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Comment by iakov | Hacker News Reader

I've noticed the second hand "freezing" on a quartz watch when I glance at it since I was a kid. When I asked adults about it they didn't understand what I'm talking about and had no explanation at all. Weird, fascinating stuff.

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Sometimes it's amazing to me that kids trust grownups at all. Those plastic little brains don't filter out dozens or hundreds of things that adults just stopped thinking about because they're so overloaded with other worries. Everything from the sensory, to cultural 'norms' that may not make sense, like casual racism or sexism.

This shows up time and again in media where there are magical creatures that only interact with children. Everything from adults losing the ability to see them (Totoro has two separate classes of invisible creatures), to happenstance (Arrietty is accidentally seen by the boy, because she makes a bad assumption).

Do you think it might be possible for adult humans to simulate the curiosity that young minds are capable of? Perhaps even in short bursts?

I think Michael Pollan might be actively engaged in suggesting some options there...

Ya, psychedelics are certainly "in the neighborhood" of this problem, but I'm thinking quite a bit different scope. Most people would probably think I'm insane for thinking about it in the way I do, as opposed to "Oh, well that's just the way people are, there's nothing you can do!". It's kinda one of those "fish don't realize they are swimming in water" types of things.

I can say that part of my litany on expanding your horizons is that the more things I try to learn, the more I learn about learning. Some skills are a lot like software, or sometimes I feel software should be more like them. But then there are things like tai chi that is just nothing like the intellectual pursuits I’ve occupied myself with. Those are “safe” in some ways that as I get older I see as a trap.

I also played around with this, making seconds go faster or slower.

I understood something glitchy was going on with my perception.

So it is funny to get an explanation.

This is the "stopped-clock illusion", an example of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronostasis

Wondering whether watched kettles never boiling is a similar effect, only at a larger scale.

Time as we experience it is an illusion bordering on insanity, actually everything we perceive seems to be such a freaking illusion it's mind boggling the whole thing works at all.

wow this is crazy. I had forgotten until now but, as a child, I remember looking at my watch and when the second hand finally ticked thinking "that was way longer than a second".

Same here. I remember seeing this as a kid and being perplexed, but haven't thought about it until reading it now. This is sooo interesting, I wonder how much stuff like this we have hidden away.

If you can hear the tick, is it misaligned with the motion or does the tick time shift as well?

You know the craziest thing? That experience might vary based on whether you are familiar with the concept of a ticking clock, or not.

I would sometimes catch the seconds hand of our bathroom clock going backwards - but it only ever happened the moment I looked at it.

Nowadays I know why - the seconds hand would vibrate a bit after every movement, and if my eyes "saw" it going backward for a fraction of a second after focusing on it, the brain would complete that to "yep, it just went back a second".

Ok, I've noticed the same effect with music and yawning. I'm musically inclined and have pretty good rhythm and it seems to me that songs seem to change tempo when I yawn. Maybe the same type of thing is in effect here; my brain is time traveling somehow.

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