• Question: Is it possible to make a drug which slows down/ speeds up time, but keeps everything else 'normal'?

    Asked by jorrito98 to Jack, Jon, Tom, Yalda on 18 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Jon Marles-Wright

      Jon Marles-Wright answered on 18 Mar 2013:

      There are lots drugs that change how you view the movement of time, but they tend not to keep everything else ‘normal’. Alcohol is one drug that changes how you see time, but it has lots of side-effects, some pleasant, some not so nice.

      Some stimulants, like the ones used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder can make you overestimate the passage of time and strong pain killers can make you underestimate it. These drugs have lots of other effects though.

      Drugs that make you hallucinate and see things can have some strange effects on how you view time, but the effects aren’t easy to predict and can be quite unpleasant.

    • Photo: Tom Branson

      Tom Branson answered on 18 Mar 2013:

      I think Jon’s answer is spot on.

      “Stimulants” (like caffeine in coffee) make you react quicker and things seem faster. “Depressants” (like alcohol or some medicine that makes you drowsy) can make things seem slower.

      But these do not change actually time and always have other effects too.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 18 Mar 2013:

      THere are lots of drugs that might make you think timke is slowing down or speeding up but I think a drug to make that actually happen would defy all physical rules of the universe. If there is one though, it would be great to try – imagine making your most boring lesson 1/20th of it’s normal length, or your holidays 100 times as long just by having a pill!

    • Photo: Yalda Javadi

      Yalda Javadi answered on 19 Mar 2013:

      There’s no drug that can actually change time… like the others have mentioned it can change your perception.

      But, in this day and age, if you wanted to go forward or back in time… the best way is to fly through the international date line. Check this out…. you could celebrate and countdown new years eve in Sydney, Australia….then fly to Las Vegas, USA and celebrate it there too…

      All you need is a private jet…. 😛

    • Photo: Jack Heal

      Jack Heal answered on 19 Mar 2013:

      Sadly not, as the others have said. Just how the person who takes the drug sees time!

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