Tracking
the Journey

  • Distance to go: 0 Mi
    Distance

    Ben and Tarka will cover 1800 miles starting from Scott's Terra Nova Hut at the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole and back to the coast again. That's equivalent to 69 back-to-back marathons hauling up to 200kg each (the weight of roughly two adult men) of kit and supplies necessary to survive.

    Distances here are shown in statute miles.

Temporal Perception (yes a post from Tarka!) Day 51

Posted December 14th 2013,
by Tarka L’Herpiniere

Category: Expedition, The Antarctic Plateau (Outbound)

Day 51: S86° 28' 47.34", S159° 36' 53.58"

Duration: 8 Hr 30 Min

Daily distance: 17.6 Mi

Distance to go: 1147.6 Mi

Temperature: -21 °C

Wind chill: -37 °C

Altitude: 9331 Ft

Following some gentle persuasion from the team I have agreed to relinquish my tools for the evening and take up the Ultrabook. A while ago there was a fascinating question by one of the contributors regarding how we perceive time (I apologise, I can't remember who brought up the subject in question). Along with their question they presented an interesting theory regarding the relative passage of time through various stages in our lives. I would be interested to know if this was just a theory or if there is data to support it.

In any case it got me thinking and I would like to share my experiences and thoughts on the subject. Please note that there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support the following theory, it is purely my speculation on the subject (incidentally if anybody does have any scientific data to support or contradict the following I would love to hear about it). Furthermore I possess neither the literary nor the creative linguistic skills that Ben has, so please lower your expectations considerably in relation to Ben's usual exceptional standard.

The reason this topic fascinated me so much was that there seems to be a discrepancy between how I perceive time to be passing in the present in contrast to that of a more prolonged period. Put simply, each individual hour of each day seems to pass at the same rate as it did on day one. Some of these hours seem to pass in a heartbeat whilst others seem to drag on indefinitely. This perceived variation however, depends almost entirely on how well I can drift away following a specific train of thought. As a general rule however, there seems to be no variation in my perception of these as the trip has progressed. My perception of the trip's previous days and weeks however, seems to be accelerating exponentially as I look at them retrospectively. My theory as to why this might be the case resides in a video compression analogy.

Video compression is so elegantly simple in its complexity but the basic premise being to reduce the amount of space needed to store a video whilst discarding as little of the original quality and detail as possible. Much like a hard drive on a computer I suspect our brain has a number of limitations, including storage space and speed of retrieval. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of digital video compression algorithms but for this analogy, crudely speaking each 'video frame' is analysed and compared to the neighbouring frames. If a part (or parts) of the frames being compared are found to be the sufficiently similar then it makes no sense to store the same information for every frame when it never actually changes. Instead it makes more sense to store the information only once and subsequently reference it as needed.

If the brain works in a similar manner this could help explain the perceived time dilation I am experiencing. During a given day information is fed into my short-term memory instantly, given that we are generally very good at remembering events in our short-term memory it stands to reason that only very minimal compression occurs here so events (and time) are stored in 'real time'. When I go to sleep that night however, the day's events are passed to my mid-term memory. During this process the brain analyses the day's events, determines that almost the entire day was identical (which they are) so compresses all the days repetition down to just isolate any unique events. This subsequently means that when I wake up, the previous day seems to be much shorter as the monotonous repetition that constitutes almost all our days has been condensed to just a few frames. At some arbitrary point in time, this entire day is committed to my long-term memory and the same process is repeated. Only this time the previously compressed day is analysed in relation to the other compressed days surrounding it and in exactly the same manner, the days are found to be near identical. Subsequently so entire weeks are compressed giving rise to this time perception distortion that I am experiencing.

In other news, today was cold and we walked into the endless horizon... again.

Comments

# wonderwoman, December 15th 2013

Thank you, Tarka! It’s great you started writing! I have always know writing is difficult, but you must be one of the toughest gyus -  not everybody needs to ski hundreds of miles in the emptiness before they start putting some words on the paper :)  Seriously, you should go on. Following your thoughts is very interesting. We are grateful!

We send you love from Finland and pray for you.

# John, December 15th 2013

Hey Tarka, From what I have read and experienced it goes like this: You have three forms of time. You have present time, past time and future time.  If your attention is wholly in the present you could say you are in present time- and you will be very aware of what is going on around you from moment to moment. In your case as you have set yourself such a difficult task you will probably spend more time in the present than anywhere else. However if that present is very unpleasant naturally you will resist it, The goal of life is pleasure, pleasure is an attracting force but pain repels. This repulsion makes feel you’d rather be anywhere else than in the present so you dive into the past or the future or use your imagination to run away.  As a contrast to your situation older people tend to spend a lot of time in the past and so unlike you whom is filling every minute of the day with overcoming huge obstacles on a continuing basis they have very little challenge in their environment comparatively speaking so they spend much of the time talking and thinking about “the good old days” when things were happening in their lives . Now take a kid- he is very interested in his environment as for him it is so full of adventures so he is very much in present time and the day is long and much is done. Naturally time will seem to disappear if you are not there experiencing it! And that is what you hear the old people say. If you want more time create it! Get out and do things= fill your life with action and goals and life will be long and enjoyable.! Hats off to you guys you can’t live life more fuller of challenge than you two are!

