniuSxBoY is making unfounded assumptions about it's cause.

1/11/2011 2:09:56 PM

Quote :

"If you were to be shown a static image at 240 fps I'm pretty sure you'd notice the flicker from 1 different frame. You may not be able to say exactly what it was, but I think you could definitely notice that it was "something different.""

You are bringing up the Fight Club point, and I realize what you are talking about.

However, this is a tricky conversation when you try to correlate comprehension to "FRAMES" per second. REAL time is not portioned into frames. There is theoretically an infinite amount of time within two different timemarks.

Example: How much time is between 0sec and 1sec?

The answer is infinity. What happened at .5 sec? What happened at .05sec? .005sec? .0005? .00005? etc...

[Edited on January 11, 2011 at 2:14 PM. Reason : .]

1/11/2011 2:13:22 PM

Here's my take on your idea:

Let n represent our current level of comprehension.
At our current (n), a snake appears to strike very quickly.

Given an adult humans average reaction speed, let n=6250.
Now, Lets increase n by a factor of 1,000,000.

1,000,000x6250=6,250,000,000

Now, what are the odds that none of those increase comprehension?

1/11/2011 2:18:40 PM

I'm pretty sure, if you could see the snake start to strike at an earlier time, you could react much quicker than the snake.

|-----------|-------------|-----------|-------------|-----------|-------------|
                           ^--- snake strikes
                                     ^comprehended

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
                         ^--- snake strikes
                         ^--- comprehended

1/11/2011 2:21:22 PM

oh cool i saw this youtube video too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHoaZaLbqB4

1/11/2011 2:25:04 PM

Let me dumb the last video down for DoubleDown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKquBgsmADk

1/11/2011 2:32:41 PM

|-----------|-------------|-----------|-------------|-----------|-------------|
                           ^--- snake strikes
                                     ^comprehended
                             
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
                         ^--- snake strikes
                         ^--- comprehended
                             ^  Bitch Slap snake in mid air.

1/11/2011 2:39:55 PM

^^^^I see where you are going but the human body is still going to have limitations. The nerves that send the signal to your hand/arm is going to have some latency before your muscles react. The acceleration that your arm/hand is able to move is going to be limited by your strength. Even with "perfect" comprehension I think you're going to get bit because if the snake initiates the strike and at the exact same moment you comprehend it, then it's already inevitable, unless you had a gun or something where the bullet would be >>>faster than the snake and make up the time.

1/11/2011 2:41:38 PM

Quote :

"Example: How much time is between 0sec and 1sec? The answer is infinity. What happened at .5 sec? What happened at .05sec? .005sec? .0005? .00005? etc..."

The answer is 1 second... there are, however an infinite number of "frames" between the two points in time

1/11/2011 2:46:42 PM

Quote :

"Why?"

Because thought-speed vs. age is a non-monotonic function.

1/11/2011 2:49:46 PM

Quote :

"Example: How much time is between 0sec and 1sec? The answer is infinity. What happened at .5 sec? What happened at .05sec? .005sec? .0005? .00005? etc..."

wat

1/11/2011 3:08:36 PM

People who think faster just find more things to think about.

24 hours is still 24 hours and the neurons that pass information from your eyes to your brain do not move any faster just because your brain processes the information more quickly.

1/11/2011 3:12:34 PM

This is some serious http://www.timecube.com/ shit.

[Edited on January 11, 2011 at 3:13 PM. Reason : ]

1/11/2011 3:13:38 PM

Our cells respond as fast as your brain can send a signal to it.

Since age affects the body and slows comprehension over time from nuclei in cells to our brain, then it's a physical problem rather than a meta problem. Since it's physical, then we can manipulate it by moving atoms to do what we want to move as fast as snakes or faster.

Since snakes are bound by the same "laws of physics" yet they are able to think ans send messages to its muscles using the same electric pulses at a known speed faster than ours. We should be able to theoretically modify our bodies to match that of a snakes or more.

But this conversation isn't about being faster than snakes. This conversation is about comprehending more in a shorter time will actually make time feel longer than it is.

If you swat at a fly, your arm can travel faster than a fly can fly but what ends up happening is that the fly can see where your arm is going and change it's trajectory before your hand gets to it.
To the fly, your arm is moving slow.
To you, your arm is moving faster than you can comprehend.

We know the arm can move faster than comprehension because magic tricks take advantage of the hand being faster than the eye.

If we could comprehend more frames per second, we'd be able to see the fly move through the air more slowly and be able to hit him every time.

