Dimensions
A conversation about the nature of existence
between Me and You
(v3) The entire text of this site is original
"Conversation"
Me: How many dimensions do we live in?
You: 4
Me: Ok, which are?
You: Length, breadth, height and time
Me: Hmmm.
Length, Breadth and Height are directional dimensions at ninety degrees to each other which give objects their structure. Time is rather undefinable and to my mind, too interwoven with ‘space’ which is a function of Length, Breadth and Height, as in the 'space-time continuum'. Not just that, but scientists then try to warp it. Entropy is the degree of randomness in the universe which (in our part of the universe) consistently increases due to the expansion of the universe. I prefer this as the ‘fourth’ dimension rather than time.
So how do you know they exist?
You: Because they make up objects that you can see and touch
Me: Yes. And maybe you can hear them or even smell them.
You: And science can tell you all about them.
Me: Ok. So now stand next to the table. If you can see it from a large variety of angles, and touch it, then it must have the dimensions of Length, Breadth, Height and Entropy in common with you. That is, it has structure and it continues to be here while we're talking, so it must be moving with the expanding universe at the same rate as us. That is, its Entropy dimension is the same as ours.
Now tap you finger repeatedly on the table, moving it a few centimetres each time along its length. At some point soon, your tap will be to thin air. You’ve come to the end of the table. That is, its dimension of Length has expired. You can go back and repeat the exercise, or repeat the exercise using the Breadth
(width of the table), or its Height instead. And soon your tap will be to thin air. You can repeat this as often as you like because the table and you are both increasing in entropy at the same rate.
Now consider the table. Its Length dimension is finite and you can identify where it stops. Its (Breadth dimension is finite and you can identify where that stops, as you can with its Height.
So now consider what would happen if the desk’s Entropy dimension stopped in the same way?
You: It would disappear, because we'd carry on through time and it wouldn't.
Me: Sort of.. You see, time is linked to space, as in the space/time continuum, and space is a function of Length, Breadth and Height. So if we continued purely in time and it didn't, we could reverse that by going back along the route following the negatives of Length, Breadth and Height that we'd just followed. Then we'd find it again - we'd have gone back in time. Except that we can't because our Entropy has increased and its has not. It still exists. Its where you left it, back there while you (and everything else you know) have moved on. That is, it is no longer in the same part of the expanding universe as you, and Entropy is not just a function of Length, Breadth and Height so you cant' just turn round and look for it.
You: So it would still exist but we wouldn't know about it because its not here.
Me: Exactly. Our working basis is that all the objects that you are familiar with have 4 dimensions. That is, each object has 4 attributes, each being a dimension. And you know they exit because your body has certain receptor organs that let you sense the surrounding environment.
You: Yes
Me: Now, think about an object - any object - that has these 4 dimensions as attributes. It could be a ball, a person, a table, anything. Now try to imagine that this object has another attribute. That is another dimension, a fifth one, but you didn't know about it because you don't have the sensors such as eyes, ears and nerve endings to recognise it. Just imagine that its there.
You: Ok. I'll assume that this extra attribute is a bit like an extra variable in an algebraic equation
Me: That's good. If you're ok with abstract things like that. Otherwise, just rely on imagination.
Now concentrate on the object which you know has the 4 original dimensions and now I've told you it has an extra one that you can't sense.
You: Ok
Me: Now imagine that the new dimension disappears.
You: What?
Me: Yes. Imagine that this attribute in your equation, this dimension that you didn't know about because you don't have a suitable organ to sense it, isn't there any more.
You: Ok
Me: What difference does it make to you'
You: None - like, I didn't know it was there and now it isn't, but I wouldn't know that because I didn't recognise its existence in the first place.
Me: Exactly right.
You: So what?
Me: You only notice if something disappears, in this case a dimension, when you previously knew about it.
You: Ok
Me: So supposing that this table you've been tapping has lost a dimension that you didn't know about because you don't have a suitable sensory organ, so you didn't notice. And maybe its gained a few as well, but you can't sense these either.
