Extra dimensions -beyond length, width, height- seem the stuff of science fiction. What would extra dimensions be like? Is time the fourth dimension? Could deep reality be so strange? And, anyway, why would we care? Featuring interviews with Lawrence Krauss, Michio Kaku, David Gross, Nima Arkani-Hamed, Juan Maldacena, and Roger Penrose.
Of course, if we like, we can see time as half a dimension (forward only). Okay. But…
Beyond that, one way of looking at these controversies is to begin by asking what difference it would make.
I (O’Leary for News) remember, in high school, reading a book that calculated how many 11-dimensional baseballs would fit into a nine-dimensional box, or something like that. Not being, at best, gifted at math, I quickly lost the thread of the discussion.
One can’t help wondering what the notion of many additional dimensions is supposed to do.
Some resources:
“One recent string theory suggests that the reason we only experience the three spatial dimensions is that all universes with higher dimensions got into some cosmic car accident and destroyed each other, leaving our measly three-dimensional brane untouched.”
“Current versions of string theory require 10 dimensions total, while an even more hypothetical über-string theory known as M-theory requires 11. But when we look around the universe, we only ever see the usual three spatial dimensions plus the dimension of time. We’re pretty sure that if the universe had more than four dimensions, we would’ve noticed by now. … Thankfully, string theorists were able to point to a historical antecedent for this seemingly radical notion.”
“It turns out that in order to encompass both of these two forces, we have to add another five dimensions to our mathematical description. There’s no a priori reason it should be five; and, again, none of these additional dimensions relates directly to our sensory experience. They are just there in the mathematics. So this gets us to the 10 dimensions of string theory. Here there are the four large-scale dimensions of spacetime (described by general relativity), plus an extra six ‘compact’ dimensions (one for electromagnetism and five for the nuclear forces), all curled up in some fiendishly complex, scrunched-up, geometric structure.”
By now, you probably get the picture. The side door to “Anything we want to believe is true.”
It’s really too bad that Lawrence Krauss in the mix. That pedo piece of shit deserves no podium
The idea is a lot older than Einstein. Abbott’s “Flatland”, written in 1885, was an attempt to show ordinary people how a fourth dimension would feel, by analogy with two-dimensional people trying to perceive the third. The persuasion didn’t work then and still doesn’t work, but Abbott’s broader parody of human behavior DOES work. Tne one-dimensional Monarch of Pointland is a perfect model of today’s psychopathic demons who run and obliterate every country except Tanzania.
Whereas atheists have no observational evidence that the Multiverses that they postulated to ‘explain. away’ the fine tuning of the universe are real, nor do Atheists have any evidence that the ‘parallel universes’ that they postulated to ‘explain away’ quantum wave collapse are real,
,,, whereas atheists have no observational evidence that any of their ‘just so stories’ are real, and are not merely imaginary, Christians, on the other hand, can appeal directly to Special Relativity, General Relativity, and Quantum Mechanics, (i.e. our most precisely tested theories ever in the history of science), to support their belief that God really does uphold this universe in its continual existence, as well as to support their belief in the reality of a heavenly dimension and in a hellish dimension.”
In the following video, the discovery of the higher dimensional nature of the square root of negative one, which is integral to quantum mechanics, and the discovery of higher dimensional geometry, which is integral to General Relativity, are discussed:
The history of the square root of negative one is particularly interesting to look at. Descartes had rejected complex roots and coined the derogatory term “imaginary” to describe the square root of negative one. Whereas, Gauss, who was the mathematician who finally clearly explained the higher dimensional nature behind the square root of negative one, suggested that complex magnitudes be called “lateral” instead of “imaginary” magnitudes since they represent a dimensional extension of the continuum. Gauss also proposed that complex magnitudes be awarded “full civil rights.”
The author further comments, in the language of Plato’s allegory of the cave, complex numbers represent “forms” from a higher dimension casting “shadows” on the real number line.
And in quantum mechanics, we find that the higher dimensional square root of negative one is necessary for describing the wave packet prior to measurement, and thus prior to the collapse of the wave packet.
