It's All Relative...

I thought of more examples for biological time discussed in class. I loved the point made of dogs adjusting to household environments. This was true in my own house, as my dog would wait at the top of the stairs within ten minutes of me walking through the door from school. She adjusted her behavior when I would leave earlier or later in the day depending on the school or time of class, for example when I came home from high school versus college. These animals have adjusted their innate biological clocks around our busy schedules and still do not need physical calendars. It is all within their natural instinct to stay tuned to the patterns of nature and their environment.

Salmon don't necessary adjust around our presence directly but they are known for the prominent trait of going back to the river in which they were born only having been there once before. The fish know when to go back and how to get there. Somehow they also use their environment and biological senses following patterns to return to their birthplace the appropriate year. The example of the cicada bugs is excellent too because they emerge from the ground after 17 years of metamorphosis. These organisms may have no idea that much "time" has passed, and considering the shorter life spans, it may seem moments pass much sooner because biological changes occur faster than our own.

This example would take Einstein's point of relativity into consideration because time needs a frame of reference to begin a comparison. "Soon" for example, could mean any number of time spans. In the frame of a year one to three months may be considered a while, but in the frame of ten years this span of time seems quicker. It's the patterns which show change. The patterns of nature show end of one cycle and beginning of another. Paying attention to sun, stars, and seasons is what makes the passage of "time" relative. I liked how comparisons to this point were made with parallel time. It may be possible different creatures are experiencing a parallel time because the organisms are passing through our time at an accelerated rate compared to our frame of reference represented by our longer life span. Another favorite point in this discussion was the passage of time described as a flow of moments is merely a human metaphor in comparison to a river. This just shows more examples of the concept of time being based on the patterns of nature.