We know the brain contains some 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons - by coincidence, that's about the same quantity as the number of stars in a typical galaxy - and we know that each of those neurons can make some 10,000 synaptic connections with other neurons. And from those connections the brain does - well, everything. Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, called this the "astonishing hypothesis": the fact that this sea of neuronal activity endows us with our sense of self, our awareness of the world, our consciousness. And that would include, presumably, our awareness of the passage of time.
— Dan Falk (1966 - ), Canadian science journalist, broadcaster, and author. In Search of Time: The Science of a Curious Dimension (2008; AKA In Search of Time: Journeys Along a Curious Dimension and In Search of Time: The History, Physics, and Philosophy of Time).
|