Its only when a dimension that you previously knew about disappears that you notice that something has changed. But its also possible that everything may have changed, and more than once, although you didn't notice. Until it loses, say, Length. Then it becomes two dimensional, but continue in Entropy. So from most angles it can't be seen because if it has no sides and you are looking at it end on, then there's nothing to reflect light so it can't be seen. Its just an area continuing to increase in Entropy at the same rate as everything else. Now it loses another, say Breadth. It becomes one dimensional. Its a line.
You: Ok. But you wouldn't notice if you cant see it or touch it
Me: Ok. Now suppose that the object is not a table. Its you. You lose the physical dimensions that we can all sense, like the table we were considering. And maybe you lose Length, Breadth and Height. But there's more to you than Length, Breadth, Height and Entropy. what about consciousness and intelligence.
Supposing they are dimensions in the same way . And they continued keeping pace with everything else because they have retained their Entropy dimension.
You: So what you're suggesting is that these extra dimensions are part of your existence. They're not included in the original four, but you think we've all got them. Except, we'd never know.
Me: Unless we actually are able to sense these. Like, they interact with our brain which we sense as random thoughts suddenly occurring.
Is it not perfectly reasonable that if we accept that when the Big Bang (or any other explanation for the start of the universe)occurred spewing out three dimensional entities that would become eg galaxies or planets on their journey to become more randomly spaced (gaining entropy) that other entities consisting of fewer or more dimensions were also emitted from the same event? Or conversely that the animal kingdom has evolved sufficiently to have developed receptors to sense every dimension created.
Just because you can't sense them directly does not mean that they can't possibly exist, especially when there are functions such as consciousness, intelligence, original thought and dark matter which you can see the effects of but cannot directly ascribe to the original four dimensions. We have no organ to sense Entropy (or Time, if you prefer it), so there is a precedent.
So, for example, consider an entity which is made up of one of the physical dimensions, say Length, and also has the additional dimensions of Intelligence and Entropy. So you can't see it or hear it because its just an intelligence existing between two points travelling with the expanding universe, so its here today and still here tomorrow. But if that happens to interact with or trigger something in your brain it would be what you call an original thought. It appears from nowhere and isn't part of a train of logic that you are building for yourself.
You: So, supposing you're right, why doesn't this happen to everyone. I mean, its only some people who have original thoughts
Me: This is true. And that's because, while we all have the original 4 dimensions that you started with, which is why we can see, hear and touch other people, not everyone has the same additional dimensions to interact with these entities that exist without any of our original 4. And you would also need to have approached it from the correct angle, a bit like seeing a table that has only two dimensions. Wrong angle and you'll miss it altogether.
That is, an individual person must have a suitable additional dimension to interact with these additional entities. In addition, these additional entities may have an Entropy dimension that keeps pace with us. Or they may not, either because their Entropy dimension is orientated in a different direction running tangentially to us, or it may be that the entity's Entropy dimension has a higher (or lower) value to ours taking it more quickly to another part of the universe.
Perhaps at that point it loses its Entropy dimension and effectively stops while the rest of the universe expands towards it - and we might catch up with it and interact at that point.
You: So, put simply, you need the susceptibility, to interact with these entities, which could be yet another dimension . And in the case of entities that have no Entropy dimension, you would need to be able to recognise this interaction during the limited period that your dimensions coincide.
Me: I think you're getting the hang of this. So in a similar vein, additional entities contained within us and retaining the same Entropy dimension as us can interact with each other which then have implications that we might recognise, but may have difficulty describing. This would account for the 'connection' we make with someone that enables us to get on with some people while wanting to dissociate with others. A bit like holding hands with someone but on a purely ethereal level.
You: But you know when you're in love with someone
Me: Yes. But I doubt if you can define it. And that too has a habit of terminating its Entropy dimension
You: Run that past me again!
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Dave Calder April 2020
To contact dave please email - davemcalder@icloud.com