Monday, March 9, 2009

Mind Bullets

Leading on from my post this weekend about how catching incoming balls (and bullets) is actually learned...

I had originally intended to do a whole post about things to with the mind, perceptions and so forth but got lost on my inabilty to catch well and that Most Consistent Player award. *grins*

Anyway - What actually brought it on was a conversation I was having on friday with LY an MSN chat buddy about remembering dreams and such and he said that not only does he often remember his dreams he has a lot of Deja vu. Which led to a whole discussion about my theory (which is no doubt an adaptation of someone else's) that pulls the sense of dejavu far away from dreams and back into reality.

It goes to the heart of experience again. Our brains are wonderful filters of information. We're conscious of that which is filtered through, but the sub-conscious is actually picking up everything from the feintest sounds in the background to the most distracting din of a jack hammer (and so it goes with vision, smell, taste and touch too).

In this theory, Deja vu is when a series of events unfolds before your eyes that is similar enough for your mind to piece together enough 'handles' of experience to make it seem like you have experienced the very same thing before.

On a different and far lighter tack, just in time for the release of 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'- Ever wonder why time flies so fast as you get older?

I once read in a Readers Digest that the answer was very simple: As you get older, each fraction of time represents a smaller part of your total life. So for example, 1 year to person aged 5 is 20% of their entire life experience, but to a person of 60, the same amount of time represents just 1.6% of their life - which is why it seems to whizz by.

Fascinating and mind boggling all at once, I dare say. To quote a local banks slogan from the 90's: "Makes you think, doesn't it"... and no, I do have better things to do, but I enjoy thinking about stuff like this - it's fun!

Ciao 4 Now

3 comments:

  1. Yoohooo - hi hi - I was so excited that you were asking about why time flies and I was going to be oh-so-clever and give you that exact answer - but you knew already. Hooray to Reader's Digests in doctor's waiting rooms - without them, we'd be so much less clever x

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  2. Interesting stuff... I had never read that theory about time whizzing by - clearly need to spend more time in doctor's waiting rooms... it makes complete sense though...

    Lets go see Benjamin Button this weekend...

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  3. @Shiny - my dad actually had a subscription to RD. This is a good thing, 'cause I spent virtually no time in doctors waiting rooms. I was an Invincible back then. ;)

    As for TCCoBB - great idea Rambler... lets do that

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