What was not mentioned in the preceding ‘The Mathematics Of Higher Dimensionality’ video, or in the article, is that the wave function is also represented as being in an infinite dimensional Hilbert space:
Here is an interesting quote about the mysterious infinite dimensional Hilbert Spaces in quantum mechanics, a quote that shows that it is integral and not just a metaphysical add-on (as the atheists’s conjectures of multiverses and parallel universes are just metaphysical add-ons),
” (Imagine reading off details about elementary particles from the rules of chess-castling. en passant-a la Lewis Carro;; in Through the Looking Glass.) No physicist today understands why this is possible..”
Moreover, we also find that the infinite dimensional Hilbert space of a quantum wave packet takes an infinite amount of information to describe properly.
As should be needless to say, the preceding findings are very comforting to overall Christian presuppositions about omniscient, and omnipresent, God upholding this universe in its continual existence.
Here is a video that goes over the preceding findings, and how they relate to Christian presuppositions, in a bit more detail
Four dimensional space was also mentioned in ‘The Mathematics Of Higher Dimensionality’ video. As was the necessity for Four-dimensional space in the formulation General Relativity also mentioned in the video:
What was not mentioned in the ‘The Mathematics Of Higher Dimensionality’ video is that special relativity is itself also based on a single four-dimensional continuum now known as Minkowski space. In fact, the higher dimensional nature of special relativity was a discovery that was made by one of Einstein math professors in 1908 prior to Einstein’s elucidation of General Relativity in 1915. (In fact, in 1916 Einstein fully acknowledged his indebtedness to Minkowski)
Moreover, these four dimensional spacetimes that undergird both special relativity and general relativity are also comforting to overall Christian concerns in that they reveal two very different eternities to us. One eternity is found for a hypothetical observer who is going the speed of light, and another eternity is found for a hypothetical observer falling to the event horizon of a black hole.
As was mentioned, the eternity for special relativity is found when a hypothetical observer approaches the speed of light. In this scenario, time, as we understand it, would come to a complete stop for that hypothetical observer as he reached the speed of light.
To grasp the whole concept of time coming to a complete stop at the speed of light a little more easily, imagine moving away from the face of a clock at the speed of light. Would not the hands on the clock stay stationary as you moved away from the face of the clock at the speed of light? Moving away from the face of a clock at the speed of light happens to be the very same ‘thought experiment’ that gave Einstein his breakthrough insight into special relativity. Here is a short clip from a video that gives us a look into Einstein’s breakthrough insight.
That time, as we understand it comes to a complete stop at the speed of light, and yet light moves from point A to point B in our universe, and thus light is obviously not ‘frozen within time, has some fairly profound implications.
The only way it is possible for time not to pass for light, and yet for light to move from point A to point B in our universe, is if light is of a higher dimensional value of time than the temporal time we are currently living in. Otherwise light would simply be ‘frozen within time’ to our temporal frame of reference.
One way for us to more easily understand this higher dimensional framework for time that light exists in is to visualize what would happen if a hypothetical observer approached the speed of light.
In the first part of the following video clip, which was made by two Australian University Physics Professors, we find that the 3-Dimensional world ‘folds and collapses’ into a tunnel shape as a ‘hypothetical’ observer approaches the ‘higher dimension’ of the speed of light.
To give us a better understanding as to what it would be like to exist in a higher dimension, this following video, Dr. Quantum in Flatland, also gives us a small insight as to what it would be like to exist in a higher dimension:
Besides the tunnel curvature to a higher eternal dimension found in special relativity, we also have tunnel curvature to a very different eternal dimension in general relativity. The following video clip is very good for illustrating that tunnel curvature that is found in general relativity.
The following video is also very good for illustrating the tunnel curvature that is found for the space-time of gravity in general relativity. Specifically, it is good for visualizing the tunnel curvature that is found at black holes
What makes the eternity of General Relativity profoundly different than the eternity found at Special Relativity, is that entropy, which is the primary reason why our material bodies grow old and eventually die in this universe,,,
,,, Entropy is found to be greatest at black holes. As the following article stated,, ‘supermassive black holes are the largest contributor to the observable universe’s entropy.’
In the following quote, Kip Thorne describes what will happen to a hypothetical astronaut as he falls into black-hole. He stated: “Einstein’s equation predicts that, as the astronaut reaches the singularity (of the black-hole), the tidal forces grow infinitely strong, and their chaotic oscillations become infinitely rapid. The astronaut dies and the atoms which his body is made become infinitely and chaotically distorted and mixed-and then, at the moment when everything becomes infinite (the tidal strengths, the oscillation frequencies, the distortions, and the mixing), spacetime ceases to exist.”
