File:The Matrix.jpg

Inside the Matrix

This photo is a derivative work that I created from a photo on flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/menza/201450176/

that is licensed under a Create Commons Attribution License 2.0 Generic.

The photo may be used for commercial and noncommercial use.

Attribution must be made to Lasse Havelund.

Can Time Slow Down?

"Does time slow down when you are in a traffic accident or other life threatening crisis like Neo dodging bullets in slow-motion in The Matrix? To find out, researchers developed a perceptual chronometer where numbers flickered on the screen of a watch-like unit. The scientists adjusted the speed at which the numbers flickered until it was too fast for the subjects to see. Then subjects were put in a Suspended Catch Air Device, a controlled free-fall system in which 'divers' are dropped backwards off a platform 150 feet up and land safely in a net. Subjects were asked to read the numbers on the perceptual chronometer (video) as they fell. The bottom line: While subjects could read numbers presented at normal speeds during the free-fall, they could not read them at faster-than-normal speeds. 'We discovered that people are not like Neo in The Matrix,' Eagleman said. 'The answer to the paradox is that time estimation and memory are intertwined: the volunteers merely thought the fall took a longer time in retrospect'."^[1][2][3]