# The felt present

The present we feel has some width. William James called it the specious present, a short stretch of a few seconds in which we hear a phrase of music or a spoken sentence as one thing. It is where memory, expectation and attention meet.

Connects to:
- [Time](https://mapideas.org/i/time)
- [Rhythm and polyrhythm](https://mapideas.org/i/mu_rhythm)
- [Memory and the past](https://mapideas.org/i/ti_memory)
- [What is a moment?](https://mapideas.org/i/q_time_moment)
- [Is there a shared now?](https://mapideas.org/i/q_time_now)
- [Does time flow?](https://mapideas.org/i/q_time_flow)
- [Why does time speed up as we age?](https://mapideas.org/i/q_time_age)
- [Why do some rhythms feel right?](https://mapideas.org/i/q_mu_rhythm)
- [How does a chord make us feel?](https://mapideas.org/i/q_mu_feel)
- [Can we feel deep time?](https://mapideas.org/i/q_x_feel_deep)

Sources:
- [Wikipedia: Specious present](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specious_present)
- [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Time](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/time/)

Source: https://mapideas.org/i/ti_present · open on the map: https://mapideas.org/#ti_present