Is there more to our experience of time than the foibles of memory?
Brett Scott (@brettscott)
Despite all the rhetoric about automation supposedly making our lives easier, the true story being told by Big Tech is that our lives are better when speeded up You are supposed to be in an ever-accelerating race, packing more units of experience into the same unit of time, a phenomenon that requires a contraction of patience and a blurring of experience as everything quickens In the end, this is what ‘convenience’ actually is. It’s a state of being in which you become disassociated and disengaged from the texture of the world around you. You pass through it dreamlike, and suddenly wake up decades years later as an elderly person on your deathbed, thinking “WTF happened”, as then the memory slips away
Physical healing as a function of perceived time
In this study we wounded study participants following a standardized procedure and manipulated perceived time to test whether perceived time affected the rate of healing. We measured the amount of healing that occurred across three conditions using a within-subjects design: Slow Time (half as fast as clock time), Normal Time (clock time), and Fast Time (twice as fast as clock time). Based on the theory of mind–body unity—which posits simultaneous and bidirectional influences of mind on body and body on mind—we hypothesized that wounds would heal faster or slower when perceived time was manipulated to be experienced as longer or shorter respectively. Although the actual elapsed time was 28 min in all three conditions, significantly more healing was observed in the Normal Time condition compared to the Slow Time condition, in the Fast Time condition compared to the Normal Time condition, and in the Fast Time condition compared to the Slow Time condition. These results support the hypothesis that the effect of time on physical healing is directly affected by one’s psychological experience of time, independent of the actual elapsed time.
Is the Memory Shortage Intentional? | Contrary Research
A deep dive from Contrary Research.
Heavy multitaskers have reduced memory
People who frequently engage with multiple types of media at once performed worse on simple memory tasks, according to the last decade of research. However, it’s still too soon to determine cause and effect, says psychology Professor Anthony Wagner.
To Make Sense of the Present, Brains May Predict the Future | Quanta Magazine
A controversial theory suggests that perception, motor control, memory and other brain functions all depend on comparisons between ongoing actual experiences and the brain’s modeled expectations.
Izabella Kaminska on Twitter / X
The problem of our time is not merely information overload. It is that the time required to construct a coherent understanding of reality is becoming longer than the time during which that understanding remains valid.— Izabella Kaminska (@izakaminska) October 16, 2026
FossifyOrg/Gallery
Browse your memories without any interruptions with this photo and video gallery
Does Your Brain Think Accurately About Time?
Chicago Booth’s Kristin Donnelly talks about her research on time-duration asymmetry.
🐌 Slow Software for a Burning World 🔥
In a world of “move fast and break things,” we’ve chosen a different tempo — one rooted in care, deep listening, and collective stewardship. Slow software means building for long-term resilience and meaningful participation, rather than chasing novelty, speed, or scale.
Is a memory palace actually useful? It helped me memorize the first 20 digits of pi
It felt like a gargantuan achievement – I’m someone who regularly forgets the most important item on a shopping list
Speed: How It Explains the World - Vaclav Smil
In a world that feels like it’s moving faster than ever, Smil examines how our relentless pursuit of speed – in areas such as production, travel and communication – shapes not only our technological landscape but also our social and environmental realities. And through engaging anecdotes and striking statistics, Smil challenges the assumption that faster is always better.
How to be more creative in seconds!
Anthropic's Opinionated Memory Bet
A deep dive into Claude's new memory tool—how it works, the architectural bets they're making, and whether it's the right fit for your application.
To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget | Quanta Magazine
Researchers find evidence that neural systems actively remove memories, suggesting that forgetting may be the default mode of the brain.
