Temporal Illusions and How We Perceive Time

Introduction

Main Question: Can the past ever be truly experienced again?
- Example: Michael's beard - a new beard grows on a slightly older Michael.
Memory and records (images, videos) keep past versions alive in our minds.
Retrospective feeling of time - 130 days older doesn't feel that long away.

Optical Illusions vs. Temporal Illusions: Distortion of sight vs. time.
- Short-term examples: Waiting in line vs. a day with friends.
- Deeper examples: Nostalgia for old songs.

Prospective Timing: Consciously tuning into the passage of time as it happens.
Retrospective Timing: Estimating time after it has passed.

Perspective Experience: Boring events feel long while fun events feel short.
Retrospective Experience: Boring delays feel brief; full experiences feel longer in memory.
Pattern: Long-short and short-long based on fullness and emptiness of activities.

Perception of Speed: Time feels faster as we age due to the proportion theory (each new year is a smaller fraction of our lives).
Research Findings: Days and months perceived similarly by all ages, but decades feel shorter with age.
Explanation: Fewer new experiences lead to fewer memories, making recent decades seem shorter.

Periodization: Dividing the past into conceptual chunks (like the 80s or 90s).
Conceptual Comparison Heuristic: Judging temporal distance based on similarity of elements.
- Examples: Marilyn Monroe and the Queen of England, Anne Frank and Martin Luther King Jr. born same year.
Construl Level Heuristic: Placing events in time based on abstract vs. concrete thinking.
- Example: Harriet Tubman and Thomas Jefferson, Harriet Tubman and Ronald Reagan

Chronostatic Illusions: Misjudging the proximity of past events (e.g., The Lion King vs. Moon Landing).
Chronocentric Illusions: Belief that our time experience is the most correct or important.
- Generational Technology: TV vs. Internet and smartphones.
- Sonder and Chrono-Sonder: Realizing everyone experiences time as the main character in their narrative.

Evidential Artifacts: Candid, ordinary, personal recordings give a truer feeling of the past.
Period Conventions: Historical perceptions change with recording technologies.
- Example: Early photographs vs. HD video.
Past vs. Present Perception: Old media vs. current perception (New York City 1993 HD footage).

Became popular in the 19th century as past/future became interestingly different.
Pre-modern Societies: Viewed time as continuous, few differences from generation to generation.
Modern View: Technology and social change make the present significantly different than the past.

Technological and Social Changes: Accelerating changes reduce feeling of stable time.
Fear of Exclusion: Rapid change causes fear of being left behind; acceleration as a means to defy mortality.
Paradox of Saving Time: Faster experiences lead to feeling of having less time.

Feels fast while happening retrospectively insignificant.
- Example: Watching TV alone for hours.
Human Connection: Experiences with meaning and value can counteract short-short time feeling.

Find ways to slow down, engage with the present, and create meaningful experiences.
Future Solutions: Digital media and sensory engagement for stronger memories.

Importance of making time for time, feeling time passing, and understanding our temporal illusions.

Final Thought: Engage fully with each moment to enhance life’s value.