--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You can imagine over very long…" description: "\"You can imagine over very long timescales, perhaps far beyond the multi-decade time scale, we might be able to ask very deep questions about why we fee..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/edward-boyden-17454_able_you-can-imagine-over-very-long-timescale_318340.png" --- # You can imagine over very long timescales, perhaps far… ![“You can imagine over very long timescales, perhaps far beyond the multi-decade time scale, we might be able to ask very deep questions about why we feel the way we feel about things, or why we think of ourselves in certain ways - questions that have been in the realm of psychology and philosophy…” quote by Edward Boyden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/edward-boyden-17454_able_you-can-imagine-over-very-long-timescale_318340.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/edward-boyden-17454_able_you-can-imagine-over-very-long-timescale_318340.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/edward-boyden-17454_able_you-can-imagine-over-very-long-timescale_318340.png) > “You can imagine over very long timescales, perhaps far beyond the multi-decade time scale, we might be able to ask very deep questions about why we feel the way we feel about things, or why we think of ourselves in certain ways - questions that have been in the realm of psychology and philosophy but have been very difficult to get a firm mechanistic laws-of-physics grasp on.” [Edward Boyden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-boyden/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Long‑term perspectives may reveal deep psychological and philosophical questions that currently lack clear physical explanations. **In simple terms:** Future insights could explain why we feel and think as we do. Key Takeaway Explore interdisciplinary research for deeper self‑understanding. Themes psychology philosophy future studies Mood speculative curious Type theoretical inspirational When to use this quote - mental health therapy - AI ethics - education policy Key Concepts mechanistic neuroscience consciousness temporal scales Questions to Reflect On - What interdisciplinary methods could bridge this gap? - How might future physics reshape self‑knowledge? A Different Perspective Current science may not yet provide concrete mechanisms. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Able](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/able/) [Asks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asks/) [Certain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/certain/) [Decades](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decades/) [Deep Questions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deep-questions-319590/) [Difficult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/difficult/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Firm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firm/) [Has beens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/has-beens/) [Imagine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagine/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Laws of physics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/laws-of-physics/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [Long Timescales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-timescales-3006257/) [Might](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/might/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Philosophy Difficult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-difficult-1063352/) [Physics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/physics/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Questions Feel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/questions-feel-1229502/) [Realms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realms/) [Scales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scales/) [Things Think](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-think/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Very deep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/very-deep/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) ## Related quotes > [“The status of philosophy is such that it is not the case that you cannot be wrong in philosophy but that it is very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-worley/the-status-of-philosophy-is-such-that-it-is-not-the-case-that-you-2/) [Peter Worley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-worley/) > [“Hegel's philosophy is very difficult—he is, I should say, the hardest to understand of all the great philosophers. 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Einstein struggled to bring quantum mechanics and gravity together and never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-boyden/there-are-many-things-that-we-still-don-t-understand-about-the/) [Edward Boyden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-boyden/) > [Maybe we'll understand more about how the universe came to be, and what forces drove it in the early days and which forces drive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-boyden/maybe-we-ll-understand-more-about-how-the-universe-came-to-be-and/) [Edward Boyden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-boyden/) > [One thing that I've been doing for a long time is to wake up really early. I try to get up around 4 or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-boyden/one-thing-that-i-ve-been-doing-for-a-long-time-is-to-wake-up-really/) [Edward Boyden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-boyden/) > [Suppose there are some things that we don't understand about the universe, but if you understand human intelligence and you understand the gaps in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-boyden/suppose-there-are-some-things-that-we-don-t-understand-about-the/) [Edward Boyden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-boyden/) > [If you think backwards from a big problem, and you talk to all these other people who have skills and who think forward from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-boyden/if-you-think-backwards-from-a-big-problem-and-you-talk-to-all-these/) [Edward Boyden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-boyden/) [Explore all 37 Edward Boyden quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-boyden/) ## More Able quotes > [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/) [Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-englert/there-is-something-about-the-south-that-accepts-the-supernatural-if/) [Alice Englert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-englert/) > [In the '80s, the way radio was programmed, if you didn't have a hit record you weren't going to be able to make any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huey-lewis/in-the-80s-the-way-radio-was-programmed-if-you-didn-t-have-a-hit/) [Huey Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huey-lewis/) > [I think I've had the longest career of strength, focus, and still being able to sell records. I think I'm that guy. 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To be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pee-wee-reese/thinking-about-the-things-that-happened-i-don-t-know-any-other-ball/) [Pee Wee Reese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pee-wee-reese/) > [I wanted to remember in order to be able to return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/i-wanted-to-remember-in-order-to-be-able-to-return/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [Government schools, with your tax money, now discourage the teaching of multiplication tables by rote memorization but teach reading by the 'look-and-say' method which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-perry/government-schools-with-your-tax-money-now-discourage-the-teaching-of/) [Greg Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-perry/) > [I don't know if I would qualify as mainstream. 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