Philosophy of a Quarkington
A long time ago, I stumbled upon a belief,... it is somehow guided by the theory of relativity, and by the Jim Croce song, time in a bottle. The belief is simple: that if we are nothing else, we are time bottles. Perhaps only cast upon a lonely sea, with some vague hope that there is another shore. But nevertheless this is what we are.
The theory of relativity states that as a body approaches the speed of light time slows down; but it also states that the object becomes progressively 'flatter'; i.e. becomes two dimensional. It sort of states that you can never actually travel at the speed of light. Nevertheless, there are objects that do travel at the speed of light, and these objects are by definition 'flat'. They also are by definition 'out of time'; i.e. they exist in a universe 'without time'. Oddly enough though, they also exist in a universe with 'time' as a dimension.
I have sometimes wondered if I could stand on a flat photon, and ask it some questions, I would ask it about time, and get a blank stare; I would also ask it about its speed, but seeing as speed by definition contains the element of time (i.e. miles per hour/second, what have you), I would also get a blank stare. So, if instead of 'some questions', I was only allowed, by the powers that be, a single question, I would ask what it knows about distance. My imagination tells me that the photon would break out in a grin, and explain about the infinite vectors of distance. But my imagination may be fanciful here. The photon may still only exhibit the dreaded blank stare.
Anyway I want the photon to know about the distance it has travelled, but I also want it to know about the direction. It is a pleasant thought to think that the photon from some distant galaxy travelled all that distance, just to land on my retina; I want the photon to know that it chose this direction, and that it knew there were an infinite number of other paths it could have chosen. I also want it to know that there were an infinite number of other directions it could have chosen, that were not part of a 'flat' universe; i.e. that there were three dimensions to this universe; not just two. That besides going east and west, north and south, and around a compass, that it knew it could climb stairs or shoot off towards the moon like a rocket.
Now you may wonder why I would care about whether the flat photon is aware of the three dimensional universe it inhabits (remember it doesn't have time). It may be that the photon only perceives one dimension, i.e. the direction it is going in ->; but like a tipped football, a photon's path may be changed; i.e. by bouncing off a wall, passing through a lens, passing by a star; my hope is that the photon knows that the path was changed...
Why is this significant you say...? For me it would make me feel akin to the photon, because like the two dimensional object existing in a three dimensional universe, my initial perception of my existence is that I am a three dimensional object existing in a four dimensional universe; i.e.: I am a mass of 218 pounds (I'm sorry, I realise pounds take another factor into account; i.e. gravity, but I don't know how many kilograms I am and I don't want to do the math) walking around between the years 1953 and now. It is significant to me because it would also make me believe in a progression: i.e. single dimension objects exist in a two dimensional universe; two in a three; three in a four, etc... It also begs the question, am I only a three dimensional object? I see a rock, or understand a atom of hydrogen, is three dimensional, and these are difined only in there relationship to time (oh and by their mass of course (and oddly enough distance) (i.e. that e=mc2 thing).) But these are not the same thing that I am, which gets us back to that whole Jim Croce thing, that one of the dimensions of who I am is time. That besides my 218 pounds I have 47 years to measure out on a ruler; also my height, breadth, etc. If the progression were be extrapolated therefore, I am a four dimensional object existing in a fifth dimensional universe. And what is that fifth dimension, you ask? Simply, life.
And so like the photon grinning at it's infinite directions in space, I, you, we all should be grinning about the infinite number of directions we can travel through life. But also, and this is probably the most important thing, that like the photon existing in a universe that has a dimension of time that it is not aware of, like the rock living in the universe with a dimension of life that it is not aware of, that we, life, most likely live in a universe that has many more supra-dimensions that we are not aware of. Which also gets us back to that e=mc2 thing. That if the rock owes its existence to the two dimensional object of light, and we somehow owe are existence to three dimensional objects known as atoms, that perhaps there is some supradimensional object, that owes it's existence (is constructed of) the 5 dimensional object of life, or lives; that my miniscule 218x47 year object, may in someway contribute the construction of a miniscule nerve cell on the backbone of for lack of a better word, the 'god' object.
And so that is my whole philosophy in a handful of paragraphs, though it doesn't really explain anything...
