time, the brain, the self
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In pulling together a very short talk for the Notions of Time event tomorrow, I came across this section of text, from the introduction to a paper
by Marc Wittmann, PhD Psychology, UC San Diego. I've removed the citations for clarity. Thought some of the more philosophical among you might find it interesting, or at least worth a shot of good whiskey... > Throughout history, philosophers have been intrigued by the nature of time and how we, as humans, experience its progression. The perception of time is part of human experience; it is essential for everyday behaviour and for the survival of the individual organism. Yet, and surprisingly enough, its neural basis is still unknown. Temporal intervals, lasting only seconds or spanning a lifetime, are judged according to their perceived duration—often regarded as painfully long or, the reverse, as lasting too short. Everyday decisions we make, as simple as either waiting for the elevator or taking the stairs, are based on the experienced passage of time and anticipated duration. The importance of our temporal experiences for daily living is strikingly documented in individual neurological cases where patients report of an accelerated progression of time and, consequently, have troubles in adequately interacting with the environment, i.e. driving a car. Although we doubtless have a time sense, our bodies are not equipped with a sensory organ for the passage of time in the same way that we have eyes and ears—and the respective sensory cortices—for detecting light and sound. Time, ultimately, is not a material object of the world for which we could have a unique receptor system. Nevertheless, we speak of the perception of time. When we talk about time (‘an event lasted long’, ‘time flew by’), we use linguistic structures that refer to motion events and to locations and measures in space; a further indication that time itself is not a property in the empirical world. Despite a growing body of knowledge on the psychology and on the neural basis of the experience of time, the riddle for philosophers and scientists alike is still unsolved: how does the mind (or, for that matter, the brain) create time? Martin Heidegger's paraphrase of St Augustine's famous quotation ‘In you, my spirit, I measure times; I measure myself, as I measure time’ reflects a theoretical approach—founded in western philosophical tradition—which states that time is a construction of the self. Perceived time, thereafter, represents the mental status of the beholder. In terms of a functional equation, one could state that time T is a function F of the self, where the self stands for all possible psychological (i.e. empirical and theoretical) properties of an individual who perceives time. ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
Re: time, the brain, the self
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Victoria's posting misses a primary consideration regarding life (us
and all other) and time, which we rarely consider. We are all resonant beings, from micro to macro scale. We are entrained and tuned at the atomic, molecular, cellular and greater, to the many radiative wavelengths and energetic forces that surround and involve us. Our hearts beat at near-regular frequency; our brainwaves are tuned to very low, dominant, Earth resonance frequencies. We are a living timepiece, continually in and out of sync, and in adjustment with our complex harmonically resonant ecosystem. At the scale of life on this planet, we have learned through our senses and our tools, to perceive and communicate time; by the sun, by the moon, by our walking pace, by our breathing, by evermore complex and detailed universal tuning. Life is just in time. RL On Fri, 3 Dec 2010 21:42:31 -0700, Victoria Hughes <[hidden email]> wrote: In pulling together a very short talk for the Notions of Time event tomorrow, I came across this section of text, from the introduction to a paper The experience of time: neural mechanisms and the interplay of emotion, cognition and embodiment [1] [2]by Marc Wittmann, PhD Psychology, UC San Diego. I've removed the citations for clarity. Thought some of the more philosophical among you might find it interesting, or at least worth a shot of good whiskey... Throughout history, philosophers have been intrigued by the nature of time and how we, as humans, experience its progression. The perception of time is part of human experience; it is essential for everyday behaviour and for the survival of the individual organism. Yet, and surprisingly enough, its neural basis is still unknown. Temporal intervals, lasting only seconds or spanning a lifetime, are judged according to their perceived duration—often regarded as painfully long or, the reverse, as lasting too short. Everyday decisions we make, as simple as either waiting for the elevator or taking the stairs, are based on the experienced passage of time and anticipated duration. The importance of our temporal experiences for daily living is strikingly documented in individual neurological cases where patients report of an accelerated progression of time and, consequently, have troubles in adequately interacting with the environment, i.e. driving a car. Although we doubtless have a time sense, our bodies are not equipped with a sensory organ for the passage of time in the same way that we have eyes and ears—and the respective sensory cortices—for detecting light and sound. Time, ultimately, is not a material object of the world for which we could have a unique receptor system. Nevertheless, we speak of the perception of time. When we talk about time (‘an event lasted long’, ‘time flew by’), we use linguistic structures that refer to motion events and to locations and measures in space; a further indication that time itself is not a property in the empirical world. Despite a growing body of knowledge on the psychology and on the neural basis of the experience of time, the riddle for philosophers and scientists alike is still unsolved: how does the mind (or, for that matter, the brain) create time? Martin Heidegger's paraphrase of St Augustine's famous quotation ‘In you, my spirit, I measure times; I measure myself, as I measure time’ reflects a theoretical approach—founded in western philosophical tradition—which states that time is a construction of the self. Perceived time, thereafter, represents the mental status of the beholder. In terms of a functional equation, one could state that time T is a function F of the self, where the self stands for all possible psychological (i.e. empirical and theoretical) properties of an individual who perceives time. Links: ------ [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2685824/ [2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2685824/ -- Richard Lowenberg 1st-Mile Institute Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504 505-989-9110 / 505-603-5200 www.1st-mile.com [hidden email] ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
Re: time, the brain, the self
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DId you come to my talk today? The piece I posted was one of the papers I read for the talk. It does not represent the totality of my thinking on this subject. You are absolutely right, there are a variety of rhythms and systems of entrainment and response that we simultaneously inhabit. In my talk the discussion of different levels of time awareness, including the idea of multiple resonances ( I used a different word, but I like that term) was brought up.
Time is just in life. Victoria On Dec 4, 2010, at 12:32 PM, Richard Lowenberg wrote:
----------------------------------- Tory Hughes Tory Hughes website Tory Hughes facebook ------------------------------------ ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
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