# Reaction time / Action Speed



## Ray McCarthy (May 12, 2016)

We discussed this recently and how for humans unconscious reaction time is far faster than conscious. The Gunfighter dilemma.

Are snakes the fastest creatures?
Is it speed, action only, or what is their reaction time?
Almost all snakes have the same, mindboggling superpower

Though a strike is very fast, that doesn't actually mean a fast reaction time.


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## J Riff (May 12, 2016)

We watched a BBC Earth show recently - and a monkey demonstrated virtually impossible speed, recognizing a number sequence that was only shown for part of a second. Far beyond human ability. Animals are making a big comeback, and should probably be in office before it's over. )


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## Ray McCarthy (May 12, 2016)

J Riff said:


> recognizing a number sequence that was only shown for part of a second


Or recognising a pattern?
Not remotely the same thing. I'm suspecting monkeys are not much better at arithmetic than cats and can't really learn to read.


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## J Riff (May 12, 2016)

One through twelve... astounding. Amazing. The best show on. The sheep that write out E=MC2, the monkey that uses symbols to talk. It talks about the past, where it wants to go today... incredible. Everyone should watch it. Elephant logic, whale wisdom


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## tinkerdan (May 12, 2016)

I know some people who perform certain tasks better and faster when they don't think about it and often flub up when you draw their attention to it.

The snakes sound fascinating when looked at this way and maybe its a survival autonomic thing. . Kill quicker or starve for another year.

As to the monkeys I wonder if they trained them to 01134 and then displayed hEllO upside down and backwards, if they would respond appropriately to the pattern.


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## J Riff (May 13, 2016)

Oh no... it's not humanely possible to see 12 numbers for part of a second then tap out the pattern. Yet this hairy guy does it time after time. Imagine how many bingo cards he could play at once.


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## Lew Rockwell Fan (May 14, 2016)

J Riff said:


> We watched a BBC Earth show recently - and a monkey demonstrated virtually impossible speed, recognizing a number sequence that was only shown for part of a second. Far beyond human ability. Animals are making a big comeback, and should probably be in office before it's over. )


I'd like to see that. Can you give me some search strings? The name of the show at least? Maybe it is on Youtube. Or names of the people doing the experiments? With that I could pr'ly find abstracts at least.


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## Ray McCarthy (May 14, 2016)

Anyway, what I can't find out about the snake strike speed:
The article is mentioning the ACTION time, the time time strike. The article does say what the time taken to react, the reaction time to start a strike.


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## Lew Rockwell Fan (May 14, 2016)

Yeah, snakes may move fast, but how do you know when they DECIDED to move? Anyway, they got nuthin on fleas.


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## J Riff (May 14, 2016)

Sparrows mighty quick too... I'm watching them now, and they beat the Pigeons/Gulls to every morsel. Try, just try to catc`h one of those little lizards on a hot day in New Mexico - u can't do it. Any dog could evade an entire football team for a touchdown every time. And squirrel speed, well just forget it... ask a cat if you don't believe me.


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## Lew Rockwell Fan (May 14, 2016)

My cat can whip your squirel.


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## J Riff (May 14, 2016)

The average squirrel can wait for a cat to strike, do a backflip over it and be sitting on the fence larfing before it can turn around. Wild aminals are fast little buggers, all of them, and we are like giant slo-mo replays, really dumb slow beasts, we are, even sprinters and pingpong champions.


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## Mirannan (May 15, 2016)

J Riff said:


> The average squirrel can wait for a cat to strike, do a backflip over it and be sitting on the fence larfing before it can turn around. Wild aminals are fast little buggers, all of them, and we are like giant slo-mo replays, really dumb slow beasts, we are, even sprinters and pingpong champions.



Indeed. We are also very weak for our size. But on the other hand, we seem to have some compensating advantages. Humans (at least fit ones - certainly not me and probably very few Westerners) have much greater endurance than just about any other animal except maybe the dog family. We also have much better adaptation ability to changes in weather, really good eyesight, are just about the only animal that can handle jet lag - and humans are also immensely better at throwing things accurately than other animals, even those that have the equipment (like chimps, for example).


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## J Riff (May 15, 2016)

Oh we are tough. Meanwhile, a scorpion can last days underwater, go without food and water for years, and is still glow-in-the-dark as a billion year-old fossil. Gorillas can throw, they just need training, spring training in Florida for ex. to work on their curveball. If humans are so fast and endurant why do we need buses?


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## Stephen Palmer (May 16, 2016)

It's all to do with the rate of mental modelling of real-world events. Humans do comparatively few per second (iirc 12) whereas pigeons it's 20 times that, or was it flies... anyway, it was all beautifully explained on QI. Google it!


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## Lew Rockwell Fan (May 16, 2016)

Mirannan said:


> have much greater endurance than just about any other animal except maybe the dog family.


better than camels? or those birds that fly incredible distances over oceans without food or water??



Mirannan said:


> really good eyesight


LOL. Speak for yourself. I have great eyesight. Compared to an oyster.


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