--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Until now, I've been writing about \"now\"…" description: "\"“Until now, I've been writing about \"now\" as if it were literally an instant of time, but of course human faculties are not infinitely precise. It is s..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb8/paul-davies-3810_conscious-awareness_until-now-i-ve-been-writing-about-now-as_259287.png" --- # Until now, I've been writing about "now" as if it were… ![“Until now, I've been writing about "now" as if it were literally an instant of time, but of course human faculties are not infinitely precise. It is simplistic to suppose that physical events and mental events march along exactly in step, with the stream of "actual moments" in the outside world…” quote by Paul Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb8/paul-davies-3810_conscious-awareness_until-now-i-ve-been-writing-about-now-as_259287.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb8/paul-davies-3810_conscious-awareness_until-now-i-ve-been-writing-about-now-as_259287.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb8/paul-davies-3810_conscious-awareness_until-now-i-ve-been-writing-about-now-as_259287.png) > ““Until now, I've been writing about "now" as if it were literally an instant of time, but of course human faculties are not infinitely precise. It is simplistic to suppose that physical events and mental events march along exactly in step, with the stream of "actual moments" in the outside world and the stream of conscious awareness of them perfectly synchronized. The cinema industry depends on the phenomenon that what seems to us a movie is really a succession of still pictures, running at twenty-five \[sic\] frames per second. We don't notice the joins. Evidently the "now" of our conscious awareness stretches over at least 1/25 of a second. In fact, psychologists are convinced it can last a lot longer than that. Take he familiar "tick-tock" of the clock. Well, the clock doesn't go "tick-tock" at all; it goes "tick-tick," every tick producing the same sound. It's just that our consciousness runs two successive ticks into a singe "tick-tock" experience—but only if the duration between ticks is less than about three seconds. A really bug pendulum clock just goes "tock . . . tock . . . tock," whereas a bedside clock chatters away: "ticktockticktock..." Two to three seconds seems to be the duration over which our minds integrate sense data into a unitary experience, a fact reflected in the structure of human music and poetry.”” [Paul Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-davies/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human perception of the present moment is a short temporal window, not an instant, integrating sensory input over about two to three seconds. **In simple terms:** Our sense of "now" blends several moments into one experience. Key Takeaway Recognize that perception smooths rapid events. Themes perception time consciousness psychology cognition Mood curious analytical reflective Type scientific philosophical When to use this quote - listening to music - reading poetry - watching film - mindfulness meditation - designing user interfaces Key Concepts temporal integration subjective experience psychophysical timing Questions to Reflect On - How does this temporal integration affect decision making? - Can we train awareness to notice finer temporal details? A Different Perspective Our perception may differ across individuals and contexts, limiting a universal "now." ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Conscious awareness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscious-awareness/) [Consciousness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consciousness/) [Consciousness Runs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consciousness-runs-2559956/) [Duration Minds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/duration-minds-2559957/) [Experimenting-with-time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experimenting-with-time-59284/) [Instant Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instant-time-877055/) [Just Consciousness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/just-consciousness-1294153/) [Music And Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music-and-poetry/) [Now](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/now/) [Outside world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/outside-world/) [Physics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/physics/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Time passing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time-passing/) ## Related quotes > [“Psychologists have devised some ingenious ways to help unpack the human "now." 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It is simplistic to suppose that physical events and mental events march along exactly in step, with the stream of \"actual moments\" in the outside world and the stream of conscious awareness of them perfectly synchronized. The cinema industry depends on the phenomenon that what seems to us a movie is really a succession of still pictures, running at twenty-five [sic] frames per second. We don't notice the joins. Evidently the \"now\" of our conscious awareness stretches over at least 1/25 of a second. In fact, psychologists are convinced it can last a lot longer than that. Take he familiar \"tick-tock\" of the clock. Well, the clock doesn't go \"tick-tock\" at all; it goes \"tick-tick,\" every tick producing the same sound. It's just that our consciousness runs two successive ticks into a singe \"tick-tock\" experience—but only if the duration between ticks is less than about three seconds. A really bug pendulum clock just goes \"tock . . . tock . . . tock,\" whereas a bedside clock chatters away: \"ticktockticktock...\" Two to three seconds seems to be the duration over which our minds integrate sense data into a unitary experience, a fact reflected in the structure of human music and poetry.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Paul Davies" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-davies/until-now-i-ve-been-writing-about-now-as-if-it-were-literally-an/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Conscious awareness" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-davies/until-now-i-ve-been-writing-about-now-as-if-it-were-literally-an/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb8/paul-davies-3810_conscious-awareness_until-now-i-ve-been-writing-about-now-as_259287.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb8/paul-davies-3810_conscious-awareness_until-now-i-ve-been-writing-about-now-as_259287.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb8/paul-davies-3810_conscious-awareness_until-now-i-ve-been-writing-about-now-as_259287.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Until now, I've been writing about \"now\" as if it were literally an instant of time, but of course human…” — Paul Davies", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Paul Davies", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-davies/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Until now, I've been writing about...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-davies/until-now-i-ve-been-writing-about-now-as-if-it-were-literally-an/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-davies/until-now-i-ve-been-writing-about-now-as-if-it-were-literally-an/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```