What is a dimension? Is it a state of movement? Direction? Size? Shape? All of these?
Dimensions, you could say, Represents what "is".
Dimensions become more complex as they traverse between their stages.
We are familiar with 3 Dimensions:
"No dimension" which represents a point that has no length or width in the middle of a space.
"1-D" Which represents 2 directions
"2-D"that represents a series of points connected onto a plane which allows for direction "Up, Down, Left, and Right";
And lastly what we're most familiar with: "3-D".
3 Dimensions represent more series of points connected from a 2-D plane. an example of this would be a cube.

So what if we went higher? To the "4 Dimensions"? Or even higher?

4 Dimensions is something we can, in truth, never experience.
We live in a 3 dimensional world, we cannot experience something that doesn't exist in our world.
Does that mean 4-D doesn't exist? No, it just doesn't exist here.
4 Dimensions can be explained by repeating the processes that make 1-D 2-D, and 2-D 3-D.
We take he points of a 3 dimension, and we connect them once again to a series of more points.
This has never been accomplished, and it's still in theory.



Experiencing 4 dimensions.
Thoughts?

EDIT: Exilement will probably dominate this thread.
That scholar...

dimensions are fascinating to me. not only are they interesting on their own, but (and this is somewhat tangential and quite speculative) the end goal of enlightenment seems to be to becoming aware of higher dimensions by breaking out of the 3-D body's perceptual limitations.

having said that i probably shouldn't try and go any further into that unless people are interested, lest i hijack the thread or somehow spark a religious debate.

i'll be watching this thread

my head just exploded from the opening statement< now that i have pieced my head back together, it is a very interseting topic, how can we truley know if the fabled "4-demension" exists if we cannot experiance it?

Quote from Hewitt

Shouldn't this be in the Science section? What's the debate?

Ah yes, my mistake.
Would a mod care to move this?

Promptly moved and I'll be watching this thread. Quite interesting...

Interesting. If 4d ever exist in our 3d world, things can go into chaos.

I always thought the 4th dimension was time. 'Cause as a programmer I guess I look at everything in relatable terms. When I think of dimensions, I think of arrays. Arrays have different dimensions, in that an array can contain an array, which can contain an array. It can be applied to shapes because the concept is the same. For example:

1 Dimensional Array (1 array):
var draw = ["p1" => 0, "p2" => 50] = A line.

2 Dimensional Array (Array within an array):
var draw = ["p1" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 0], "p2" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 0], "p3" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 50], "p4" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 50]] = A square.

3 Dimensional Array (Array within an array within an array):
var draw = ["z1" => ["depth" => 0, "p1" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 0], "p2" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 0], "p3" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 50], "p4" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 50]], "z2" => ["depth" => 50, "p1" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 0], "p2" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 0], "p3" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 50], "p4" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 50]]] = A cube, where zX holds the depth and all points of the shape at that depth.

4 Dimensional Array (Array within an array within an array within an array):

var draw = ["s1" => ["z1" => ["depth" => 0, "p1" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 0], "p2" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 0], "p3" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 50], "p4" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 50]], "z2" => ["depth" => 50, "p1" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 0], "p2" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 0], "p3" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 50], "p4" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 50]]], "s2" => var draw = ["z1" => ["depth" => 5, "p1" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 0], "p2" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 0], "p3" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 50], "p4" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 50]], "z2" => ["depth" => 55, "p1" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 0], "p2" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 0], "p3" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 50], "p4" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 50]]]] = A cube's location at two different points in time, where sX is the second at which the data was recorded.

I've applied this line of thought before in a game mechanic where you can move around, and then reverse time by holding a key. The way it works is that every second, an array is created that contains data about where the sprite is on screen at any time. When the reverse key is held, it simply goes through each array entry one-by-one and applies the data to the sprite as needed.

EDIT: I guess in a way this can be related to the hypercube thing if we assume that the lines connecting the two 3D shapes illustrate the time elapsed between the two states.