1/11/2011 3:18:57 PM

I totally get what you are saying about thinking so fast that everything moves slower but there are still a few issues. The point I made about the snake is that he has a head start on you, he has to move first in order for you comprehend a strike, unless you anticipate it. Anticipation isn't 100% accurate though and there would be times when you were wrong about the snake's intent and reacted when you didn't need to. This is basically what you are doing with the fly. You are going to have to anticipate the fly's location based on it's previous flight pattern (you aren't going to hit many flies swinging where they were 1/4 of a second ago). While you may be slightly better at swatting a fly in "bullet time" the swing of your arm/hand is still going to be the same velocity as it was before and fly is still going to have a reaction to it. Just because you could comprehend to the point where a second last an eternity you can still only swing at X ft/second and the fly is still able to react in Y seconds and move at Z ft/second. Imagine if the fly was chillin on the wall, no matter how fast you think if you swing at that spot on the wall (with your hands, not a swatter) you are going to miss the same % as a person with "normal" comprehension doing the same thing.

Hand faster than the eye is a saying and not true, magic relies on misdirection just as much as a quick or sleight of hand.

Probably a better analogy for fps would be something like computing power like cycles/second. If your brain could consciously perform millions of thoughts/second you could make up and change your mind about stuff thousands of times before your next foot hits the ground while walking. The act of verbal communication would be extremely boring and as excruciating as trying to stream a 1080p movie over a 56k modem. The disadvantages would far out way any of the advantages in my opinion.

The reason why a year seemed so long when you were 10 was because it is 1/10th your life so far. When you are 100 it's only 1/100th, not to mention maturity, attention span, etc. I mean it could have something to do with cognitive ability but experience would outweigh that in a normal person without some sort of brain dysfunction I would think.

1/11/2011 3:54:52 PM

How much distance is between 0 meters and 1 meter?

The answer is infinity.

1/11/2011 4:01:41 PM

see ^x8 toemoss.


[Edited on January 11, 2011 at 4:06 PM. Reason : .]

1/11/2011 4:05:22 PM

Quote :

"I totally get what you are saying about thinking so fast that everything moves slower but there are still a few issues. The point I made about the snake is that he has a head start on you, he has to move first in order for you comprehend a strike, unless you anticipate it. Anticipation isn't 100% accurate though and there would be times when you were wrong about the snake's intent and reacted when you didn't need to. This is basically what you are doing with the fly. You are going to have to anticipate the fly's location based on it's previous flight pattern (you aren't going to hit many flies swinging where they were 1/4 of a second ago). While you may be slightly better at swatting a fly in "bullet time" the swing of your arm/hand is still going to be the same velocity as it was before and fly is still going to have a reaction to it. Just because you could comprehend to the point where a second last an eternity you can still only swing at X ft/second and the fly is still able to react in Y seconds and move at Z ft/second. Imagine if the fly was chillin on the wall, no matter how fast you think if you swing at that spot on the wall (with your hands, not a swatter) you are going to miss the same % as a person with "normal" comprehension doing the same thing. Hand faster than the eye is a saying and not true, magic relies on misdirection just as much as a quick or sleight of hand. Probably a better analogy for fps would be something like computing power like cycles/second. If your brain could consciously perform millions of thoughts/second you could make up and change your mind about stuff thousands of times before your next foot hits the ground while walking. The act of verbal communication would be extremely boring and as excruciating as trying to stream a 1080p movie over a 56k modem. The disadvantages would far out way any of the advantages in my opinion. The reason why a year seemed so long when you were 10 was because it is 1/10th your life so far. When you are 100 it's only 1/100th, not to mention maturity, attention span, etc. I mean it could have something to do with cognitive ability but experience would outweigh that in a normal person without some sort of brain dysfunction I would think."

I agree with the computing analogy a lot.

Only minor details I didn't agree with was
A. "Hand faster than the eye is a saying and not true." The hand may not be faster than the physical eye, but it's faster than comprehension.
and
B. I don't accept that the speed of time comprehension is relative to how long you've been alive. If it was true, then all 23 year olds would think at the same speed. I like to think it's based on the architecture of each individual brain. Deterioration/deformation is a key cause of slower comprehension whether it be from trauma, age, drugs, etc...

[Edited on January 11, 2011 at 4:17 PM. Reason : .]

1/11/2011 4:16:07 PM

Similarly if you were to zoom in enough on the edge of a meter stick you would see rough edges and if you were to sum the distances of each edge it would be greater than 1 meter. If you zoomed in to an atomical level and placed a point on each atom on the edge in a single plane the sum of the line segments would be exponentially greater even still. And that's how fractals were born.

1/11/2011 4:16:11 PM

beautiful Jethro

1/11/2011 4:18:11 PM

good point

1/11/2011 4:33:52 PM