# How fast is "the speed of thought?"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-is-the-speed-of-thought/175045>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 13, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-is-the-speed-of-thought/175045 "2003-05-13T20:41:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![mooka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@mooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mooka)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-is-the-speed-of-thought/175045/21 "2003-05-14T12:54:35Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mangetout \*  
> \*\*The only person I have heard asserting that the speed of thought is instantaneous(or at least faster than c) would be ‘Dr’ Kent [Hovind](http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_735146.html?menu=), who has not exactly proven himself reliable on matters of science. \*\*

That link leads to a news story about a car crash?

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-is-the-speed-of-thought/175045/22 "2003-05-14T13:03:52Z")

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Oops. thank you for pointing that out (I must have pasted without first copying) - the correct link is [here](http://www.geocities.com/kenthovind/) and the quote in question is about two-thirds of the way down the page.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-is-the-speed-of-thought/175045/23 "2003-05-14T13:06:07Z")

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Ack! [third](http://www.geocities.com/kenthovind/quotes/science.htm) time lucky; the link in my post above only takes you to the parent frame.

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**Author:** ![jbird3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aeb1de/32.png) [@jbird3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbird3000)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-is-the-speed-of-thought/175045/24 "2003-05-14T16:34:26Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mangetout \*  
> \*\*Is iconic memory responsible for the odd perceptual effect of a lengthened second when first looking at the moving second-hand (or digits) of a clock? - sort of like the buffer filling up or something? \*\*

I doubt it. I figure that’s because when you just look at a clock, it takes on average 0.5 seconds for the second hand to tick, so you then expect it to about that much time. When you look just after it ticked, it will take almost a whole second before it ticks again, so it seems longer.

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