When I was about seven years old I was playing an imagination game which gradually became unusually vivid and complex. In the fantasy I was delivering some kind of technical presentation depicting what looked like electron microscope images of small tube structures and I kept using the word ‘microhydraulics’ in my speech.
After a long time I snapped out of the fantasy and just sort of stood transfixed, introspecting on what I had just experienced. I realized it was far more immersive than my typical fantasies, even at the time, and I had the distinct sense that a lot of time had passed since I was actually aware of my surroundings. Further, I did not typically fantasize about giving technical presentations, I didn’t know what the word ‘microhydraulics’ meant and I probably had never seen an image from an electron microscope..
Decades later I have earned my PhD in a topic concerning modeling of fluid flow through micro- and nanoscopic media. I have given many technical presentations on the topic. Many of these technical presentations have included SEM images of such microscale flow features. Occasionally I will use the word “microhydraulics” in these talks, even though it is not really proper technical jargon … because no matter how old I get I can’t shake the intuition that I was seeing my future in that childhood game.
Of course, it is a heck of a lot more likely that this weird childhood experience subtly affected my interests over the course of my life and led me to eventually study the field that I studied. However, if you were to actually look at my life story, it would look a lot more like a series of random coincidences which effectively chose my research area for me, so at this point I like to just playfully pretend that what I experienced was a glitch in the matrix.
I don’t know; probably not. You think I edited the memory through repeated recall, and I admit this is pretty likely, although of course from my subjective view the memory does seem to have changed.
I do feel fairly certain that “microhydraulics” was the word. I had probably heard the words “micro” and “hydraulics” and my parents watched a lot of Star Trek so jamming together sciencey words to generate meaningless compound words was something I did frequently anyway.
Occasionally I will use the word “microhydraulics” in these talks, even though it is not really proper technical jargon … because no matter how old I get I can’t shake the intuition that I was seeing my future in that childhood game.
it is a heck of a lot more likely that this weird childhood experience subtly affected my interests over the course of my life and led me to eventually study the field that I studied.
Or that you overheard (or otherwise encountered) something about microhydraulics, which caused both your fantasy and your PhD choice.
When I was about seven years old I was playing an imagination game which gradually became unusually vivid and complex. In the fantasy I was delivering some kind of technical presentation depicting what looked like electron microscope images of small tube structures and I kept using the word ‘microhydraulics’ in my speech.
After a long time I snapped out of the fantasy and just sort of stood transfixed, introspecting on what I had just experienced. I realized it was far more immersive than my typical fantasies, even at the time, and I had the distinct sense that a lot of time had passed since I was actually aware of my surroundings. Further, I did not typically fantasize about giving technical presentations, I didn’t know what the word ‘microhydraulics’ meant and I probably had never seen an image from an electron microscope..
Decades later I have earned my PhD in a topic concerning modeling of fluid flow through micro- and nanoscopic media. I have given many technical presentations on the topic. Many of these technical presentations have included SEM images of such microscale flow features. Occasionally I will use the word “microhydraulics” in these talks, even though it is not really proper technical jargon … because no matter how old I get I can’t shake the intuition that I was seeing my future in that childhood game.
Of course, it is a heck of a lot more likely that this weird childhood experience subtly affected my interests over the course of my life and led me to eventually study the field that I studied. However, if you were to actually look at my life story, it would look a lot more like a series of random coincidences which effectively chose my research area for me, so at this point I like to just playfully pretend that what I experienced was a glitch in the matrix.
Did you record the ‘microhydraulics’ part in writing, or somewhere else on fixed media, before you became a PhD?
I don’t know; probably not. You think I edited the memory through repeated recall, and I admit this is pretty likely, although of course from my subjective view the memory does seem to have changed.
I do feel fairly certain that “microhydraulics” was the word. I had probably heard the words “micro” and “hydraulics” and my parents watched a lot of Star Trek so jamming together sciencey words to generate meaningless compound words was something I did frequently anyway.
Is the word ‘microhydraulics’ actually used by experts? Your dream seems like a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Didn’t they already admit this in the post?
Edit: I misread the post. Ignore my comment.
Or that you overheard (or otherwise encountered) something about microhydraulics, which caused both your fantasy and your PhD choice.