A Tour To Out of Space
Pretty
weird title, ha? But you’ll know exactly what I mean once you travel along.
In this
voyage, I’ll try my best to take you to a world which I often visit and then to
one which I yearn to travel to. What else do you think your "Earth" do while performing the "earthly" things? And I'll be so pleased if you discard this humanly name as soon as possible and call me 'Cosmorer', short for wanderer of cosmos. You do remember I named myself? No?? Maybe read my introduction again🥺. Okay so the spaceship that will take us to these worlds
is a very special and powerful one, THE SPACESHIP OF IMAGINATION. But before boarding,
there’s a very important thing I need to tell you. To avoid waking you up
abruptly from the delight of this journey, I will constrain myself from making
inappropriate references to the animals on me, or my health, or my life, or my
family, or…..you get the point…., right? In short, we’ll talk less , IMAGINE
MORE!!
Cosmoplorer,
let go of your worries, unleash your mind, let your thoughts fly.
WE-ARE-ABOUT-TO-DIVE-INTO-THE-WORLD-OF-2 DIMENSIONS, THE FLATLAND.
Imagine a
world, just like ours, but with one dimension (direction) missing. The
dimensions we take for granted, the length, the breadth, and the height are
also present in this world BUT the dimension of height is infinitesimally
small! The beings of this dimension, the flatlanders, know no other dimension
than length and breadth, there is no such thing as “height”. What they call
their “universe”, is completely FLAT. Their countries are flat, their houses
are flat, their bodies are flat, their organs are flat, their “everything” is
flat. They simply cannot think of any direction, other than two, for their all
senses and brains are flat. THIS IS THE LAND OF TWO DIMENSIONERS. The land of
squares, triangles, hexagons, and circles. Busy with their deeds, they carry-on
on their lives, tangled in conflicts, fears, emotions, worries, and wars. No,
it’s not a world full of negativity, it’s just like ours but lacking one
dimension. Snarled in their complex world, they have no idea that a higher
dimension could also exist.
To them,
the universe has only 2 directions, either North-South or East-West. They see
things only in 1D, the same way 3D beings see in 2D. (Don’t believe me? Try
seeing an object in very bright light projected directly above it so that it
forms no shadow. 3D beings more specifically humans, see objects “as” 3D, ONLY
because of LIGHT AND SHADE).
Lahiana noon, Hawaii, US, Earth
When Sun is directly overhead, no shadow formed
If we were to go from our view to theirs, this is what a circle and square will look like:
These
Flatlanders cannot distinguish each other by “seeing” the angles. Each one of
them looks a line to every other flatlander.
However,
they have evolved the ability to distinguish each other by the sense of slight variation of light intensity given off their luminous bodies. Consider,
for example, the triangle. To The square the nearer end of the triangle, i.e.
the vertex will glow bright but on either side the line will keeping getting
dimmer because the sides will keep getting farther away.
You look upon this world and feel bad for these poor beings. You want to enlighten them about the third dimension , “height”.
You start descending your ship towards the plane of their universe. You
see their whole flat cosmos, thhhennnnnn…… one of the flat city. You keep
getting doooowwwwwnnnn and dooooowwwnnn until you reach very close and see a
flat house, bare open to you. You see the 2D doors, windows, lockers with all
the money kept “safe” in it , clearly visible to you. A triangle walks in from
the north facing door. You see his insides from up above, all his organs
exposed !
Very excited to talk to these beings, you go close to this triangle and
speak from above,
You: Hey little fellow! What’s up? *murmuring*
Well actually there no “up” in your world!
Confused and scared,
the poor being looks around.
Triangle: Who’s there? Reveal yourself.
You: I’m a being from third dimension.
To him, the voice is not
coming from north-south or east-west, so it must be coming from his insides,
his stomach (the upper face of triangle).
Triangle: Oh man !! I need to take some break from my work. I’ve started talking to myself…hahaha
The triangle walks away, ignoring what he heard as just a psychological
event.
But determined to make them aware of what they call their universe is
just a portion of much bigger one, you approach another polygon, The square,
who luckily turns out to be a mathematician. Busy with his work he sits (or
stands or lay, as all the positions are same for he HAS to remain in the plane)
on his desk, immersed in deep thoughts about the mathematical structure of
their universe. You again go close, still out of their plane , and call him
out.
You: Wellllll, Hey Mr Square. I’m a being from
higher Dimension. I’m here to tell you about the 3rd direction.
Jolted by these words, the square moves around to find no one but still air.
You: And Nooooo, it’s not psychological!!
Square: Where are you ? Why can’t I see you?
You: Buddy I’m right here! Try looking up.
Square: I don’t see anyone in North.
You: No!!! Not North but UP!!
Square: What do you mean? “Not North But up”???
You: Yes !! “Not North ….But UP!”
Square: Stop playing! you trickster! Come
forward.
