Time Warping: Brain Chemistry vs. Spacetime Geometry, According to Redditors
The consensus is that time perception bends based on the observer, whether due to internal psychology or external physics.
The debate pits cognitive function against fundamental physics. 'Encephalotrocity' argued time drags during boredom and speeds up during high processing. 'shneancy' backed this, pointing to YouTube 'rabbit holes' as artificial time compression. Conversely, 'remington' insists time is not fixed, labeling it merely a 'measure of distance between objects.' An outlier take from 'ExcessShiv' described 'borrowing' time through alcohol, suggesting a physiological slowdown effect.
The community sees time as fundamentally subjective. The fault line exists between psychological models—where the brain manufactures the feeling—and physical theories—where time itself is mutable. The raw take is that we experience reality, not necessarily objective reality.
Key Points
Time slows during boredom and speeds up when the mind is active.
This was the core argument from 'Encephalotrocity,' backed by 'shneancy' regarding deep immersion.
Time is not a constant, fundamental law but a variable measurement.
'remington' forcefully stated time is a 'measure of distance between objects,' not 'set in stone.'
Routine activities feel shorter due to lack of new data input.
'thebestaquaman' noted that familiarity decreases processing requirements, compressing perceived time.
Alcohol use causes temporary, measurable distortions in perceived time.
'ExcessShiv' provided an unexpected, physiological example of 'borrowing' time.
Flow states radically alter time perception when engaged in complex tasks.
'sad_detective_man' linked flow states to the stretching or compression of perceived temporal distance.
Source Discussions (3)
This report was synthesized from the following Lemmy discussions, ranked by community score.