Vierordt's Law: estimating time

[sear]

Vierordt's Law: roughly the proposition that short durations tends to be overestimated, while long durations tend to be underestimated. The midpoint is ~94 - 96 beats per minute, called the “indifference point”.

Some have already observed:

- when at a boring, repetative task, time seems to slow down.

- When doing something thrilling, time seems to pass more quickly.

Have you developed any coping strategies to deal with this human failing?

[Leonardo]

Some have already observed:

- when at a boring, repetative task, time seems to slow down.

- When doing something thrilling, time seems to pass more quickly.

Have you developed any coping strategies to deal with this human failing?

I don't know that this phenomenon of perceptual relativity can be called a "failing", or even be a condition that warrants the development of strategies to cope with it. It's not as if the passage of time actually alters, so there is no 'real' phenomenon to find a solution to.

Boredom certainly can be an issue in life, but it is one that can be easily solved by taking up some meaningful and harmless hobby.

[Empty Garden]

I don't know that this phenomenon of perceptual relativity can be called a "failing", or even be a condition that warrants the development of strategies to cope with it. It's not as if the passage of time actually alters, so there is no 'real' phenomenon to find a solution to.

Boredom certainly can be an issue in life, but it is one that can be easily solved by taking up some meaningful and harmless hobby.

It seems to me that this perception of time described here is dependent upon one's position along the line, if we want to see it as linear. The time we have already passed, what is behind us, seems short. The time in front, yet to go, seems enormously long.

[sear]

"I don't know that this phenomenon of perceptual relativity can be called a "failing"" L #2

Yes thanks L.

You're right. I hadn't intended to pass a subjective value judgement on basis of ethic or moral.

I meant "failing" in the scientific sense, of not being as accurate as a semiconductor chronometer.

"or even be a condition that warrants the development of strategies to cope with it" L

Yes again. It is not necessarily a problem that must be coped with. But it surely can be.

"It's not as if the passage of time actually alters" L

When our perceptions do not match reality, our judgements made based on those misperceptions, our conduct, can be equally mismatched.

It's more than merely not getting a delicate cooking recipe quite right.

It can result in broad spectrum of problems.

"Boredom certainly can be an issue in life, but it is one that can be easily solved by taking up some meaningful and harmless hobby." L

Indeed.

But I'm not sure Vierordt's Law: is mainly about boredom.

My understanding of it is, it's about something more fundamental than that. But in all candor, I'm not sure. That's part of the reason I introduced the topic.

I thought I might learn more about it this way.

"if we want to see it as linear." EG

You've reminded me:

Tell me what you think of time, and I will tell you what I think of you. St. Thomas Aquinas

Excluding Relativistic physics, modern chronometers suggest linear chronology.

The sanity check verifications abound.

Our crops take about the same amount of time to reach harvest each year.

Chemistry works fairly predictably, etc.