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Immortality — The Time Compression Problem

Sci-fi books and movies often explore the topic of immortality, and modern medicine is constantly extending the human lifespan. But what would immortality be like? The problem I keep running into as I ponder this, and other related ideas, is what I call the Time Compression Problem.

We've all experienced it. When we were children, Summer used to last forever. 20min in the doctor's waiting room felt like an eternity. Time seemed to move very slowly. But as we get older, our perception of time changes. It speeds up. And it continues accelerating the older we get. I'm in my 40s and months already feel like weeks to me. I can only imagine what time must feel like to people in their 60s and beyond.

In considering immortality, this compression in our perception of time must surely become intolerable as we reach 150, continuing on to our 2nd century. What must that be like to the person living it? At some point, a year is going to feel like a day. And this time compression is only going to continue as infinite years roll by.

I don't think our human minds could handle it. While we may live forever, the realities of time compression could render our minds broken and useless as we exceed the limits of our evolved brains. And how would that manifest? Madness? Breakdown? Perhaps some other debilitation?

At this point, it's just a thought exercise, or something to think about on the afternoon train. But as we live longer, as our technology, and our mastery of the world increase, the reality of time compression in the human mind will become a real issue that scientists and doctors need to aim their talents at. Because keeping the body going may be the easy part. Maintaining the integrity, and healthy functioning of our minds may be quite difficult, and certainly something to think about if you're writing the next best-selling sci-fi novel! #blog

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Discussion

HoloKat 11mo ago

Maybe there’s a limit to how much time compresses?

SLCW 11mo ago

I thought of that, but it doesn't make sense to me. Considering that this compression effect is happening starting with our earliest memories, and continuing for as long as we currently know, it doesn't seem right that it would cease at some arbitrary point. Because this compression is, I believe, a result of our lengthening experience. The longer we live, the faster time feels. So, if our experience continued through infinity, I think it stands to reason that this compressing of time from our vantage point would also continue. Do you have any ideas on what might cause this hypothetical switch to flip, freezing, or even regressing our perception of time?

HoloKat 11mo ago

I don’t know anything about this topic so anything I say is complete speculation. My theory is that time acceleration is our way of coping with stress. The older we get, the more complicated our lives become and this results in stress. The brain probably uses some mechanism to allow us to forget some of the stress - and in the process - time seems to accelerate. My evidence for this is parenthood. The first five years of raising a child are so stressful on the body and the mind that they seem to go by faster than the time that follows, at least that’s how it feels to me. We say “they grow up so fast” because our brains helped us cope with the significant change that comes with child care.

As for outside of just having kids, the sameness of daily routing is likely carving out a mental shortcut so we don’t need to focus on it much. Think of it like a path you walk over and over, at first it’s new and barely visible then slowly becomes pronounced, well traveled. We don’t think about that walk for the 1000th time because it lost all wonder by walk 5 or 10. It just becomes something to get through. I think this is how the daily routine work in our minds and why we forget the day. As a kid, that path hasn’t been travelled as much so it’s wondrous and exciting. You take more moments to take it all in.

By this logic, I would assume that doing more new things more often would slow down the passing of time. Maybe someone has done many new things all the time and can anecdotally verify if this is the case or not. I certainly can’t.

But this is all theory based on speculation. I’d love to get some real insights into how it actually works.

SLCW 11mo ago

Oh, it's all speculation. Regardless, I find value in your ideas. This whole topic is something I've been fascinated with for a while. A long time ago, I was actually considering writing a sci-fi novel and it was during those thought experiments that I came across the time compression issue.

My thinking on it is pretty similar to yours. I focus on the concept of novelty and new experience as one of the primary drivers of the perceived time compression. The longer we're here, and the more we experience allows our brains to power-down to some extent, and go into a sort of standby mode as we navigate routine, mundane, and familiar tasks. We don't perceive time the same way when we're in this mode, which results in longer and longer periods when time is passing us by without our being conscious of it. The result is the perception that time is accelerating as we get older. Of course that's also speculation, but it makes some sense I think.

matevz 11mo ago

Interesting. So it's not just me that feels that months pass faster compared to I was younger. 🙂

Regarding the immortality, I believe passing away and giving birth is what makes the population more redundant and evolve over long run. What may happen in the (near?) future is digitizing our brain and making an AI model of us to stay "immortal".

SLCW 11mo ago

Yeah, immortality wouldn't be good for the species if it was available to everyone. But it would be dystopian if it was only available to a select few (probably the wealthy). I think the best solution is to abandon any efforts to allow Man to live indefinitely.

imnuso 11mo ago

I think it’s mainly a function of neuronal optimization. As patterns repeat in life the brain filters out what’s less relevant. This is partly reversible by training mindfulness. Like a reset of value judgements opining up perception again.

The more interesting question for me would be „why would one want this?“

If your can live for hundreds of years it seems to me a good strategy to filter more stuff out and operate on a higher level of abstraction.

However, if you say „no I want to experience as much as possible at any given moment“ then you don’t need to live that long in the first place because you already had this in your first year of life.

Eternity is omnipresent.

SLCW 11mo ago

That's very similar to my (and nostr:nprofile1qqsph3c2q9yt8uckmgelu0yf7glruudvfluesqn7cuftjpwdynm2gygpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduq3qamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wwa5kuegpzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezumrpdejqwk5cd9's) thinking on the matter. I was thinking that as we experience more and more, our brains sort go into standby mode while in familiar surroundings, performing routine tasks, and having known experiences. In these daydream-like states, we don't perceive time the same way. It's only when we're fully conscious and having novel experiences that our minds perceive time. So, as we get older and have fewer new experiences, our perception of time accelerates as the time spent in that standby mode increases. There may be a better way to express what I'm talking about, but I'm just a layperson with an active imagination!

imnuso 11mo ago

I think you’re right. There is a whole class of theories in psychology and cognitive science called two-process theories. They basically propose pretty much what you described:

There is an energy-intensive, slow, deliberate mode of linear cognition that uses environmental cues to switch on. When the cues indicate less relevance, the brain switches back to the default mode, the other process, which is energy-saving, fast, intuitive, parallel. I haven't focused much on time perception in using these concepts, but I'd bet it applies well.

I haven't read it, but I assume Daniel Kahneman's book Thinking Fast and Slow refers to these concepts.

Adam 11mo ago

Eventually I think we'll solve this problem with digital memory augmentation.