A Time for Everything.

Perceiving Time

One fundamental environmental factor that every (non)living creature in this universe must endure, and eventually succumb to, is Time. As the great equalizer, time reduces both the dainty mayfly and the super massive blackhole to similar states of ‘once-was’; the former, in a matter of days, the latter, on the scale of googols (10^100 years).

So, until we discover beings that have mastered this elusive 4th dimension, we are forced to navigate time through a series of momentary, 3-dimensional snapshots, a sort of spatial collage giving the illusion of time. But how exactly do we construct this illusion internally? While there is no scientific consensus there are a number of hypotheses and accepted ideas about what contributes to an animal’s ability to perceive and understand time.

We still do not know if the brain has a specialised system or set of systems for measuring time, though parts such as the cerebellum, cerebral cortex, and basal ganglia (highlighted in purple, top to bottom, respectively) are believed to play a part [2]. Other sections such as the suprachiasmatic nucleus give rise to temporal phenomena like our circadian rhythm. In terms of how our brains track and conceptualise the passage of time there are different 4 ideas in 2 categories; specialised system and inherent neural dynamics [2]. As Ivery R. B. et al describe in their paper, Dedicated and Intrinsic Models of Time, the first idea posits either a single localised or collection of regions that track and process time. They go on to explain the second, which is arguably more complex. They explain the way the brain functions, the very fundamental act of fire neurons may inherently keep track of time. The two variants within this camp are sense dependent or independent. One side believe it is through sensory data that our brain can generate this intrinsic understanding that time passes. Alternatively, it's also theorised that the brain can do this without the presence of sense data, through the tracking of energy consumption, neuron fire rate, or other means [2]. But in the mean time, without a specific area to study we turn to sensory inputs as a means to investigate how animals produce an internal clock.

Critical Flicker-Fusion Frequency (CFF) is used to measure the frame rate of animals’ eyes - how fast visual data can be sent to the brain. It is a strong indicator of how fast an animal is able to perceive the world [1][3]. The higher your CFF, the more ‘slow’ the world appears (like how a high-frame rate camera can play-back in slo-mo). Humans have a CFF of 60Hz [1][3]. Some other notable animals are domesticated dogs with 80Hz, cats with 55Hz, golden-mantled ground squirrels with 120Hz and the European eel with 15Hz. This means the squirrel perceives its surroundings moving twice as slow as us, and the eel four times faster [3].

Images from Metabolic Rate and Body Size are Linked with Perception of Temporal Information [1], demonstrating the differences in resolution of flight/movement paths of other creatures caused by their perception of time.

What about machines? Most machines have an internal clock built into their microchips. These RTCs (Real Time Clock) are made of quartz crystals and vibrate at 32.768 kHz (32,768 Hz) to keep track of time. By counting the vibrations, a master clock tells other systems on its circuit board how much time has passed, even with no power supply because of its lower power consumption and back-up battery. Machines also share their internal clock measurements, sometimes globally like through GPS systems generating a much more social perspective of time. In many ways it is similar to a social agreement humans have of the calendar. While the solar and lunar trajectories are constant, it is the social exchange of information that informs us all that it is a Friday, February 16th, 2024 CE.

Using Time

However, this is just time perception. In terms of internal processing times, how do humans and machines compare? Well, humans do not have a central processing unit (CPU) like a computer, so we can’t measure the brain in an exact unit. However, we can make some simplifications and look at the firing speeds of individual neurons and average that over how much of the brain is active at any given moment to get an estimate of 0.1 - 2 Hz. For the average CPU, that value is 2 GHz (2,000,000,000 Hz) [4].

This means a 1/1,000,000,000 speed up between man/machine, or to put it in perspective, if a machine takes 1 second to send a message, a human would take almost 32 years to respond.

Caricaturising Time

With this mind boggling time differential I want to introduce an artificial creature that reverses this relationship. A small bot that takes 32 years to complete a 1-second task. What seems like an extreme is actually simply the normal relationship of humans and machines but seen from the alternative perspective. Likewise, this unfathomably slow way of observing the world is exactly that; its method of observation. This frame-rate of 1 frame per 32 years is this creatures way of focusing on the most massive changes to its environment, unbiased by the immediacy of daily fluctuations and momentary distractions.

Using a solar powered motor and series of gear ratios, the final gear completes one full rotation every 32 years, snapping a photo of its surroundings. All they do is watch the world change. For us slowly, but for them, every frame captures 32 years worth of change, for them, this is the speed of passing time.

Bibliography

[1] Healy, K., McNally, L., Ruxton, G. D., Cooper, N., & Jackson, A. L. (2013). Metabolic rate and body size are linked with perception of temporal information. Animal Behaviour, 86(4), 685–696. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.018

[2] Ivry, R. B., & Schlerf, J. E. (2008). Dedicated and intrinsic models of time perception. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12(7), 273–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2008.04.002

[3] Schukraft, J. (2021, July 17). Does critical flicker-fusion frequency track the subjective experience of time?. Rethink Priorities. https://rethinkpriorities.org/publications/does-critical-flicker-fusion-frequency-track-the-subjective-experience-of-time

[4] Neuron firing rates in humans. AI Impacts. (2020, December 11). https://aiimpacts.org/rate-of-neuron-firing/

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