Quote from Jeff

I always thought the 4th dimension was time. 'Cause as a programmer I guess I look at everything in relatable terms. When I think of dimensions, I think of arrays. Arrays have different dimensions, in that an array can contain an array, which can contain an array. It can be applied to shapes because the concept is the same. For example:

1 Dimensional Array (1 array):
var draw = ["p1" => 0, "p2" => 50] = A line.

2 Dimensional Array (Array within an array):
var draw = ["p1" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 0], "p2" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 0], "p3" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 50], "p4" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 50]] = A square.

3 Dimensional Array (Array within an array within an array):
var draw = ["z1" => ["depth" => 0, "p1" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 0], "p2" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 0], "p3" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 50], "p4" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 50]], "z2" => ["depth" => 50, "p1" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 0], "p2" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 0], "p3" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 50], "p4" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 50]]] = A cube, where zX holds the depth and all points of the shape at that depth.

4 Dimensional Array (Array within an array within an array within an array):

var draw = ["s1" => ["z1" => ["depth" => 0, "p1" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 0], "p2" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 0], "p3" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 50], "p4" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 50]], "z2" => ["depth" => 50, "p1" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 0], "p2" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 0], "p3" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 50], "p4" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 50]]], "s2" => var draw = ["z1" => ["depth" => 5, "p1" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 0], "p2" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 0], "p3" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 50], "p4" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 50]], "z2" => ["depth" => 55, "p1" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 0], "p2" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 0], "p3" => ["x" => 50, "y" => 50], "p4" => ["x" => 0, "y" => 50]]]] = A cube's location at two different points in time, where sX is the second at which the data was recorded.

I've applied this line of thought before in a game mechanic where you can move around, and then reverse time by holding a key. The way it works is that every second, an array is created that contains data about where the sprite is on screen at any time. When the reverse key is held, it simply goes through each array entry one-by-one and applies the data to the sprite as needed.

EDIT: I guess in a way this can be related to the hypercube thing if we assume that the lines connecting the two 3D shapes illustrate the time elapsed between the two states.

I suppose dimensions could also be considered time.
Let's think about it:
4 Dimensions is brought about by connecting the points of a 3rd dimension with another 3rd dimension.
Say the points could be certain points of "Time" that allow it to move forward.
Since Time moves forward, and is scattered and connected in what would be a "Nexus" of possibility, connecting the present with possible futures could be our "points".
Which brings me to this.
If time is of 4 dimensions, then we've been experiencing it all along. But the thing is everything from the first dimension and up is capable of moving a direction, and supposedly without time, you cannot experience anything "move" because everything would appear to be fixed.
Does it means things are still moving since we are of the 3rd dimension and can move forward, backward, up, down, left, and right?

Time being the fourth dimension makes a whole lot of sense.
From a 3D perspective we know it exists, but it is the only spacial plane that we are unable to freely move through.
It seems like however, assuming that time is the fourth dimension, 4D would only allow you to move forward and backwards through time just like "space" in the second dimension.
And taking that into consideration, once you pass the fourth and move on to a fith, sixth etc. Would you continue to broaden the ways through which you could move through time, just like the ways you could move through space in the previous dimensions?
I dunno
Its interesting thinking about the possibility of moving upwards and deeper into time.
Cant really wrap my mind around how that would work.

5th dimensions is alternate realities and 6th dimension is parallel universes dun dun DUUUUNNN

Quote from Jeff

5th dimensions is alternate realities and 6th dimension is parallel universes dun dun DUUUUNNN

Those arent the same thing? .-

Im not sure about your access in direction would broaden through a higher staged.dimension.
Think of it like drawing on paper. We can make contact with it, but we cannot make what we drew 3 dimensional.
To explain this thoroughly, we'd need to actually have.a good grasp on 4-D. Who's to say time only exists in the 4th dimension, rather than from that dimension on? Do we know for sure time is 4 dimensional?

ok now what drone has said i can actually comprehend.

Quote from Drone

Those arent the same thing? .-

No, alternate realities occur in the same universe, they are just different tangents of time. Like if you rolled a 6-sided dice, there would be 6 different alternate realities created in the same universe based on the possible outcomes of that dice roll. Parallel universes are different universes altogether running along side ours, which are completely separate entities.