Khakain

So what do you think? Would it be possible to speed up the processing of a brain and in doing so slow the perception of time, or will the perception of time remain constant even if a brain processes information faster? The opposite would be to slow down the processing of the human brain to make time be perceived as faster, but I want to leave that out of the equation for the following reason: I don't consider slipping in and out of consciousness as part of the question. The perception of time has to remain constant, just the rate must change. And there's too many questions about time moving faster, so let's forget about it.

As a specific example of what I mean by time passing slower, I mean like would it be possible to speed up the brain's processing to the point (this is an exaggeration, but whatever) where you could begin jumping, lay out a long story in your mind and feel as if you are taking your sweet time, and then land a second or two later? Or conversely, even if you were able to think that quickly, would you feel like you are rushing things?

As far as speeding up sensory perception I have heard of such results being accomplished through hypnosis.  Subject's who have been hypnotized to view time slower have actually been able to block punches with great success from trained martial artists, having no such training themselves.

specifically, perception of time is relative to who it is observing an event within space/time.  Say your friend were moving near a blackhole in a space ship and got momentarily caught in the orbit of the blackhole's magnetic fields, but was, instead of being sucked in, launched off into space like a slingshot.  Well since space and time are equivalents in the theory of Relativity, and gravity actually bends space (and time) around it, then to you, the observer, it would take millions, if not, billions of years for your friend to travel past the blackhole's magnetic fields (due to the blackhole's immense gravity literally bending time around it's event horizon); meanwhile, your friend who is actually moving past the blackhole would feel as if it had only been a few moments since he first came near the blackhole.

So is Time Relative?

For Einstein, yes. Time was relative to where one was observing an event from, where the event was taking place, and how fast the observer and the body being observed were moving. So that means time is relative to where you're standing, and how fast you and what you're looking at are moving.

The speed of light is finite and the only believed universal constant in the universe, travelling around 300, 000, 000 meters a second, 299,792 kilometers per second, and 186,287 miles per second. Thats pretty fast. However, this is the speed of light in a vacuum or space, on Earth the speed is variable to the medium through which it is travelling.

So since light has a finite speed it may cause a change in perspective to the way people standing at different places perceive an event. We say events happen at the same time when they appear to do so. Picture this, someone is standing on a plain directly in between two trees, one is an oak, the other is a maple. Then suddenly, lightning strikes both trees. The observer sees it and says, "both trees were struck at exactly the same instant." The lightning in truth struck just before he saw it, since the flashes of light had to travel from the trees to his eyes. But if he is indeed exactly midway between the trees, the light would take the same length of time to travel from the oak to his eyes as from the maple to his eyes. Thus, in his frame of reference, the two flashes of lightning are simultaneous.

But now suppose someone is driving by in a very fast car, say a Ferrari, moving from the oak toward the maple. The car passes the midpoint between the trees just as the lightning strikes. By the time the light from the oak tree reaches the car, the car has passed the midpoint, so the light has traveled more than halfway. Since the car is closer to the maple tree, the light from the maple has traveled less than halfway. Since both flashes of light move at the same speed, the one from the maple tree will get to the car first, so the driver will see one flash before the other. In the driver's moving frame of reference, the events did not take place at the same time. This is key in understanding Einstein's theories on time and relativity.

Einstein also has many ideas on the results of very high velocity's on matter. For example, as a moving object approaches the speed of light, it shrinks. Imagine for example two identical rocket ships, 50 feet long. One is sitting on the ground and the other is flying over it, at 90 f the speed of light. Suppose someone on the ground were pointing an instrument at that flying ship to measure its length. The answer he would get is 22 feet. The ship traveling at a speed near that of light has shrunk! The pilot in the rocket ship would not notice the difference, because his meter bar also would have shrunk. Thus a meter stick on our planet would appear to us to be a meter, but say we took it to Uranus, a planet moving at a much higher velocity, it would inevitably change lengths, however, if we were on Uranus with the meter stick, it would appear to be exactly the same length as it was on Earth. Thus time and perception from planet to planet must also be quite different. So an alien lifeform may then have a completely different perspective on time and life than a person on Earth.

But what is important to remember about two observers from different frame's of reference is that they are both correct, in our universe, there are no standard absolutes concerning time or perception, its all relative to where you are and how fast you are moving. Einstein proved that in space, there is no such thing as being 'at rest' in the universe. All motion is relative.

Einstein's theory also brought about what is known now as the Twin Paradox. If a man flew into space in a rocket moving near the speed of light, and returned after, say, 40 years here on Earth, he would appear to have aged only slightly while his identical twin who remained on Earth would be old and wrinkled. This is due to the slowing down of time for the man on the rocket travelling near the speed of light. This is very peculiar but has proven true through experimentation. Its strange to ponder what life in future space travel may be like at the velocity of light, to those of us travelling at this speed, it will seem the same, but to our friends back on Earth, it may be millenias before we return.

Cheers!

Time doesn't exist so this question doesn't matter

I am an illiterate piece of shit

 :phaser:

So, uhh, how come this thread's in here?

Can also seem faster.