Psychronometrics: Kazmier Maslanka’s Mathematical Poetics of Time
By Alberto Indiana
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By Alberto Indiana
What if time didn’t flow at a constant rate? What if the passage of years, as you age, is not just a feeling but a mathematically demonstrable phenomenon? In Psychronometrics, Kazmier Maslanka fuses physics, poetry, and digital interactivity to explore the elasticity of time perception—bridging Einstein’s relativity with human experience.
Originally created in 1983 on a Radio Shack Color Computer, Psychronometrics is an interactive digital poem that uses Albert Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity as a framework for investigating how time is perceived relative to one’s age. This pioneering work stands at the intersection of mathematical poetry, conceptual metaphor, and early computer art. By mapping psychological time perception onto Einstein’s relativistic time dilation, Maslanka creates a poetic and scientific analogy that transforms an abstract concept into an interactive experience.
The Aesthetics of Time and Perception
Time, as we measure it, is rigidly quantifiable. The International System of Units (SI) defines a second by the oscillations of a cesium atom, providing an unchanging standard. However, in human experience, time is anything but fixed.
Maslanka’s insight into the elasticity of perceived time emerged from a personal childhood realization: at the age of eight, summers seemed endless, yet by eighteen, entire years passed in what felt like an instant. This phenomenon, first formalized in 1877 by the philosopher Paul Janet, suggests that we experience time in proportion to our total lifespan. For a ten-year-old, a year constitutes a tenth of their life, while for a sixty-year-old, that same year is merely one-sixtieth.
In Psychronometrics, Maslanka transforms this psychological insight into an interactive experience, allowing viewers to compare time perception across generations. By inputting the birthdates of two individuals—such as a parent and child—the program generates calculations that reveal striking disparities in their perceived passage of time.
Mathematics as a Metaphorical Language
Maslanka’s artistic approach is rooted in mathematical poetry, a genre in which mathematical equations serve as poetic structures. Psychronometrics exemplifies what Maslanka calls a Paradigm Poem—a mathematical poetic structure that borrows an equation from applied mathematics as a rigid source domain and maps it onto a more abstract target domain to create a conceptual metaphor. In Psychronometrics, Einstein’s time dilation equation provides the structural framework for exploring the elasticity of psychological time perception.
According to Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, an observer on Earth perceives time on a near-light-speed spaceship as slowing down relative to their own. This effect, known as time dilation, occurs because the faster an object moves, the slower its internal clock appears from an external viewpoint. However, for passengers inside the spaceship, time appears completely normal.
Maslanka draws a poetic parallel: time does not truly accelerate as we age, but our perception of it does—especially when compared to the experience of a much younger person. This relative difference mirrors the way an external observer perceives signals from a rapidly moving spacecraft as arriving at increasingly distant intervals. By mapping psychological time dilation onto relativistic time dilation, Psychronometrics offers a conceptual bridge between physics and lived experience.
This metaphorical mapping aligns with the framework described by cognitive scientists George Lakoff and Mark Turner, who argue that conceptual metaphors function through the systematic mapping of a concrete source domain onto a more abstract target domain. In the case of Psychronometrics, the concrete domain of relativistic time dilation serves as the source for understanding the abstract concept of psychological time perception. This mapping allows us to reason about the acceleration of perceived time using the structural logic of Einstein’s equation, providing a cognitive framework for grasping the otherwise elusive nature of subjective time.
A Groundbreaking Fusion of Art and Technology
Beyond its conceptual depth, Psychronometrics holds historical significance as an early experiment in digital art. Unlike static visual poetry, this piece is interactive, engaging viewers in an experiential process of mathematical-poetic discovery.
The program generates three distinct outputs:
A present-day calculation comparing the perceived passage of time between two individuals.
A retrospective calculation from a point in the past—usually the day after the younger individual’s birth—revealing an astonishing time dilation effect that suggests the younger person is moving at nearly the speed of light. This concept implies that at the instant the younger person is born, they break through the light barrier, metaphorically emerging from a realm beyond conventional time into our shared physical reality.
A projection into the far future, illustrating that as time stretches toward eternity, experiential differences between individuals diminish, reinforcing a universalist perspective on human existence.
This interactivity transforms Psychronometrics from a theoretical exercise into an immersive experience, allowing participants to reflect on the elasticity of time within their own lives.
The Philosophical Implications
At its core, Psychronometrics is more than an experiment in mathematical poetry—it is a meditation on the nature of time, existence, and the limits of human perception. By mapping psychological time onto Einstein’s relativistic time dilation, Maslanka’s work raises profound questions about how we experience reality, challenging conventional understandings of temporality and selfhood.
Time as a Construct of Perception
One of the most striking aspects of Psychronometrics is how it frames time as something that is not absolute, but deeply relative—not just in a physical sense, as Einstein theorized, but in a subjective and experiential sense. Our perception of time is not a fixed reality but a shifting construct, dependent on our perspective and stage of life. This idea aligns with philosophical traditions that question whether time is an objective feature of the universe or simply a mental construct imposed upon it.
