Do we really see and hear?

Contemplating Aristotle

Well considering that it takes light and sound time to travel, even if its a fraction of a second, wouldnt it be better to say that we saw and heard each other when talking face to face? Why does one use present tense to describe what is really the past tense?

Praetorian Saighdiuir

WOW

Captain_Generic

Pass it to the left

Larianne

Its how your brain is processing it at the given moment.

Dexterm99

Who said that?

strokemyclover

I'm sitting beside the OP right now. After he posted the above he took another toke on the bong and told me he couldn't feel his face anymore

greenybaby

strokemyclover wrote: »

I'm sitting beside the OP right now. After he posted the above he took another toke on the bong and told me he couldn't feel his face anymore

nice

Saila

*raises hand*

I dont understand the question miss

Clareman

Does that meant they aren't my feet? Are they my feet? Who's feet are they?

I need a lie down

lastlaugh

If you are set upon by a strangler, and he is strangling you, are you actually being strangled or would you think he has strangled you already, considering that he is actually in the process of strangling you?

Consider this if you are ever being strangled.

Fukuyama

*tokes*

Hey man ... wait what?

Ruu_Old

Confer.

Saila

benwavner wrote: »

WOW

il just go with ow

Saila

if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to see it...does it really fall

JohnathanM

lastlaugh wrote: »

If you are set upon by a strangler, and he is strangling you, are you actually being strangled or would you think he has strangled you already, considering that he is actually in the process of strangling you?

Consider this if you are ever being strangled.

Isn't the real issue here the OP's linear perception of time, which the green is doing nothing to help him with? He was going to be stoned, is stoned and was stoned all at the same time. Should change his name to Billy Pilgrim and be done with it.

DeVore

Seeing and Hearing are processes in the brain. They are happening at that time so despite the fact that light from the stars takes billions of years to reach us, you are "seeing" them right now.

DeV.

goose2005

Because the time delay is so tiny for the liht, and extremely small for the sound (340 m/s), and it only takes about 0.005 seconds for your brain to process it.

tallaghtmick

Contemplating Aristotle wrote: »

Well considering that it takes light and sound time to travel, even if its a fraction of a second, wouldnt it be better to say that we saw and heard each other when talking face to face? Why does one use present tense to describe what is really the past tense?

i see what you did there and i heard you crazaaaayy

losthorizon

The OP is God

Irish Guitarist

Is there really a past tense? Isn't the past just the further pasts future?

Duckworth_Luas

Aristotle was a bore! Socrates? Now there was an interesting chap. A man so great he even has his own set of Irish urban legends.

Havermeyer

DeVore wrote: »

Seeing and Hearing are processes in the brain. They are happening at that time so despite the fact that light from the stars takes billions of years to reach us, you are "seeing" them right now.

DeV.

But seeing them as they were, billions of years ago.

I think that's what the OP is getting at - possibly.

JohnathanM

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

Aristotle was a bore! Socrates? Now there was an interesting chap. A man so great he even has his own set of Irish urban legends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQycQ8DABvc

ArtyM

42

GalwayKiefer

Who's got the Doritos?

JohnathanM

GalKiefer wrote: »

Who's got the Doritos?

Nobody has the Doritos, it was just a bad pint.

Sofaspud

Think about this OP:

Where's your tongue sitting in your mouth? Is it comfortable?

bnt

Not sure I follow the OP's argument. If someone has spoken to me, the individual words are in the past tense, sure. But the conversation is not just words, it's a process of information transfer and processing, involving two or more people, that is ongoing - i.e. present tense - for as long as we think it is. Sometimes I'm ahead of the other speakers, mentally finishing their sentences before they get all the words out - but the conversational process is still present tense, in my view.

bonerm

Contemplating Aristotle wrote: »

Well considering that it takes light and sound time to travel, even if its a fraction of a second, wouldnt it be better to say that we saw and heard each other when talking face to face? Why does one use present tense to describe what is really the past tense?

It is a fraction of a second. Somewhere between a quarter and three eights. Scientists have no way of knowing for sure.

wild_cat

Acid much?

frag420

benwavner wrote: »

WOW

if you turn your monitor upside down that says mom.............

Did you hear me? It says mom!!

Fremen

Contemplating Aristotle wrote: »

Well considering that it takes light and sound time to travel, even if its a fraction of a second, wouldnt it be better to say that we saw and heard each other when talking face to face? Why does one use present tense to describe what is really the past tense?

The time it takes light to travel from something near you to your eye is dwarfed by the time it takes your brain to process that information. It'd be more accurate to say you're "thinking" in the past rather than seeing it.

On the other hand, when you look at the night sky, you really are looking into the past. Light from the andromeda galaxy is visible to the naked eye, but it's about two and a half million years old. In fact, we can 'see' the beginning of the universe when we study cosmic background microwave radiation.

The naive concept of "present" is actually kind of ill-defined.

Ah answer: Given the time it takes piss to travel, would it be correct to say you're about to get hit with a blast from the past?