Although this blog post seemingly has nothing to do with life coaching the concept of intrinsic speed (is) has been on my mind for many years. (It is fair to say that this concept may already exists in science, if not, than I am the first to propose the concept.) However, nested in all this science I believe there is a crucial life lesson.
Fasten your seat belts.
Speed – A Matter of Perception.
We know Usain Bolt can run a staggering 27 mph and a cheetah can run an amazing 60 mph. In fact, scientists have probably documented the speeds of everything that moves.
Speed (or velocity) is based on the distance traveled during a specific time in our perception.
What if speed was calculated by the perspective of the object moving?
Killing a Fly.
There is no doubt that flies are super fast and killing them without a swatter is nearly impossible. In reality, however, the common housefly moves at a pokey 5 mph — a brisk walking pace.
It seems the concept of speedy or fast can be subjective, right?
A New Perception – Intrinsic Speed.
In physics speed or velocity (v) is calculated as the distance (d) an object travels over time (t), like miles per hour and the formula is v = d / t
According to me, the way to calculate intrinsic speed (is) is by counting the number of times a spherical object (so) moves in a set amount of time (t) or :
is = so / t
Using the picture as an example, here’s how I did the math:
Calculate the (Approximate) Volume: I approximated the object’s volume by estimating the length, width, and height : V = L x W x H
The object in our example is a 6′ tall man and the volume equates to 4.5 cubic feet.
Convert to Spherical Volume: Next I converted the cubical volume to the spherical volume with an online calculator.
The formula for the volume of a sphere is V = 4/3πr3 — I solved for the radius (r) which is 1 foot.
Since the radius (r) is half the diameter our “man-ball” equates to having a 2′ diameter.
Find & Convert Speed: The speed of a running man varies considerably so I settled on a 10-minute mile which equates to 6 mph.
Since there are 5280 feet in a mile then 6 miles equals 31,680 feet – the distance covered running for an hour at 6 mph.
Next, I divided 31,680 by 60 minutes and again by 60 seconds resulting in 8.8 or approximately 9 ft/sec — which is nearly the same at 6 mph.
Calculate Intrinsic Speed: The “man-ball” has a diameter of 2′ and runs 9′ in one second.
By dividing distance (9) by the diameter (2) you get — 4.5 so/s — the number of units the “man-ball” travels in 1 second. (Remember, so is the abbreviation for spherical objects.)
To help understand where we fit in compared with other moving things in nature I crunched some numbers for you:
Human Walking : 2.5 so/second
Human Running : 4.5 so/second
Cheetah : 42 so/second
House Cat : 44 so/second
Peregrine Falcon : 90 so/second
Worker Honey Bee : 785 so/second
Earth : 8.5 so/hour
It is fascinating to note that a cheetah runs three times as fat as domestic house cat but based on intrinsic speed the cat is actually faster!
Imagine running 10 times faster like a cat? We would be running at 60 mph!
I think the best way to simulate the coolness of intrinsic speed is by strapping a GoPro to the head of hunting cheetah and transmitting live feed directly to a VR helmet.
What really blows my mind is the brain processing speed of flying insects like the honey bee as they fly phenomenally fast.
Life Coach Lesson: Context
The take-away lesson or idea that I get from this odd scientific exploration is there are two ways to observing an experience — from the viewpoint of the observer and the viewpoint of the observee. Both observations can be radically different but still plausable.
Even more, it’s important to understand that empirical science is not law and that there are multiple ways to look at a phenomena.
Empirical science can state 99.5% of men standing at a toilet will urinate but it’s the context that tells us why the men are there in the first place.
Context is everything for understanding anything.
Yitzhak Sasson 