From a cognitive standpoint, Maslanka’s work suggests that time is not something we pass through; rather, it is something we generate through experience and memory. If time speeds up as we age, then what does that say about its reality? Is it merely an illusion shaped by the proportions of our lived existence? If so, does it have any objective structure at all?
The Breakthrough into Reality: Birth as a Light Barrier
One of the most fascinating implications of Psychronometrics is the idea that at birth, we metaphorically "break through the light barrier" into measurable time. This notion carries strong existential and even spiritual connotations. It suggests that prior to birth, we exist outside of time—or in a state where time, as we know it, does not yet apply. This perspective echoes various spiritual traditions that depict birth as a transition from an unknowable, timeless realm into structured existence.
In Buddhist philosophy, for example, the nature of time is often considered an illusion (māyā), and the ultimate goal is to transcend the illusion of temporal existence to reach a state of enlightenment beyond birth and death. Similarly, in Western metaphysical thought, thinkers like Plato and Kant have argued that time is a construct of human perception rather than an inherent feature of reality.
Maslanka’s Psychronometrics does not dictate a singular metaphysical interpretation, but it invites the viewer to question: If birth marks an entry into time, then is time itself a kind of boundary—a veil separating us from something beyond it? If time is merely a perceptual frame, then what exists beyond it?
The Dissolution of Temporal Differences and the Oneness of Experience
A key feature of Psychronometrics is its projection into the far future. As the calculations extend forward in time, the perceived differences in time experience between two individuals diminish, converging toward a state of uniformity. This mathematical phenomenon suggests that, over an infinite time span, all distinctions between individual perspectives disappear.
This raises profound philosophical implications: If time is the primary factor separating individual experiences, and if time is ultimately a construct that dissolves over eternity, then what does that say about the nature of the self? Are our identities merely artifacts of our position within time? If temporal distinctions fade, does individuality itself dissolve?
This idea resonates with spiritual traditions that suggest the ultimate nature of existence is one of unity rather than separation. Hindu and Buddhist teachings propose that the illusion of separateness (duality) is created by time and space, and that enlightenment is a realization of the fundamental oneness of all existence. Similarly, certain interpretations of quantum mechanics hint at a reality where distinctions between past, present, and future are illusory, reinforcing the idea that time is not an absolute feature of the universe but rather a subjective framework imposed upon it.
Mathematics as a Bridge Between the Empirical and the Mystical
Maslanka’s use of Einstein’s equation as the structural foundation of Psychronometrics highlights an important philosophical tension: the relationship between mathematical precision and poetic ambiguity. Mathematics is often viewed as the most rigid and absolute of disciplines, a language of pure logic and empirical truth. Yet, in Psychronometrics, mathematics is used not to quantify reality but to reveal its uncertainties—to create a space where the mathematical and the mystical coexist.
This interplay between structure and abstraction mirrors ancient philosophical traditions in which mathematics was regarded as a bridge between the physical world and higher realms of understanding. The Pythagoreans, for example, believed that numbers were the fundamental reality underlying existence, while Plato argued that mathematical truths existed in an abstract, ideal realm beyond the physical world.
Maslanka’s work can be seen as a continuation of this tradition. By using mathematical equations as poetic structures, he subverts the rigid determinism of mathematics, transforming it into a vehicle for exploring the deepest questions of existence: What is time? What is selfhood? What exists beyond perception?
The Metaphysics of Relativity and Subjectivity
Finally, Psychronometrics prompts a reevaluation of relativity—not just in the physical sense, but in the philosophical and existential sense. If all experiences of time are relative, and if the experience of time itself is what shapes our understanding of self and reality, then reality itself may be fundamentally relative.
This raises an unsettling but profound question: If all reality is dependent on the perspective from which it is observed, is there any objective truth at all? Or is reality simply the shifting sum of perspectives, endlessly altered by the perceivers within it?
By engaging with these ideas through mathematical poetry, Psychronometrics offers a powerful meditation on the fundamental uncertainty of existence. Rather than providing answers, it creates a space for inquiry—one in which mathematics, poetry, and philosophy intersect to expand the limits of human thought.
Bergson’s "Duration" and Psychological Time in Psychronometrics
Henri Bergson’s concept of "duration" (durée) provides a compelling philosophical lens through which to examine Psychronometrics, as both explore the qualitative, subjective nature of time rather than its rigid, scientific measurement. Bergson famously argued that time, as experienced by consciousness, is fundamentally different from the mechanistic, quantifiable time of clocks and physics. This distinction between lived time and measured time aligns with the conceptual metaphor at the heart of Psychronometrics, where Einstein’s relativistic equations are mapped onto human psychological time perception.
