5 time-related intrigues

Perception of time, lucid dreams, numbers, Eminem, 2 chocolates

The time between Xmas and New Year is strange. That’s reflected in today’s shorter and off-beatier newsletter.  

Perceiving, fast and slow. Time goes fast when we’re having fun, when we’re intensively busy, engaged and productive (often characterised as a state of flow), when we’re enjoying novel experiences. This end-of-year holiday season we’re in right now vanishes notoriously, astonishingly quickly. Are you making the most of it? Will you have answer to the question ‘where did it all go?’ as you emerge in a few days?

Lucid dreams. If you need to confirm whether the experience you’re having is a dream, glancing at a clock can help. If the time appears distorted or changes when you look away and look back, chances are you’re in a dream. And if you have that degree of control, it’s probably a lucid one. Time to enjoy it!

From time, comes math(s). For some philosophers of maths, it's how we experience time that gives rise to counting, numbers and mathematics. Specifically, Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer asserts, in his first act of intuitionism, that the:

perception of a move of time may be described as the falling apart of a life moment into two distinct things, one of which gives way to the other, but is retained by memory.

Eminem’s time capsule, found. Eminem’s 2002 hit ‘Lose Yourself’ has some alternative lyrics. They emphasise the importance of a box (capsule) of time which can somehow be controlled and changed. This is the track and here are the lyrics:

If I was frozen inside of a moment,
If I could capture time inside a capsule,
An hourglass full of sand in the palm of my hand, it passes through it,
If I can grasp it, and just control what happens to it,
Then I can trap it, so no more time elapses through it,
If raps could do it, maybe I could tap into it,
Then I could try to channel it through Cadillacs and Buicks,
To transmit through 'em, to make you put your ass into it

Time-themed chocolate. There are two that hit the mainstream, one of which is no longer available. Can you name either or both?

See you in 2024, the year of mindful time management.

[image generated by DALL·E 2]