# Richard Pierce, December 15th 2013

Good to hear you, Tarka. That time compression theory is fascinating, and not one I’ve heard before. The endless horizon remains the same, too, but I guess looking forward decompresses time and makes that seem endless, too.

Hope you both manage to get over 20 miles again soon.

Stay safe.

R

# Phil Satoor, December 15th 2013

Yes, you’re saying we have to forget to remember.  It sounds sensible to me.  I hope you’ll to do another post soon!

# Phil Satoor, December 15th 2013

I should have said “forget to be able to remember”.

# Jored, December 15th 2013

Thanks for writing and showing yourself. Your compression theory sounds very reasonable.
Follow your progress every day and wish both the success you so deserve.
It’s easy to pick up the iPad here in sunny Spain and feel a lot of respect for your courage and “Endurance”. As the Great Man’s motto goes : Fortitudine Vincimus. Through endurance we (you) conquer ......
Good luck and take good care.

# Graham, December 15th 2013

Hi Tarka, maybe your long term memory is based on the images you see. We recall things that happened a long time ago through memories of images don’t we? Your visual memory is passed onto your long term memory at night, like you said. During the day there isn’t much visual change and the only time we are feel time is passing quickly is when our minds dwell on internal thoughts. This then I guess is what meditation is…
Anyway, enjoy your meditations and thanks for sharing your amazing journey. I can’t be there myself but can have some experience from the comfort of my bed. :)

# Chris, December 15th 2013

Great to hear from you Tarka, and keep going guys - you have made superb progress and that position tracker shows it.  Well done!

# Mal Owen , December 15th 2013

Welcome Tarka, a pleasure to meet you at last,
Does this explain why,  as we get older,  the years seem to pass more quickly?  Our short term memory fails us….(I can’t tell you how many times I go upstairs for something , only to forget why I am there) so we increasingly have very little to add to the video frame.
I can’t believe how quickly Christmas has come round yet again and it seems that there’s never enough time in a day !
And please keep aiming for that endless horizon.

# Vimalatharmaiyah Gnanaruban, December 15th 2013

There is’t a better way to convey the monotony than to describe the entire day in a simple sentence, I loved it. After all Tarka is programmed to write as well.

Do you trim your facial hair, if so with what tool you are improvising? There is another theory being rumored in this circle that Tarka’s synthetic hair doesn’t grow.
(Reminds me of a supposed event happened to another pioneer, when Russian ladies tried to pluck Yuri Gagarin’s hair after he returned from outer space, in an attempt to test whether he met god, or something like that)
As we are approaching the southern solstice on 21st - Keep warm and carry on

# cifa, December 15th 2013

ah, tarka - nice to meet/see you. tbh, I was getting a bit fed up with Ben’s mugshot :) but you both look kinda similar ;)

cheers to you both!

# Paulius, December 15th 2013

Brilliant! The ending was very ellegant, bravo.

# Sue (and Noodle ), December 15th 2013

Great to see you. I was unsure you were there !!!!!! and what great writing. I of course dont understand any of it not being an academic. My only thoughts were that Ben’s beard seems to be growing faster than yours.. Be safe and lots of love. x

# Costa, December 15th 2013

it’s simple but paradox: boring times seem endless while you like wait for a bus, but they shrink to nothingness in memory (because nothing significant happened) - on the contrary while you’re doing something really exciting you won’t notice time going by, but… when you remember it, it seems to fill a lot of time.
kind of goes with your time compression theory, doesn’t it?

# Alessandra, December 15th 2013

In other news, today was cold and we walked into the endless horizon… again. :)
You’re the best.

# Sharyle , December 15th 2013

Good to hear from you, Tarka, at long last.  Do you and Ben spend your evenings in deep philosophical discussions?  Hmmmm…maybe not. Thanks for posting this fascinating idea.  It’s amazing that we get to see a tiny bit of what you’re experiencing in Antarctica. Carry on to the white horizon!

# Harlan, December 15th 2013

Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
Edgar Allan Poe

# Brendan Smith, December 15th 2013

He really is Mr. Spock!

Seriously, I think there’s a concept called “Flow” that says when you are very deeply concentrating on a subject and totally engaged, time seems to fly by.  This is similar to an athlete who is “in the zone” and unstoppable in competition.  However, when stuck in a boring or irritating situation (waiting in line at the motor vehicles bureau) time drags.

# Kristoffer, December 15th 2013

Tarka, the compression you are referring to is known as lossy compression, where some loss of original data is accepted in return for increased compression.  There is also lossless compression, where no data is lost but the compression is not as great.  Anyone who compresses files using a compression utility like 7-Zip is using lossless compression.

# Andrea, December 15th 2013

Very pleased to hear from you, Tarka! And a brilliant dissertation too, about time and time compression. I find particularly interesting the idea of different “processors” of memory, each one operating separately at separate stages in time, to store events at the best “signal to noise” ratio.
At the end, I think only events which have a strong contrast remain in memory.
And the “unexpected” events, too. If for instance you will come around a group of lost penguins tomorrow, that will be remembered forever! Anyway, thank you and best wishes for the rest of journey to you both.