Thus the ‘eternity’ that is found at a black hole can rightly be called an ‘eternity of decay, death, and destruction’.
Needless to say, to those of us who are of, shall we say, a spiritually minded persuasion, this finding of an eternity of destruction should be fairly sobering.
Moreover, to further validate the Christian claim that heaven and hell are real and actually exist, we don’t have to rely solely on our scientific evidence from special relativity and general relativity. But we can also reference the many testimonies of people who have died for a short while and come back. These testimonies are termed Near Death Experiences.
In the following video clip, Mickey Robinson gives his Near Death testimony of what it felt like for him to experience a ‘timeless eternity’.
And here are a few more quotes from people who have experienced Near Death, that speak of how their perception of time was radically altered as they were outside of their material body.
As well, Near Death Experiencers also frequently mention going through a tunnel to a higher heavenly dimension:
In the following video, Barbara Springer gives her testimony as to what it felt like for her to go through the tunnel:
And in the following audio clip, Vicki Noratuk, who has been blind from birth, besides being able to see for the first time during in her life during her Near Death Experience, also gives testimony of going through a tunnel:
And the following people who had a NDE both testify that they firmly believed that they were in a higher dimension that is above this three-dimensional world and that the primary reason that they have a very difficult time explaining what their Near Death Experiences felt like is because we simply don’t currently have the words to properly describe that higher dimension:
Moreover, besides heavenly experiences, there are also hellish experiences that also corroborate what we would expect to see from what we now know about General Relativity.
In the following video clip, former atheist Howard Storm speaks of what eternity felt like for him in the hellish dimension:
And at the 7:00 minute mark of this video, Ron Reagan gives testimony of falling down a ‘tunnel’ towards hell:
And in this following video, Bill Wiese also speaks of ‘tumbling down’ a tunnel in his transition stage to hell:
And in this following video, Paul Ojeda also speaks of ‘falling’ towards hell at a very fast speed:
Thus, in conclusion, Christians, far from being ‘anti-science’ as atheists often accuse Christians of being, can appeal directly to Quantum Mechanics, Special Relativity, and General Relativity, our most powerful theories in science, to powerfully back up some of their core beliefs in God and the afterlife. Whereas, on the other hand, it is found that Atheists are actually the ones who are stuck postulating imaginary universes and dimensions, etc.. to ‘explain away’ observational evidence that points to the reality of God. In short, atheists have to rely on their imagination, not observational evidence, to avoid the evidence for God, and thus they have become very much anti-science in their attempts to avoid any implication of God.
As I said the other day, “Since God, not materialism and/or naturalism, is the basis of all physical reality, then the rejection of God by modern day scientists as an explanation for why the physical universe exists, and even as the explanation for why we ourselves exist, necessarily forces them to postulate explanations that are inherently ‘unreal’, illusory, and/or imaginary.”
https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/researchers-black-holes-are-collapsed-universes/#comment-722173
Verse:
I’ve never really understood the weird animosity of Christians on this site towards the multiverse theory and now the idea of other dimensions.
As far as NDE research is concerned, BA you are cherry-picking accounts to fit your views. Raymond Moody (deceased), Dr. Bruce Greyson and the University of Virginia Dept. of Perceptual Studies have gathered an enormous amount of NDE research together from around the world, including accouns as far back as Plato. Generally speaking, people interpret what happens to them in terms of their culture, but there are basic categories of experience that virtually all who have an NDE experience to a large degree.
For example, a large percentage of people experience a being of light regardless of their religious beliefs, and usually interpret that through a cultural lens, although there are exceptions. Atheists and agnostics usually have the same experience as anyone else. Virtually nobody experiences a drop towards what one might describe as a “hellish” destination.
Also, the NDE evidence doesn’t exist in a vacuum. There is also an enormous amount of evidence for reincarnation and what is usually referred to a “astral projection” and valid, evidential, physical mediumship providing information about what we call “the afterlife,” which might be better labeled as “other dimensions” or a vast multiverse of potential experiences available to us.
There are literally tens of thousands, if not millions, of people that have visited these places, one way or another, and many who do so regularly, interacting with the dead and those that inhabit those places. The evidence is pretty clear, IMO, if one can assess it fairly and rationally without a priori doctrinal biases.