QI | When Is The Present?

23 November: On this day in 1963, the first episode of ‘Doctor Who’ was broadcast.
Follow QI on Twitter ▶ / qikipedia
Follow QI on Facebook ▶ / officialqi
Follow QI on Instagram ▶ / theqielves
Subscribe on KZbin ▶ / theqielves
For more visit ▶ qi.com
This clip is from QI Series I, Episode 07, 'Incomprehensible' with Stephen Fry, Alan Davies, Prof. Brian Cox, Ross Noble and Sue Perkins.

[@eoghan.5003]

The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.

[@johnmc3862]

Now, now.

[@MuchWhittering]

The past, present and future have walked, are walking, and will walk into a bar. It was, is and will be tense.

[@2bobaf]

Now is not that time for that type of joke, thank you.

[@Bobogoobo]

People are going to keep making this joke. Maybe even on this video. It will have had been being tense.

[@somegirl558]

Lol

[@domroutley2814]

as a programmer. no time actually exists before 1st January 1970

[@mattlm64]

Unless you have a signed integer.

[@NTMDTR205605]

Not so sure Enigma was not the advent of programming.

[@HaloInverse]

What? Surely not. There was lots of time before that date - for example, 20th January 2038.

[@greyjackal]

That'll be 1st January 1970 again

[@marti5420]

Dom Routley i always have to laugh when people say they're over 70.... fucking liers.

[@StargateUnending]

Brian thinking at the start: '..Does he want the physics answer..?'

[@harryemmott8597]

And then he sort of sidesteps in and thinks "let's give him the physics answer."

[@KevTheImpaler]

You can't bring a physicist on the show and not expect him to speak up on a question like that. He wouldn't be earning his appearance fee.

[@MisterItchy]

Nah ... he was always gonna give the physics answer.

[@brucecharlie8613]

More like does he want a bullshit answer

[@Falkano]

you just gotta love this man

[@Kratatch]

I love when Brian Cox is on shows like these, all the comedians never really know what to do with him and his answers are always very interesting.

[@AlanosaurusRex]

Nobody wants to be caught with their smarty pants around their ankles.

[@rabato1064]

*always quite interested.

[@lucromel]

Every time he says something they're all thinking, "Is that a joke I don't understand, or a fact I don't understand?"

[@dugowt9243]

I believe you mean "quite interesting".

[@stevevasta]

Alan's wide-eyed admiration is striking.

[@Dug6666666]

A perfect example of the unification of science and comedy. This show is a treasure.

[@Tao_Tology]

You should try Cox's podcast The Infinite Monkey Cage.

[@joep4224]

Brian Cox and Stephen Fry are an amazing combination.

[@somegirl558]

They are Quite Interresting. 😁

[@Bobby.Kristensen]

Stephen Fry do like Cox *a lot*.

[@dannycheesums]

The first law of thermodynamics is you do not talk about thermodynamics

[@Snaakie83]

Hm, that strangely makes me think of a bar of soap.

[@NitinYadav-fy9bb]

@@Snaakie83 Made from human fat?

[@rightsarentwrong5635]

2nd law is thermodynamics disproves the concept of space.

[@swirvinbirds1971]

@@rightsarentwrong5635 There is proof the 2nd law of thermodynamics is broken. www.newscientist.com/article/dn2572-second-law-of-thermodynamics-broken/

[@HRRRRRDRRRRR]

Can do, I will gladly never talk about thermodynamics ever again.

[@hermanfeyen191]

The definition of 'present' in the words of Ambrose Bierce: "That part of eternity dividing the domain of disappointment from the realm of hope." (The Devil's Dictionary)

[@herbertvonzinderneuf8547]

I rather like that definition.

[@MrAudienceMember2662015]

So I’m stuck in the past? Is that it?

[@alansmithee419]

The Stormlight Archive has made me immediately untrusting of anyone called "Ambrose."

[@AthelstanEngland]

@@MrAudienceMember2662015 LOL! Brilliant...

[@vikj1255]

@@MrAudienceMember2662015 of course. Your comment was 6 months ago. lol

[@lindagodichiabois2768]

Just love the calmness of Brian's intellect !

[@marklandgraf7667]

A Brian Cox episode is always a nice present.

[@pun-isher1501]

Talking about entropy, it's not what used to be.

[@DavidOfWhitehills]

Truth is humour, humour is truth. That joke about entropy decays with each telling of it. Therefore entropy is subject to entropy.

