Dimensions!

Hi! Thought I'd post about something which has had me thoroughly intrigued for a while.

I got to thinking about extra dimensions (how we live in a 3-D world and whatnot) and how the dimension we live in exists within the 4th dimension;time - and how that could exist in further dimensions.

Small explanation of my interpretation of dimensions here:
0-Dimensional objects would be nothing but a point; a co-ordinate with no substance.
1-Dimensional objects have length (x), effectively extending a 0-D point into a line with no y (width)-value.
2-D objects have the y co-ordinate added (allowing areas with no height to exist), and 3-D objects have z (Height) added.

I imagine time to be a line, like 1-D objects, which is constantly extending forward. In the 4th Dimension, our 3-D universe is constantly traveling along this line; except, I don't think it is traveling; instead our world exists throughout time - almost as if each time exists as a line of snapshots of the universe and that we exist at all the points in this line at once. Say, a millisecond in the future; the world is different from how it is now, but it already existed along that line before our consciousness reaches it. So my theory is that we exist at multiple times and that our consciousness exist as "pulses" along that line, meaning that we experience time as if we are traveling along it. Every moment exists at once,and that - as each moment exists - it is constantly being re-lived; which in my theory, would allow for time-travel (Just, somehow traveling back to a previous moment that exists or going into a moment that has yet to happen in our current "pulse").

Problem is, if we take time-traveling into consideration then we also have to think about the 5th dimension - that there are multiple strands of time - because, if you travel back then you alter the course of the past (Can't say what would happen if you were to travel forward in time) and thus create an alternate branch. Even without time travel, time should be constantly branching because of the millions of choices that are made every tiny unit of time that passes; if one thing happens over another, there is always the possibility that something else could have occurred. So; to me this would appear as a plane existing of the bazillions of branches coming off of the various realities and that, somewhere in this plane, there would be an original point from which would branch off the very first possibilities concerning the 3rd Dimension. So in theory, on this plane there would be points where the time has ended; that the point of creation could also contain the point at which time was not created and that time has ended at multiple other points as well.

Which leads into the 6th Dimension. I presume this would be probability, unless the 5th dimension is actually where time takes on a form similar to the third dimension; in which case the 5th dimension would actually be composed of multiple time-lines that did not branch off from each other, and that they were actually created separately and run on without branching, indicating that these are the "true" time-lines, which would indicate that the future is predetermined and that alternate universes exist without different methods of creation and... my head explodes at that point so I think I'll leave it there.

Anyway, just looking for your opinions on this.

P.S. Sorry if this is meant to be in the debates section rather than here, I wasn't sure of where to post it.
P.P.S. And to think I was supposed to be studying for Biology while I wrote this... *Sigh*

 

I just got mindfucked

 

Nah. It's not as bad as when you're told that you are just made up of tiny vibrations caused by strings and that the strings are made up of even tinier matter that is incomprehensible and there are 11 dimensions. Those dimensions are at the atomic level and are in little weird-ass shapes.

 

what...the...FU-

 

Don't stand next to the 4D horsey

http://vimeo.com/2429447

 

I'd argue against any dimension being that of probability. Every event involving what we know as chance is the meeting point of billions of factors that are already determined, meaning every action we take is predetermined if you can take into account all the physical, chemical and biological factors. Look up emergent behaviour, I find it hard to explain normally.

 

I wouldnt count probability as a dimension , more like a variable in the whole thing?

 

Read up on String Theory.

And I don't really know if there are more dimensions than what we have. I can't comprehend 11, let alone 256.

 

That was beautiful.

 

I'm really interested. But this
kind of English is to hard for me .

 

oh, string theory, its ok, i still prefare quantum fisics to explain what happens in the atomic level, it makes a little more sense to me. and yeah, there has been research in which show that there could be 11 dimensions but it is hard for us to perceive since we can only comprenhend 4 dimensions. there has been speculations that ghosts could be in some other dimension, therefore we can not see them but they are there. they can see us since they are capable of understanding more dimensions than us, but we cant see them

 

Yeah I think I kinda mindf**ked myself here... it was 3am when I wrote that so sorry for the bad grammar.

I just can't comprehend how our consciousness should technically exist at all the points in time at once, and yet we experience time as if we're constantly moving forward instead of living every moment all at the same... "time". What could possibly cause this?

But wouldn't every probability create a new branch even if it was extremely unlikely that we would choose to do something? Like in a game of chess; the most likely move I would make would be moving one of the centre pawns forward, but what if - for some inexplicable reason - I decided to move one of the edge pawns forward (without knowing some weird opening tactic). Or if the chess board suddenly decided to turn into a chicken - which is rather unlikely, but there is still the possibility of it happening.

