In article <53129.caudle at irp.nidr.nih.gov>,
caudle at irp.nidr.nih.gov <caudle at irp.nidr.nih.gov> wrote:
>On 4 Jan 1995 19:06:16 GMT,
>Tom Salyers <at425 at yfn.ysu.edu> wrote:
>> Greetings. I'm trying to write a science fiction story in my spare time,
>> My central question is this: is the human sense of passing time a factor
>>of neurochemistry? And if so, would it be possible (given the right level
>>of knowledge and technology, of course) to manufacture a drug that would
>>alter that sense--to make two years, for instance, feel like fifty?
>IMHO - The passage of time is really a physical event rather than a
>chemical one.
[SNIP]
>Information is stored and then the decay is monitored to determine the passage
>of time.
If this is indeed the mechanism then it would have a neurochemical basis...
or don't you believe that information storage involves chemical messengers?
>perceived to have passed can easily be altered by changing the rate at
>which the stored information is lost. In your clock, you could simply
>replace the oscilator with one that has a different period. In the brain
>this sort of change in the rate of information decay appears to occur quite
>regularly.
In addition, I would suggest that external cues are very important in
modulating any intrinsic timing mechanisms...
>For science fiction, however, it would be intriguing to implant some
>electronic device in a critical region of the brain, say the locus ceruleus
>(a region of the brain that interacts with almost all other regions), that
>could alter time perception.
Therefore, I would couple this sort of device with isolation of the individual
in a highly controllable environment (perhaps within their own mind?) in which
external timing cues could be manipulated...
Interesting topic
David Wheeler