[@ilikethisnamebetter]

I fell apart when I read that.

[@zapkvr]

Face it, it never really was.

[@corylusbluefox9482]

A bit like nostalgia in that way.

[@twinostrich8045]

Acharacle & Achiltibuie By saying "I summon entropy," you create entropy. Behold the power!

[@logandarklighter]

"What the Hell am I lookin’ at? When does this happen in the movie?" "Now. Whatever you’re looking at now, is happening now." "Well, what happened to then?" "We just passed it." "When?" "Just now." "Well, go back to then." "We can’t." "Why not?" "We already passed it." "When will then be now?" "Soon."

[@kaliyuga1476]

?

[@OMGUKILLKENNY2]

@@kaliyuga1476 Space Balls. Classic Star Wars parody movie that if you haven't seen I recommend.

[@kaliyuga1476]

@@OMGUKILLKENNY2 ohhh yeah, I have already watched it

[@ejanocrowsnatcher6785]

Loved that part of the movie

[@28russ]

But who's on first then?? haha

[@fleuelise1852]

I've learned more from this show than all my years in school

[@MartinMcMartin]

Bloody hard to look bright when Prof Cox is sitting there with you!

[@zbr76]

If by 'there with you' you mean 'on that side of the table', then Sue is actually very bright as well and a comedy genius. But if you mean in general, well... definitely. Brian Cox's spot on the panel almost makes up for Ross Noble's stain-on-humanity presence.

[@callumsmith7464]

being in a room with stephen fry and brian cox makes most people look like cavemen

[@CaptChrispy]

Well he couldn't understand the simple concept of archeologists.

[@chrism7574]

Based on this video alone, not really, everything they mentioned is covered within 2 years of an undergraduate engineering degree. As a Junior, I've taken 3 courses covering special and general relativity's affect on moving bodies and I'm just an Electrical Engineering major.

[@Bobstew68]

Should go without saying, but he didn't really catch the archaeologists out there. Seemed like a pretty silly tangent.

[@wordreet]

The present is at xmas and birthdays innit?

[@MrGregorychant]

*klaxon suddenly blares on screen*

[@wordreet]

Absolutely!

[@eiypo]

I was hoping someone would say that.

[@wordreet]

I'm pretty sure that the word 'oxymoron' would quite happily switch it's meaning to my original comment type of answer. . Hmm. Does oxymoron even need punctuationalized promotion? No, prolly not.

[@johnjohntv1195]

wordreet Bruh, "punctuationalized" isn't a word, lmao. The word you were looking for is 'punctuated' 😉

[@thegriffin88]

Still remember 1950. I may have changed my major but it's good to know those archeo classes didn't go to waste. Still love history.

[@coloneljak42_]

"When is the present?" Right no- damn it! Now it's the past!

[@urorazbojnik5678]

Wouldn't it be funny if someone just started yelling now now now now now now

[@TheWeepingDalek]

3 2 1 now

[@kisbie]

I often think of that scene in One Foot in the Grave where Victor lectures Margaret on how "nothing actually exists, if you think about it".

[@ibbi30]

"Wait for it, wait for it.... Now!".

[@kaktotak8267]

wait for it... now! fuck! we missed it

[@joelmacha2104]

"When is the present?" "Now. Now. Now. Now."

[@DangerousDerp]

Actually, what you experience as now is not the present, as it takes time for the neurons in your brain to get the information. I do not remember how long though :P

[@sharona1981]

Stephen's shirt and tie combo here are absolutely gorgeous.

[@poptacular6625]

I expected the Klaxon to go off when Stephen said “now”.

[@athostavares85]

Now! no.. Now! no.. Now...

[@EricGarber]

I can imagine Bill Bailey saying this.

[@HarryS77]

It's like trying to squish a fly between your hands and opening them only to discover that you've caught nothing, and so you try again and again, each time convinced you've caught it and each time having to watch it weave through the facile air unharmed. You get more and more frustrated and fed up, until finally, finally you obliterate it between your palms, look at the mushed insides and shattered wings and wonder why you wanted this in the first place.

[@q-tuber7034]

Spaceballs

[@roninsdog261]

Wow! So many people in comments getting all worked up about what people said in the past about the present. It doesn't bode well for the future.

[@DrRiq]

But what do the past's people say about the future now?