Bergson proposed that true time, or duration, is not a series of discrete, measurable units but a continuous, indivisible flow—one that cannot be reduced to the spatialized, mathematical representations of physics. In his view, the mechanistic time used in scientific equations, including Einstein’s time dilation formula, is an abstraction that does not capture the inner, lived experience of time.
Maslanka’s Psychronometrics functions as a bridge between these two conceptions of time. On one hand, it employs Einstein’s mathematical model of time dilation, reinforcing the notion that time is relative, not absolute. On the other hand, it reveals a subjective, psychological time dilation that mirrors Bergson’s idea of duration—a time that is experienced differently depending on an individual’s perspective and consciousness.
Bergson would argue that the perceived acceleration of time with age is not just a function of proportion (as Paul Janet suggested) but rather an effect of how memory and consciousness compress past experiences into an ever-expanding present. Maslanka’s work captures this by allowing viewers to input two birthdates and observe how different individuals experience time differently, demonstrating that time is not a uniform entity but something that bends and shifts with perception.
Birth as Breaking Through the Light Barrier: A Bergsonian Interpretation
One of the most philosophically provocative aspects of Psychronometrics is its suggestion that at birth, an individual "breaks through the light barrier"—a metaphor for emerging into the realm of structured, measurable time. This idea resonates deeply with Bergson’s distinction between pure duration (pre-birth, non-measurable, continuous time) and spatialized time (post-birth, divided into measurable units).
Bergson often described how our intellect, shaped by practical needs, spatializes time—chopping it into discrete moments for measurement. However, in reality, consciousness experiences time as an indivisible whole. This is precisely the transformation that Psychronometrics models: when a person is "born," they enter a world where time is measured, divided, and experienced in proportion to past experience. Prior to birth, one exists outside of this structure, in a state of pure, unmeasured flow—an idea remarkably compatible with Bergson’s duration.
The Dissolution of Temporal Differences and Bergson’s "Pure Memory"
Another striking parallel between Psychronometrics and Bergson’s philosophy is the program’s projection into the far future, where differences in time perception between individuals diminish. This suggests that over an infinite time span, all distinctions between individual temporal perspectives dissolve. In Bergson’s framework, this aligns with the idea that as we move further from the immediate, structured experience of the present, our memory expands beyond the constraints of linear time, merging with pure memory—the vast, undivided field of past experience.
Bergson proposed that memory is not stored in discrete units but exists as an indivisible flow, with the past constantly interpenetrating the present. Psychronometrics hints at this idea through its interactive nature: it invites participants to reflect on how their experience of time is shaped by memory and perception, reinforcing Bergson’s idea that time is not something "out there" but something deeply connected to the way consciousness operates.
Mathematics, Poetics, and Bergson’s Critique of Scientific Time
Bergson was famously critical of the way science treats time as a spatial dimension that can be measured, calculated, and manipulated. He believed that by turning time into an equation, we lose sight of its true nature as a qualitative, experiential phenomenon.
Maslanka’s Psychronometrics engages with this critique in a paradoxical way. On the surface, it embraces Einstein’s mathematical model, using an equation to structure its poetic metaphor. However, by mapping that equation onto human perception—by showing that psychological time itself bends and dilates—it subverts the rigid mathematical view and reintroduces Bergson’s idea of time as a lived, dynamic, and subjective process.
In this way, Psychronometrics functions both as a scientific thought experiment and a Bergsonian meditation on the nature of time. It demonstrates that while mathematics can help model relativity, it cannot fully account for the richness of human temporal experience. Instead, Maslanka’s work suggests that mathematical poetry may offer a better bridge between scientific and experiential time, blending precise structure with metaphor and intuition.
Conclusion: Psychronometrics as a Bergsonian Paradigm Poem
Maslanka’s Psychronometrics is a profound artistic experiment that engages directly with the philosophical tension between measured time (Einstein’s physics) and lived time (Bergson’s duration). By turning an equation into a poetic structure—one that is interactive and experiential—it challenges our understanding of how time operates in both a scientific and existential sense.
Through its exploration of birth as entry into structured time, the dissolution of temporal differences over eternity, and the contrast between memory-based perception and mathematical measurement, Psychronometrics offers a Bergsonian reflection on time as something more than a series of measurable intervals—it is a fluid, continuous flow that shapes and is shaped by consciousness itself.
Thus, while Maslanka’s work draws on Einstein’s physics, its philosophical implications are just as deeply rooted in Bergson’s vision of time as a fundamental aspect of human experience—one that cannot be fully captured by equations, but can perhaps be illuminated through the fusion of mathematics and poetry.
Kazmier Maslanka’s Psychronometrics stands as a landmark in mathematical poetics, seamlessly blending physics, psychology, and artistic expression. The work invites us to reconsider our most fundamental beliefs about time, selfhood, and perception. If time is a construct, then is our experience of life merely an illusion shaped by relativity? And if so, what lies beyond the light barrier of our own understanding?
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