You: No I’m not playing with you! And I AM NOT
A TRICKSTER!! I am from 3rd dimension.
Square: There’s no such thing as “third”
dimension, everyone knows!
You: Yes , everyone, in your world ,is wrong! That’s why I’m here . .. I caaaaaaaaannnnn proooove you that I’m not lying. I can see your whole house from here . On your right is a
cupboard, within which sits a locker with your money and a book inside. Now see what I’m gonna do. Your cupboard is locked. BUT to me it’s completely open! Now……. I’m putting my
hand into your locker aaaaaaaaannnnndddd heeeerrrrrrrreee I take out the book
and I wiillllllll noooooowww place it in front of you.
*thump* For the square, the book appeared from nowhere.
He rushes to the cupboard and finds it securely locked. He takes out his keys
and opens to find the book missing.
Square: On count of three , You. Are. Coming.
Out. from wherever you’re hiding, OR I AM CALLING THE POLICE, you CROOK.
You: HEY…. That’s enough of my patience . Now
see what I’m gonna do.
Square: AAAaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!(The square cries
out) STOP! STOP! PLEEEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSEEEEEE.
You: Now you believe ,ah?
Square: What did you just do? Why my stomach
hurts sooooo much?
You: From up above, not only your stomach, but EVERY organ is visible. I just touched gently on your stomach.
Square: Are, Arrreeee you really from “3rd
dimension”?
You : You still doubt?? …. So ok now watch.
I’ve my friend “sphere” with me. Now I’m gonna let her down in your plane of
universe. WATCH CAREFULLY.
To the 2D square, The sphere first appears on his plane as a dot…..which
gradually becomes a circle and then a bigger circle , then eeevvvveeennn
biiiggger which then starts to decrease and again becomes a dot.
Square: No circle behaves in this way!
You: Yes. 'cause it's not a circle. It is a collection of circles extended in 3D.
Square:Ohhh... But if 3rd Dimension exists, Why
can’t I see it ?
You: You wanna see?
Square: Yes!!Would love to !!
You: Here you go lil fellow.
You pick up the square OUT of his plane .To him it’s a completely new
experience. Not able to comprehend what he sees , he feels dizzy, everything
blacks out for him. But soon he comes to his senses. Amazed. He sees his house,
his neighbours, their interiors, the whole city !
You: You Okay?
Square: Yeeesss, I think yess. I don’t quite
understand what I see, but …oh…okay…soooo…yaaa thiiiirrrrrrrddddd dimension is
real???? Oh ….
You: Satisfied?? Should I put you back?
Square: Yes, I feel dizzy. Have never seen my
world from this perspective.
Square: So I become the first polygon to see
another dimension?
You: Absolutely!
You leave the place, pleased to
have fulfilled your mission. Now the mathematician would explain this to his
students and neighbors and ministers. These polygons will remember you as the
supreme being, The mentor.
Congratulations, you have accomplished!!
NOOOOOOOO!!! SORRY, YOU HAVEN’T!
For the square cannot describe to A.N.Y.O.N.E what he saw and
experienced.
Circle: So you say, there is a 3rd
dimension?? Have you gone mad??
Square: Yes!! There is!! I have seen it!!
Hexagon: Okay , then point out. Where is your “
3rd direction”?
Square: Sorry I can’t . There is no way for us
to point in that dimension. But IT EXISTS.
Circle: You fool!!!! You can’t point, because
there is none!!!
Square: No!! Believe me. There is a dimension
other than our two.
No one believes this poor fellow. Alas! He is put up in jail for his unethical preaching . You did NO favor to them. 😔
Now let us come back to our world. Logically if there is an
infinitesimally small 3rd dimension in 2D world, There must be
infinitesimally small 4th dimension in OUR 3D world.
Where could that 4th direction be? Just like the unfortunate
square I cannot point it to you. But there can be (I desperately hope there
is).
What we call as solids may be completely superficial. Someone out there in higher dimension might be looking upon us, inside our bodies, inside our houses, inside our each and every thing . There is NO privacy once you are with a being of higher dimension. Scary, ha?
But just imagine if you somehow, someday, come across a 4D being. You would have the opportunity to see our universe from entirely different view, to know the secrets which we are bound to not know about this cosmos, to travel to places no one, in our world , would have even thought about. Imagine the possibilities!! How would it feel to know that we are inside the world of higher dimension beings, which themselves are in one of much higher and so on.
Let’s end our journey on the hope that someday a being from higher
dimension visits us and finds us worthy of their time.
Good bye cosmoplorer!
“We are prisoners of time, bounded by three dimensions of space, forever
transitioning from our inaccessible past to our unknown future.”
-- Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson
This idea was first proposed by Edwin A. Abbott in is book, "Flatland: A Romance of many dimensions." .
The link is given below:
The imagination is just breathtaking very nice...
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