Time -> Go

time to go

As a living being, what really is time?

While the question may seem trivial or maybe even pretentious, many of us never really stop to think about it; what actually is time? In 1905, Albert Einstein published his Theory of Special Relativity, stating space and time were two parts to one fundamental universal phenomenon; spacetime. It proposed a relativistic perspective of time, meaning every individual moves through spacetime, the 4-dimensional fabric of the universe, differently, occupying their own personal ‘frame of reference’. To paraphrase and summarise the relevant part of the theory:

Fig. 1 Diagram depicting the observer occupying spatial plane while moving vertically through time.

Fig. 2 Diagram demonstrating how super massive objects, such as a black hole, can manipulate spacetime (shown as the warped grid). Gravity also has the power to change your passage through time as since it changes your passage through space. The centre of the black hole, the singularity, which is where its mass is concetrated, is the point which most strongly manipulates spacetime.

the faster you move through space, the slower you move through time, and vice versa.

However, experiencing time differently based on your own individuality is not limited to the field of physics. All animals have different perceptions of time. Due to the size of the body, the distance neuronal signals have to travel, the framerate of the brain, and a host of other properties, animals experience time differently (as well as machines and computers). This discovery motivated the journey into researching the relationship between creatureness and time; see A Time for Everything.

So is time a physical thing? Something that actually exists? Special relativity says so. Yet, as creatures, time is nothing more than the speed at which our brain can fire neurons. So is time really an emergent property of living? Something that is only tangible in context of being a creature?

Watching biology and physics intertwine at this nexus, offering alternative concepts when they say “we all experience time differently as creatures” - B3N-J4^ was born1.

1 pronounced (/’b𝜀ndʒɘmin/ → /ben-ja-min/)

Fig. 3 B3N-J4^ - reload to restart

B3N-J4^ occupies a border space between the spatial and temporal dimensions. Maybe inside them spacetime breaks down, maybe it completely disappears. Maybe it unwinds into separate phenomena, maybe they have found out how to manipulate it themself. Whatever the case, B3N-J4^, like all animals and machines, has their own experience of time, and it is firmly entwined with their movement through space.

rear elevation

right profile

front elevation

left profile

b3n-j4-min.mp4

b3n-j4-min-2.mp4

B3N-JA^, when stationary, is moving through time faster (less spatial movement --> more temporal movement). In this state, you watch their face grow older. Wrinkles appear around their eyes. Their gaze dashes around rapidly, never focusing on a single thing, their entire metabolism zooming through time. In this state, they will die in a matter of seconds.

However, when when picked up, carried around, cradled, and moved, their perception of time literally slows. The aging process halts; the wrinkles do not become more prominent. Their eyes move slower. They are able to maintain eye contact and explore their surroundings more accurately. However, if the carrier is too still, they will age again. B3N-JA^'s life is literally in your hands.

Feedback & Observations

While the accelerometer didn't require much movement to slow down B3N-JA^'s perception of time, most people adopted a quite fast and aggressive shaking. This made it difficult to see B3N-JA^'s face change.
- To remedy this, sound could have been introduced as a secondary stimulus to also indicate the slowing down of B3N-Ja^'s world.
People who had not yet interacted with B3N-JA^ who watched others shaking them at first thought the objective was actually to kill them! They thought of the shaking as strangling or suffocating.
While some observers began interaction with the idea the shaking was to kill B3N-JA^, they quickly discovered this was not the case. Partly due to the fact watching B3N-JA^'s death animation made almost everyone upset. People all emitted an empathic "aww!" or "nooo!". Purely from the design of the face and animation, they felt compelled to try to keep B3N-JA^ alive.
Even though many made the connection between movement, shaking, or picking up and keeping B3N-JA^ alive, the idea that they were manipulating spacetime usually had to be explained. However, many did make the connection between slowing down B3N-JA^'s experience and some sort of physical/moving interaction.

Photo Gallery: Artificial Creatures Expo

IMG_2871.mov

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