[@pushthetempo2]

Great comeback from Brian 😄

[@pauljewel6988]

When you look at a star you are seeing it light years ago just as when you are looking at a person in front of you you are seeing them in the past( no matter how short of a time it is) so your present is expanding all around you

[@IndigoIndustrial]

When you see the red dot of Mars in the night's sky it is electromagnetic radiation that has exited the sun, travelled to the surface of Mars and the red part of that is reflected back to Earth and hits you directly in the pupil of your eye.

[@mikusguitarius]

I admit: I was slightly distracted by the mic cable sellotaped to Sue's sweater...

[@dusthat]

TIme flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

[@davidjames4521]

Wouldn't that make them cannibals?

[@MandatoryHandle]

@@davidjames4521 Not necessarily, for that to be the case you'd need to first assume that all fruit is the same species (as they're FRUIT flies, not banana flies). Now, you could make the argument that evolutionarily, all things are distantly related, but hey, humans aren't cannibals for eating other hominids, so believe we can rule that one out. Fruit flies could well be entirely made out of fruit, AND still consume bananas, without it being cannibalism

[@davidjames4521]

@@MandatoryHandle fair enough, but how about if you ate a fruit bat, would that make you a cannibal?😎

[@richardwood6222]

Tits like melons

[@oz_jones]

David James no because fruit bat isn't a human

[@helipeek2736]

Carbon dating, the precursor to Tinder.

[@johnmc3862]

@@thomasandersen6719 Funny!

[@xaigoart]

You mean the precursor to Cinder...

[@benjy6358]

good one mate !

[@helipeek2736]

@@xaigoartor Cinder- earlier

[@Gogmode93]

I miss British tv when it was good like this

[@thememaster7]

Stephen: Archaeologists say 1st 1950 is the present. Brian: So you have chosen death.

[@BYERE]

"When is the present?" On your birthday.

[@BigyetiTechnologies]

1:33 - Stephen there trying not to let on that he's massively outgunned by Brian.

[@michaellayard5045]

He was just trying to express it in simple terms for the audience, not trying to show up brian

[@eightw5783]

Dr Cox being one of very few people who possibly could and only in certain subjects.

[@sb50cal9]

Drink whenever Brian says the words 'relative' and 'theory'

[@Near_Void]

*dies of kidney failure*

[@yaw613thewonder8]

Go Stephen is so excited it's somewhat adorable

[@ethanh6370]

As they say, "There's no time like the present."

[@Telstar62a]

And no present like a tie.

[@whiteandblackzebra7005]

My granfather was born in Oldham. He currently resides at Rookwood, Sydney. Have a nice day and ciao for now

[@hamiltongitau4979]

Everyone leave i just want to listen to Stephen fry and Brian cox.

[@1982bored]

Especially Alan bloody Davies.

[@hamiltongitau4979]

@@1982bored 😅😅, a jester is needed Jimmy Carr on the other hand absolute drivel.

[@Henryguitar95]

love this show

[@wordsmith451]

I knew this. Glad to know Mr. Fry would be impressed :D

[@Willam_J]

I think that Brian Cox lives for moments like this. 😃

[@Bobstew68]

I thought the answer was going to be along the lines of "half a second ago" because it takes some time to process sensory information, so we're always a little bit behind.

[@ThePianoluke]

Triggerfisk wouldn’t it be half a second in the perceived future?

[@seontonppa]

@Britannia doubt, do you have any idea of the scale of the number you just brought up?

[@MrAudienceMember2662015]

As we beings bumble about, time marches on. It’s why, when the traffic light changes, some people dawdle at the green light while others run the red.

[@brokenwave6125]

You got that backwards

[@brokenwave6125]

If it takes us a half a second to process reality then that means "the present" is half a second ahead of us...not behind.

[@MrZashiratori]

*Spaceballs: When will then be now?* *That is the entire explanation you need to know...*

[@dansaunders1655]

Soon, brother. Soon

[@youngdolo8]

"What happened then?" *"We just passed it."* "When?!" *"Just now."*

[@CloudsGirl7]

Here I was thinking about how slow our reaction times are, leaving us always behind by, what, milliseconds? In that sense, we really are living in the past.

[@christopheromahony5526]

The best thing about this clip is not just that it's great, it's that the comments section is just as delicious.

[@ffrreeddyy123456]

I was just thinking about this video!

