In search of extra dimensions: Hang on -- a new reality may be around the corner

spaceref.com ^ | 19 Feb 02 | Press Release

[Savage Beast]

Thanks, Palo. I thought I'd be flamed out of cyberspace, but nobody seems to take much exception. I'm glad to know that someone else sees it the same way. Since all this came to me (or rather became clearer) in Canyonlands, maybe the desert areas of the west are affecting you and me. (I read your very interesting profile.) Good luck to you and your family! Love you too. --SB

[chouli]

I think it is called schizophrenia. Think about it. Perhaps a schizophrenic is not ill, but not grounded in this reality.

[Savage Beast]

Or “A new reality closer to ultimate truth.”

“And another one, even closer.”

“And another, closer still.”

“Ad infinitum.”

[Savage Beast]

Is that what I'm saying? Now I'm confusing my own self. Well if I say so you must be right...or something like that.

[Savage Beast]

Oh, I think that's entirely possible. I had an old friend, a very lovely and beautiful girl, who became a severe schizophrenic. She could not communicate lucidly with anyone, including me. However, when we talked about deeply spiritual matters--God, angels, Jesus Christ--we could communicate, and it made sense to both of us. (Of course that could mean that I am also schizophrenic.)

[Mr. K]

"It's Not my Dam Planet, Monkey Boy" (John BigBoote)

Brush with fame: I saw John Lithgow at Holiday Valley Skiing (just south of Buffalo) Just before "Third Rock.." became a big hit. Told Him Buckaroo Bonzai is one of my all-time faves and he laughed.

[RadioAstronomer]

Thanks for the ping.

[RadioAstronomer]

ping! :)

[coolworx]

Or “A new reality closer to ultimate truth.”

“And another one, even closer.”

“And another, closer still.”

“Ad infinitum.”

Isn't that why the "Creator" whoever he/she/it be gave us an inquisitive brain? Are we not fulfilling our destiny by raising such questions?

[coolworx]

BTW Savage, have you ever read Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey?

[Moonman62]

That follows from its being a spin-2 interaction. By symmetry, the dipole term vanishes in the multipole expansion. Gravitational waves propagate as a quadrupole undulation.

What is it that we observe about gravity that makes us say that it is a spin-2 interaction? Is it correct to assume it has nothing to do with multiple dimensions?

[Savage Beast]

I haven't read Desert Solitaire, but when I saw your post I looked it up at Amazon.com. I read a little. It is beautiful. Should I read it? It was rated by readers almost a full five stars out of five.

It seems that in struggling to know we are struggling to fulfill our destiny. I think some would say that it is unity with God or to know God that is our ultimate longing.

I had wonderful experiences camping in the deserts but also many other places--the redwood forests, islands on the Georgia coast, India, Hawaii, Mount Shasta, Big Sur, et al. and in my own home. As Abbey said in the part of Desert Solitaire I just read, we all seem to have special places... The following lines are from an old Protestant hymn: “He speaks to me everywhere.” He speaks to all of us, everywhere, I think, all the time. His holy scripture is everywhere, and anyone can read it. At least, that's how it seems to me.

[keri]

As we move closer and closer to ultimate truth, we reach a point at which everything is paradoxical.I would think as we move closer to ultimate truth everything becomes less of a paradox and we eventually perceive existence free of dualities.

Beyond that...And all of this is happening at the same time, a spectrum of illusion -- or reality.

You've lost me here. ("Time" is an interesting word.) What would an existence beyond time look like? How could one conceive of such an existence, much less describe it?

Sorry for the delay in replying. (Work)

[Savage Beast]

To me, an existence free of duality is closer to truth than is paradox. I don't know that I can conceive of an existence without time, unless it is that time is an illusions and all events exist simultaneously, maybe like a CD or the tape of a movie, which can be played forward or backward but everything on it actually exists at the same time. What do you think?

[RightWhale]

"A new reality above the corner"

That is an excellent point. Is the new dimension spacelike, or is it timelike, or is it something different altogether?

Is it possible if one moves in this new dimension that he can get to every time/space point in the universe immediately?

While they say the new dimension is very small, a millimeter or so, curved around somehow, it it possible if one were moving in this new dimension that it would seem infinite in length, although length would not be an appropriate description?

[RightWhale]

some kind of synaptic connection

Could all our synapses be connected so that in fact we are one?

[crystalk]

Big fleas have little fleas

Upon their backs to bite em

Those little fleas, still LESSER fleas!

And so ad infinitum.

[keri]

To me, an existence free of duality is closer to truth than is paradox. Me too.

...an existence without time, unless it is that time is an illusion and all events exist simultaneously, maybe like a CD or the tape of a movie, which can be played forward or backward but everything on it actually exists at the same time.

If time is an illusion and all events exist simultaneously, then we must also say that space is an illusion and "everything" (or nothing) exists exactly in one point. I don't see a way to separate time and space. How do we measure space? We measure it in units of time -- how long from point A to point B. If we dismiss time as illusion, however real it is, we must also dismiss space in the same manner.

What do you think? I think we are moving way beyond the topic -- into at least the metaphysical -- and I would like to be added to your ping list, if you have one.

[Doctor Stochastic]

For "Is" and "Is-Not" though with Rule and Line,
And, "Up-and-Down" without, I could define,
I yet in all I only cared to know,
Was never deep in anything but—Wine.

——— Omar Khayyám (d.1123) tr. Edward Fitzgerald (1809-1883)

[strela]

But, what about the red leptons?

(whispers)

Lectroids - Red Lectroids ...