Quantum Physics 123: Monday 7 November

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

[The Doctor is pleased to find that he has a new desk, new chair, and clean floor this morning. This would be brilliant if the room didn't still smell of bleach...but one can't win at everything. He eyeballs under the desk before changing his mind and sitting down on top of it. His expression can be best described as 'jovial confusion'.]

Morning all. Again, my apologies for last week--though I do believe I spoke to all of you who were present in person. [His glance falls particularly upon Sam and Jack.] Today I plan to break your brains upon the spiked wheel of dimensionality.

Mathematically speaking, one can have an infinite number of dimensions--as in Banach space. However, for practical application in daily living, most beings apply three or four. Three, of course, is the reality that we all exist in, and the fourth relates to time.

The problem with the latter is the fact that it's impossible for the human brain to visualise, other than in three dimensional slices. If we lived in a two dimensional world, you would see a cube as a square, correct? Only seeing a two dimensional slice of it. The same, many theorise, is applicable to the fourth dimension. Everything we see is only a three dimensional slice of what exists in four dimensions. Everything exists in time and then ceases.

So this helps us regarding time travel how, exactly? [He rests his elbow on his thigh, and his chin on top of his fist.]

If one pictures the tesseract ((see the middle picture)), one can see oneself as anywhere on the very outside. That is where you are in space and time. If you travel to the inside, either one dimension's worth or two, you can come back out at a far away point having travelled less distance than one would need to get there in the standard way. That is, by living, which only allows travel in one direction in the fourth dimension. Some theorise that time travel can best be attained by this route.

Any questions? [wide smile]



((OOC: Yes. This is weird science, but it's built off of actual theories. Just don't take my/Ten's word for it in real life, mmkay?))

Comments

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

*stares, her mouth open slightly. She also totally doesn't have a prominent hickey on her neck, that she didn't even try to hid because she's kinda proud of it. Nope. Not at all. She hopes someone will ask a question that could possibly explain what was just said, but she can't currently wrap her brain around enough of the concept to even do that*

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam considers the question. "I think that, in many ways, the human eye's inability to perceive greater dimensionality beyond our own is a hindrance to time travel, not a help. Put simply, we can't see where we're going, and can't pick the easiest, or safest, route to get there. We're flying blind every time we attempt time travel because of human limitations."

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

John thinks for a moment. "Well, if humans from Earth are the ones doing the time travelling and can only see something familiar in 3 dimensional form, perhaps it would make them more comfortable and not freak them out when something 4 dimensional pops up? That's just a comfort level thing of course."

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

[The Doctor smiles, pleased.] Good thinking, Ms Carter. Would you say that human sensory limitations also hinder the creation of technology that would allow time travel?

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

[Brow furrowed, is thinking aloud.] Well... if you take something that you cannot see any other way and cut it up into slices that you *can* see, then you can extrapolate what the whole would be from the slices. Molecular transport can't handle a whole person, but it can break a person down into parts it *can* comprehend and process them.

[Realizes that he has just said.] Ur. Theoretically. Theoretical molecular transport.

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

Good thought, Mr Crichton. Though oftentimes a traveller will need to get out of his or her comfort zone.

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

[The Doctor looks concerned.] Did you need help, Ms Cally?

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

[He receives a curious look.] But would this extrapolation always be correct, Mr Harkness?

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

Well... why not? If all the pieces are correct, then the extrapolation should be, right? [Grimaces, answers himself.] ...always assuming you get the pieces in the right order, right?

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

Could you go over that again, sir? In smaller words? I'm getting caught up in the language and can't see the concept.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam overhears this and shudders. That's a pretty big assumption.

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

That's the problem. If one doesn't have enough of the puzzle, or it all looks the same except for minor details--very crucial ones--it can't be made at all.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"I think that it definitely puts some stumbling blocks on the way to humans creating that technology," Sam said, looking a little disgruntled because she hadn't thought of this particular hitch in figuring out the 'gate system, "But the rules of physics should still apply--just because we can't see a cell or a quark with the human eye doesn't mean they're not there. We just need to create tools to adapt to our particular failings as a species."

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

Tools to help one sense beyond three dimensions? That could be a steep technological slope. [Not TOO smug, just curious. Really.]

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam bristled a little--she thought she was being teased, but she couldn't see it. "Well, of course it could. But that doesn't make it impossible, does it? If we stopped doing things because they were complicated...well, I can't even imagine what would happen, then."

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

John nods. "Oh, I agree on that. But the process of actually travelling through time, depending on the means of travel, might be a little scary in the first place. Travelling through time in a totally new dimension? Might be a lot scary. It's going to be freaky enough when getting to the location you've travelled to, shouldn't the journey be something familiar?"

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, however, seeing something familiar indicates the presence of more ominous factors.

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

Of course, Ms Carter. But sometimes even human resolve fails in the case of something this difficult.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"I suppose that's true. So are you saying as limited humans, we shouldn't even make the attempt at the fourth dimension?"

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

[Nice twist of his words.] Not at all. I'm merely asking if you believe that it could be possible for humans to succeed, on their own terms.

[lady-jessica-bg.livejournal.com]

I think it's a bit of a problem when one tries to represent a four dimensional object in a two dimensional plane. You might as well use a line to represent a cube.

[bluemanoncampus.livejournal.com]

"I agree that a planar representation of a 4-dimensional object eliminates many aspects of it. A better example, in my mind, would be a painting by the early 20th-century artist Picasso entitled Corpus Hypercubus (http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/usem/Origin/notes/corpus/dali_corpus_hypercubus_lg.jpg)."

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

((Psst. It's by Dali.))

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

[He explains it, slower, and more carefully.] ((Because his mun is too lazy to do so.))

[bluemanoncampus.livejournal.com]

"My thanks for the correction, sir. I misspoke."

[soniabelmont.livejournal.com]

At the risk of sounding stupid, Sonia tentatively raises her hand.

"I'm confused sir- please, tell me if I'm not thinking over this right. If this fourth dimension is really...spherical, in a vay...then like space, it is possible to go so far that you end up vhere you started? That is, if time is not a linear thing?"

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

It's not so much spherical as an extension of that which is three-dimensional, Ms Belmont. It's beyond spherical.