[@cf8296]

It's like the question on whether you can be here or there, fore by the time you get there, there becomes here so you can never be there only here, but are any of us truly here

[@RubelliteFae]

Be. Here. Now.

[@TheLtGo]

The now/present that observe actually happened about 80 milliseconds ago. Something happened, the body observes it, the brain then interprets it as happening now. This process takes about 80 milliseconds because of nerve signals and such.

[@abacadian]

From a psychology perspective, it's 6 seconds into the future. Because it takes that long for you to process anything, what you perceive as 'now' internally, is 6 seconds into the past.

[@jeffxanders3990]

He got it backwards. There's nothing but now 😊

[@blackbird5634]

"Independent of space and time, the messenger becomes the message." -The Indian Runner.

[@coldude2559]

Wow! Mind blowing!

[@wordreet]

I've never thought of relationships that way before. So, on average, with one 5 year and one six year, I did pretty well-ish.

[@ricmac954]

"Time comes from the future, which does not yet exist, into the present, which has no duration, and goes into the past, which has ceased to exist".

[@doubtingthomas6146]

Love the nerd flirting going on at the end

[@viewwwwer]

For me the present is usually received on Christmas day and on my birthday.

[@grantmalone]

now, adverb • at the present time or moment: _what are you doing now?_ • at the time directly following the present moment: _if we leave now, we can be home by ten_ • (in a narrative or account of past events) at the time spoken of or referred to: _it had happened three times now_ So "now" refers to the present... or the future... or the past. Hope that clears things up :)

[@Oceanmachine27]

I wanted Sue Perkins to be the Doctor, damn it.

[@TheMultiGamerOfficial]

It's not too late.

[@TehKhronicler]

One now, another now, wherever you are, it will be here and now. Only one moment at a time.

[@pietskiet8763]

When telling a happening , we can stop time at anytime in the "story" , when ever we want , hence expanding time , or at leasst slowing it down enough , for almost everyone to catch up !?

[@Yourmomma568]

was nice to hear a smart panel for once. proves you can be smart and funny.

[@NuXta]

What a lovely suit.

[@greenredblue]

I really wanted someone to trick Fry into eating a buzzer by asking, "are you asking when 'now' is?"

[@colinp2238]

Brian Cox is very intelligent and witty.

[@ModeratelyAmused]

I prefer to think of it as, time does not exist in a sense like matter. Time is a measurement like width, length and depth. If humans didn't create time, the world would still exist. In this sense, there is no past or future, there is only change.

[@dolceanstar]

To be present and have presence is a present divine.

[@bigman25plus25]

I notice people adjust their sitting position when they've made themselves uncomfortable

[@TheMultiGamerOfficial]

No shit, that's what most people do. If you don't like how you're sitting, of course you're gonna change it to be more comfortable.

[@dashiellgillingham4579]

Time is movement in a direction where you never stop falling because there is nothing to land on, as everything else is falling at the same time. You travel in this direction at the speed of light unless some force starts moving you in any other direction; this is what the speed of light is: the minimum angle a thing can be traveling in any direction, which is 0 degrees, and why time goes funky when you speed up; you actually travel through time slower the faster you go, and it is impossible to ‘catch up,’ you just are five seconds behind where you would have been if you’d never moved.

[@thomassmith8140]

Only Brain can turn a question about archeology is to a discussion of the cosmos

[@probablyelvyorsomething9383]

We need more Brian Cox on this show

[@rightsarentwrong5635]

You do realise he is stumped by the flat earthers and can’t even answer how we have gas pressure without a container? The man is a pseudoscientist and runs from real science.

[@realnoahsimpson]

who else was not sufficiently prepared for Brian Cox just dropping the bombshell that ‘there’s no such thing as the present’?

[@RB747domme]

I love the bit of video that they ended it on. I mean the exact bit of the video, that last quarter of a second or so. It just has this dead, "Huuh." By somebody on the panel and in the audience simultaneously. Followed by nothing.

[@jb888888888]

According to Series K episode 11 "Keeps" the present is 70 milliseconds ago.

[@PreKGraduate]

I thought it was after the cake?