# Kat, December 15th 2013

Hi Tarka, that was BEAUTIFULLY written…I really enjoyed seeing your mug and reading your philosophical thoughts on time.  I hope you’ll write more.

Ben, it’s quiet on the comment boards sometimes, but we’re all still here, living our antarctic dreams vicariously through you. I wish there were voting buttons for these comments, because often I think, “YES! I agree!!”.  I’m sure there are lots of us feeling this way!

Thanks again to both of you for sharing your photos, writings, experiences, boredom,misery and excitement with us.

Best Thoughts, for Best Results…
K

# Leigh Phillips , December 15th 2013

Wow.. Deep thoughts from the silent one! Loved the ending :-) i hope i can get to hear you both speak in the future.

# Tim Hall, December 15th 2013

You guys seriously need to get out more…!  ;-)

# Janet Stanley, December 15th 2013

Good to hear from you Tarka, you & Ben stay safe :)

# Susan, December 15th 2013

Thank you for posting this! I am an English teacher, and I am designing a new lesson on the manipulation of time in writing. I will be using this Ted.Ed video: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/slowing-down-time-in-writing-film-aaron-sitze#review Your .post dovetails quite nicely with the ideas in this video. It is especially helpful that you also use a current film compression analogy that fits with Mr Sitze’s projector analogy.
This also comes full circle because I began exploring this lesson idea as part of a unit on adventure which was inspired, in part, by Ben’s Ted talk: Why bother leaving the house?

# Intrepid, December 15th 2013

In times of endlessness
the snow isn’t whiter somewhere else

the past holds all the promise
the present is in your hand
the future is full of possibilities

Tarka, Ben mentioned you were composing a post. Fun and very interesting approach to memory, time, and the way we might be living them.  Encouraging to know your steps are well thought out.

A question about facial hair (topic of the day)... wouldn’t more hair = more warmth, or does a longer beard = more icing = longer drying time.

Are you guys keeping count of the number of (false) peaks?

Godspeed

PS. Any noise, howling inclusive, gives the wind something to carry.

# CaninesCashews, December 15th 2013

Hi Guys,
Great to hear from you Tarka, what a great take on time.
I love that last paragraph - makes perfect sense to me!

I don’t know if this helps with your temporal question but the author Julian Barnes said,
“I know this much: that there is objective time, but also subjective time, the kind you wear on the inside of your wrist, next to where the pulse lies. And this personal time, which is the true time, is measured in your relationship to memory.”

Keep walking into that horizon.
Stay safe,
Gav

# Philip, December 15th 2013

Tarka, you have a very interesting way of explaining stuff. I do appreciate a rational mind quit a lot. Actually, this could be my thinking too during the monotony of your day’s dragging the sled.

You’re way too humble, this post was refreshing and interesting, different from Ben, but as much interesting as he is, just in a different way. Actually, I’d could love to read both of you each day, to see how different the trip could be perceived by the two of you.

I see the temperature have dropped A LOT on the plateau, up to the beardmore, I was on the impression that Antactica wasn’t cold at all during summer, this make a difference.

I have a question for both of you though, when you’ll reach the pole, did you bring with you a little champagne bottle to celebrate or ... something, or will you just camp there for the night and walk back like any other day the following morning ?

# Stephen Sandlund, December 15th 2013

Brilliant introspection

# Zion, December 15th 2013

Tarka, I was thinking of something very similar in the last few days, that maybe our brain (and memories) are just a tangle of references to previous ideas.  Another thought is that perhaps when we can’t sleep well, we forget things, and time also seems to pass more quickly.  Thanks for you and Ben’s daily interesting thought to add to my memories.  To the ends of the earth!  Godspeed!

# Shelly, December 16th 2013

Tarka,
Great post. You were quite eloquent in the discourse. Not quite sure about the theories, it would be an area for future research.
Shelly

# AlisonP, December 17th 2013

Great to see and hear from you at last, Tarka!  You have a beautiful smile, and, despite what you say, you CAN write quite beautifully.n very interesting exposition comparing the compression of memory to the compression of video.  And your kast sentence, that was great!!!

# Jon Russill, December 17th 2013

Great post Tarka.  I also think that part of the brain’s “compression process” also may filter out the good from the bad.  Seems to me that good memories are held longer term and more clearly than bad ones or memories of painful/difficult experiences.  I’m sure we wouldn’t carry on with these expeditions if the main memories were the painful ones!  Someone said that older people remember the “good old days” - maybe this explains it!  They’ve held on to the good and filtered out the bad.

# uncle pete, December 17th 2013

That’s no smile! That’s his evil grin as he is about to use that needle to pierce his finger and show you the true colour of his hydraulic fluid! Tarka, really great to hear from you, so proud of your efforts there. Speaking of time, it is now quite a long time since I carried you down the slopes of Tignes on my shoulders or skiing between my knees but it seems like yesterday, strange!  Keep your sights on that goal and return safe. Uncle Pete

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