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4th Dimension Explained...

... sort of. Carl Sagan demonstrates why its impossible for humans to imagine what the fourth spatial dimension means.

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15 Comments

Current View: 15 / Show all Comments

Red Heaven : LVL 38: VP 4.6: said:

Red Heaven

46 votes NegativePositive

90 days 18 hours ago...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesseract

Why is this not rated 5? This has to be the absolute pinnacle of real thought.

This isn`t just philosophy or theology guys. If some sort of Lovecraftian creature were to descend upon us to show us the height of our limitations and knowledge it would use the idea of a fourth dimension.

If you want deep stuff, this is literally it.

Venomousvole : LVL 39: VP 4.7: said:

Venomousvole

16 votes NegativePositive

90 days 15 hours ago...

Could time be a fourth physical dimension? A being that was to us as the apple was to the square would fit all criteria for a deity would it not? Making god a deliciously vague and undisproveable theory. Lovecrafts creations are reflections of purely human things, but are our imaginations limited to the same dimensions we are? Given the scope of our perception, we are more burdened with responsibility that ever before.

Drederick Tatum : LVL 48: VP 5: said:

Drederick Tatum

Hidden (Show Comment) -54 votes

90 days 12 hours ago...

He lost me at "no height". No height equals non-existence. If you take away any of the 3 dimensions from an object, there is no object.

amnesiac : LVL 37: VP 4.5: said:

amnesiac

5 votes NegativePositive

90 days 12 hours ago...

Another good explanation here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ca4miMMaCE

We only see the cross-section of 4-dimensional (3 spatial + time) objects. Like the flatlnaders who can only see "slices" of the apple, we only see slices of a 4-dim object.

anoniem : LVL 34: VP 4.2: said:

anoniem

Hidden (Show Comment) -40 votes

90 days 10 hours ago...

rofl @ Red Heaven calling this "the absolute pinnacle of real thought"

ah.. thanks for the laugh

and yes, time is a dimension too; or at least seems to be.
nobody can say for sure yet whether it`s linear or cyclical though.

cha0tic : LVL 1: VP 1: said:

cha0tic

2 votes NegativePositive

90 days 8 hours ago...

^^^^ Time, as we know it, is an abstract concept. There really is no way to explain it other than as keeping a sequence of events that have already happened. There are different interpretations/perspectives of time, philosophical and scientific.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time

Alot of the time you`ll hear about time being the 4th dimension, which is somewhat true, time is considered a dimension, but it is not a physical dimension. You may have heard your surroundings refered to as 3+1 dimensions (3 physical + 1 time). However, time hardly becomes the 4th dimension when you get into stuff like string theory, which states that we live in a 10+1 dimensional universe (10 physical + 1 time).

To blow your mind away: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory

tito_valasques : LVL 33: VP 4.2: said:

tito_valasques

17 votes NegativePositive

90 days 4 hours ago...

Oh thank you great ANONIEM for gracing us with your flawless presence. We are all but lowly worms in comparison to your gigantic intellect. :|

Gusthebus : LVL 31: VP 4: said:

Gusthebus

3 votes NegativePositive

90 days 3 hours ago...

I miss Sagan...

Drederick is actually making a good point. In physical space, how can physical objects reside exclusively in 2-dimensional space?

Then again, maybe there`s some 4-dimensional creature doubting the existence of objects that exist only in 3 dimensions...

spiked punch : LVL 41: VP 4.9: said:

spiked punch

Hidden (Show Comment) -20 votes

90 days 3 hours ago...

It`s a trick. Get an axe. Kill it.

I got your pheser-fucking-erection-blah-blah-blah right here.

libertarianriots : LVL 35: VP 4.3: said:

libertarianriots

1 votes NegativePositive

90 days 2 hours ago...

@venomousvole
time is in most cases considered a dimension, but what this video mentions is the 4th `spatial` dimension. The way I like to think of it is that a dimension is something in which you can have a coordinate. In our 4d system there are four coordinates:longitude, latitude, altitude, and the date. Other more complex dimensions used to explain the existence of subatomic particles include alternate realities, alternate universes in our reality, and the collection of all possible combinations of events.

vee445 : LVL 37: VP 4.5: said:

vee445

6 votes NegativePositive

90 days 1 hour ago...

"In physical space, how can physical objects reside exclusively in 2-dimensional space?"

Well you can`t have something exist exclusively in a single dimension. For example, we can observe 3-dimensions and you can say we live in the 3rd dimension, but we also exist in 1-dimension, 2-dimension, and if you believe in string theory up to 11-dimensions. We just can`t see past three. That doesn`t mean we don`t exist in the other ones though, it`s just a limitations on our perceptions.

So in other words Drederick missed the part where flatland is a metaphor and not an actual place.

"In mathematics you don`t understand things. You just get used to them."

Cahu : LVL 39: VP 4.7: said:

Cahu

6 votes NegativePositive

90 days ago...

When Aristotle described man as incapable of understanding all reality, he didn`t refer to it as "too dark", but as "too bright". As in, "there`s too much information"

lukeydukey05 : LVL 18: VP 2.7: said:

lukeydukey05

24 votes NegativePositive

89 days 23 hours ago...

Is it me or does he sound like one of the agents from The Matrix... oh what was his name?... Agent Smith was it?

Enigma90 : LVL 25: VP 3.4: said:

Enigma90

1 votes NegativePositive

89 days 23 hours ago...

WWhhooaa?!?! Videos like these that question reality, and explain the 4th dimension etc. are mind blowing.

This is some pretty interesting thought. I would love for a hypercube to show me the 4th dimension as the apple did to the square.

Feruco : LVL 14: VP 2.3: said:

Feruco

9 votes NegativePositive

89 days 23 hours ago...

YES LUKEY you beat me to it.

You are a flat square, Mr. Anderson...

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