If you've read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy the Improbability Drive would express this in the way I'm trying to: that even if something is unbelievably unlikely - I daresay impossible; it could still happen. And this would create an alternate reality. For every unexplored possibility in this reality, in another it could have happened even if nature would dictate that it could not.

I really wish that they could teach this stuff at AS-level, it's so much more mind-bendingly complex than projectiles or Newton's laws or any of the other topics (Can't wait 'til we start Quantum Physics though).

 

The OP's theory of time reminds me of Haruhi. Doesn't mean it adheres to accepted scientific theory, though, seeing as we lack a whimsical teenage god to somehow make it possible.

Anyway, your theory is too meta. Given that two successive instances of time clearly demonstrate continuity, it's impossible to perform experiments to determine if the universes they have really are distinct or if they're one and the same.

At the same time (see what I did there?), however, it's not meta enough. How is matter allocated to all these different space-times? In what dimension are these space-times separated? How then does consciousness (not just human or sentient, but animal as well) traverse the gap? What evidence is there for any this, and how does it compare with the evidence for other theories?

Although I accept determinism to an extent, I don't believe it extends so far as to become predeterminism. Even assuming the human will (which I believe to be free) is determined merely by physical processes as you suggest, quantum mechanics are genuinely random. Quantum events may adhere to statistical analysis, but predictions cannot be absolute.

String theory incorporates quantum physics. You don't just choose one over the other.

 

... actually, I became interested due to a visual novel I was reading.

I agree that - at least until travel between alternate realities has been invented - it's impossible to prove. But I think that they would almost certainly be distinct from each other; one insignificant, tiny change could split a time-line; the two time-lines would be extraordinarily similar, certainly, but that tiny change opens up the possibility for other changes to evolve from that which couldn't have if the split hadn't happened. In the original line, different possibilities could materialise and distinguish between the two.

You wouldn't need any extra matter for these alternate realities because they have been continued on from a previous point in time. These realities cannot exist at the same time so at any point in time the total amount of matter is always the same. As for the next question, initially these realities evolved from a single point, at this point the consciousness of the person/animal would also split to follow the different time-lines; so in theory there would be an infinite number of consciousnesses (sp?) each separate from each other, that would also be identical.

As for evidence, I've got nothing - this is pure conjecture.
Also; what do you mean by meta?

 

According to your theory, when universes diverge as a result of (for example) differing choices, do these universes not occupy the same time? Does this not result in an increased amount of matter in the "ultraverse" that contains all universes and all dimensions?

Your other explanation doesn't make sense, either. Let's assume the universe does not diverge. How does consciousness traverse time if it is not continuous but distinct? How do we, whose consciousness remains constant, go from one instant to the next if the universes that occupy these times are different?

To be blunt, this is more sci-fi rambling than conjecture.

It's kinda hard to explain meta so I'll just quote a definition:

Metaphysics is therefore physics about physics. Your theory skips right over any explanation of real physics (hence the "too meta") but it doesn't explain the metaphysics well enough either (hence "not meta enough").

 

Each universe would not occupy the same time, as each point in time is completely separate from other points; even without branching, it's impossible to take a step forward or backwards in time (until some genius invents a time machine). With branching, even though in each separate branch it has reached the same value of time, in the 5th dimension I assume that time takes on a "y" value, similar to how at a certain length you can have multiple widths, same x-value but each y-value still differing from each other. Except each of these "y-values" would have a self-contained 3-D universe frozen at that particular x-value.

Our consciousness remains completely intact as the universe splits, because, with every branch formed our consciousness is copied; as is everything else in the universe; everything in that universe still remains constant. But matter does not multiply it also remains constant in each individual universe. The multi-verse does contain all the universes and thus contains all the matter within each universe; but (and I have to stress this) the amount of matter within each universe remains constant. As the multi-verse contains all the various branches (which continue to branch off of each other as time passes) the amount of matter contained is constantly multiplying.

Actually, this would lead on to how the 6th and 7th dimensions exist (if multiple multi-verses existed) but I'm confused enough as it is.

 

It is quantum physics that explains string theory...

 

well, it kinda does, string theory tries to unify quantum mechanics and relativity into one thing, but i like the idea of quantum mechanics and relativity as different

 

I know. The...I forget what it's called, but I know what you're talking about. The "magic equation" to unify "big numbers" with "little numbers".

 

yeah, i forgot th name too i think it was like theory of everything, something like that