[@pauljewel6988]

Three things I would like to know 1 How big of a iron dust cloud coalescing, would it take to make say a railroad spike ? 2 why do they always show the solar system in the flat instead of a more realistic representation of a helix where the planets are following the sun around the galaxy ? 3 in an ever expanding universe, where space between everything is getting larger(even molecules) , could I be as big as a mountain was a short time ago ? 3a When considering time travel should we be concerned about the size we might be when arriving

[@esquilax5563]

1. A what? 2. For most such diagrams, the motion of the solar system through the galaxy isn't important. Just as the motion of the galaxy through the local group is important. You have to make some arbitrary choice of reference frame. 3. The space between molecules isn't actually expanding. Only the space between distant galaxies

[@SpeedyCM]

The correct answer to the question "when is the present?" is always.

[@jessicalee333]

It's not just archaeologists who think 1950 is "the present".

[@thedolphin5428]

Yep, there are some dinosauric politicians who do also.

[@TheJpf79]

The present is always a moment from now.

[@deadlydunc]

No, it's now. Not then, but now... well, now. missed it again...

[@BunneRabb]

Time is a measuring device to set up metrics for occurrences and rates of decay. You can no more travel through time than you can travel through a yardstick. We use it to gauge our mortality and relationships of events within the scope of it.

[@purplemonkeyelephant]

The present is every time you say "now"

[@ehombane]

This one I knew. I said, depend on what granularity are you looking. Recently I wondered if time has some sort of granularity, like atoms for matter. Looked it up, and found that time granularity is known, but not as I imagined it, it is about measuring time. So I answered, if we are talking about days as granularity, then the present is from past midnight till next midnight. If granularity is seconds then the present is fleeting, because till you accept my answer, my answer is already in the past. Implicit, geologic, the present started really long time ago. I did not knew when the archaeologic present started though ;)

[@almostfm]

And just to throw more cord-wood onto this fire, there's a different "present" that's used in astronomy for marking celestial coordinates-several of them, actually. Because of the Earth's precession, the coordinates of celestial objects change slightly, so an object's declination and right ascension (basically the celestial version of latitude and longitude) is listed for a particular "epoch". Right now we use epoch J2000.0, which was first used in...1984, so that meant that the present was 16 years in the future. Before that it was B1950.0 (or B1900.0 for some references). But constellation boundaries are still delineated by Epoch B1875.0.

[@RoninDave]

The present is a gift from now

[@TwistedSoul2002]

I want my present right now!

[@ellie2454]

Don't mind me, I'm just having an existential crisis

[@Truffle_Pup]

Professor Brian Cox coming out with the colllllld blooded facts lol

[@Tiax776]

On birthdays if you're lucky. Sometimes during Christmas as well.

[@matthewryan4844]

My present usually turns up on my birthday. Or Christmas

[@Telstar62a]

I need to learn Cox's response for the next time I'm late for work

[@wesmatron]

There is also an 'elsewhere' in physics.

[@enzyl6181]

“When is the present” Me: 25th of december

[@morganfisherart]

Blimey! That's my birthday! So I was born Now! I like that. Forever young! 👶

[@machelvet9594]

It never is. It was or it will be. Time flows and the dividing line between the future and the past is what we call "present". It has no dimension nor time on the timeline. It does not exist no matter how small of a time interval we choose, we will always be in the past or in the future. Language is imperfect. We describe something that does not exits but we do understand each other perfectly. When we talk we know what we mean and when we go into physics it's not there. Both are perfectly legitimate.

[@jasonleedham5678]

Stephen Fry, The brains at the heart of QI Brian Cox, hold my beer.....

[@Ranger1812]

I don't know why, cosmically, things can't happen at the same time.

[@wabbawastaken]

Sorry it's late, and I'm not up on the physics as I once was, but I think it's not so much "These two events cannot happen simultaneously" but more a case of "These two events are completely irrelevant to each other, so in observing both of them, it doesn't matter if one is before, after, or during the other"

[@ecc84]

The very second you think you are in the present it's already gone and moved on to the future.

[@biscuitsalive]

Anyone notice that was Perranporth beach in the photo?

[@teamatfort444]

question: how did they make the first ruler?

[@MicMovieStudios]

Would that I could have been one of Sue Perkins' past entropic relationships. (And before you start, yes, I know.)

[@kilroy987]

Whatever you call now - it's just anything you perceive with your senses requires distance to travel to get to you, and therefore everything you witness that way happened in the past.

[@malcolmcanning548]

Brian Cox. All actors and comedians.

[@Alex_Mitchell]

We live in the eternal present.

[@danzigvssartre]

Alex Mitchell My grandma lives in the eternal past.