A flat object is a two dimensional object; think of a plain, Kansas if you will; you can go north and south or even to Iowa, but you can't go to the moon, at least not without rocket science.
The theory of relativity states that as a body approaches the speed of light time slows down; but it also states that the object becomes progressively 'flatter'; i.e. becomes two dimensional. It sort of states that you can never actually travel at the speed of light. Nevertheless, there are objects that do travel at the speed of light, and these objects are by definition 'flat'. They also are by definition 'out of time'; i.e. they exist in a universe 'without time'. Oddly enough though, they also exist in a universe with 'time' as a dimension.
I have sometimes wondered if I could stand on a flat photon, and ask it some questions, I would ask it about time, and get a blank stare; I would also ask it about its speed, but seeing as speed by definition contains the element of time (i.e. miles per hour/second, what have you), I would also get a blank stare. So, if instead of 'some questions', I was only allowed, by the powers that be, a single question, I would ask what it knows about distance. My imagination tells me that the photon would break out in a grin, and explain about the infinite vectors of distance. But my imagination may be fanciful here. The photon may still only exhibit the dreaded blank stare.
Anyway I want the photon to know about the distance it has travelled, but I also want it to know about the direction. It is a pleasant thought to think that the photon from some distant galaxy travelled all that distance, just to land on my retina; I want the photon to know that it chose this direction, and that it knew there were an infinite number of other paths it could have chosen. I also want it to know that there were an infinite number of other directions it could have chosen, that were not part of a 'flat' universe; i.e. that there were three dimensions to this universe; not just two. That besides going east and west, north and south, and around a compass, that it knew it could climb stairs or shoot off towards the moon like a rocket.
Now you may wonder why I would care about whether the flat photon is aware of the three dimensional universe it inhabits (remember it doesn't have time). It may be that the photon only perceives one dimension, i.e. the direction it is going in ->; but like a tipped football, a photon's path may be changed; i.e. by bouncing off a wall, passing through a lens, passing by a star; my hope is that the photon knows that the path was changed...
Why is this significant you say...? For me it would make me feel akin to the photon, because like the two dimensional object existing in a three dimensional universe, my initial perception of my existence is that I am a three dimensional object existing in a four dimensional universe; i.e.: I am a mass of 218 pounds (I'm sorry, I realise pounds take another factor into account; i.e. gravity, but I don't know how many kilograms I am and I don't want to do the math) walking around between the years 1953 and now. It is significant to me because it would also make me believe in a progression: i.e. single dimension objects exist in a two dimensional universe; two in a three; three in a four, etc... It also begs the question, am I only a three dimensional object? I see a rock, or understand a atom of hydrogen, is three dimensional, and these are difined only in there relationship to time (oh and by their mass of course (and oddly enough distance) (i.e. that e=mc2 thing).) But these are not the same thing that I am, which gets us back to that whole Jim Croce thing, that one of the dimensions of who I am is time. That besides my 218 pounds I have 47 years to measure out on a ruler; also my height, breadth, etc. If the progression were be extrapolated therefore, I am a four dimensional object existing in a fifth dimensional universe. And what is that fifth dimension, you ask? Simply, life.
And so like the photon grinning at it's infinite directions in space, I, you, we all should be grinning about the infinite number of directions we can travel through life. But also, and this is probably the most important thing, that like the photon existing in a universe that has a dimension of time that it is not aware of, like the rock living in the universe with a dimension of life that it is not aware of, that we, life, most likely live in a universe that has many more supra-dimensions that we are not aware of. Which also gets us back to that e=mc2 thing. That if the rock owes its existence to the two dimensional object of light, and we somehow owe are existence to three dimensional objects known as atoms, that perhaps there is some supradimensional object, that owes it's existence (is constructed of) the 5 dimensional object of life, or lives; that my miniscule 218x47 year object, may in someway contribute the construction of a miniscule nerve cell on the backbone of for lack of a better word, the 'god' object.
And so that is my whole philosophy in a handful of paragraphs, though it doesn't really explain anything...
A flat object is a two dimensional object; think of a plain, Kansas if you will; you can go north and south or even to Iowa, but you can't go to the moon, at least not without rocket science.
posted by quantom qurkington at 7:26 PM
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