This is a quick little blog, more like a blurb.
There is a philosophical view that defines time as the observance of change, or maybe change itself, I don’t specifically recall. There is a lot more to it than that, but the crude essence is that time is itself defined/realized only by things changing. Since this is a quick one, I’m being lazy and not providing a detail of the argument – heck I don’t even know if this is still a current conjecture but it gave me a fun thought-diversion this week.
The thought that crossed my mind related to covid is the specific idea that change, or the experiencing, or perspective of change in our lives has lessened or become more limited. It seems for lot of us, we’re just not doing as much as we were. We’re not experiencing as many inputs out in the world as we once did.
Therefore, we’re more limited in experiencing actual change(s) or have lost some nuance in detecting change.
What does this do to our perception of time? I’m not sure, but I think many of us have the experience of days going by slowly, but weeks cruising by at a quick pace (maybe its the other way around).
In any case, our perception of time seems ‘off’ and if those particular philosophers who hold the view that time = change are correct, and if we can quantify (or get a handle on the qualitative aspect) that we are experiencing less change, then our ‘off’ sensation of time passing during the covid pandemic seems justified.