The 4th dimension is BS

[Gryphon]

So I've been writing another story where one of the main plot points is that the MC and the group of intergalactic travelers travel between dimensions that follow their own very weird rules.

There comes a point where they figure out there's four types of dimensions, of course being dimensions 1-4.

1D is basically just what if everything in existence was a line.

2D is cartoons, anime, and all that junk.

3D is the world we live in.

And then there's 4D. Like what the fuck is this:

Here's the kicker. That ain't true 4D. It's 3D trying its damndest to emulate 4D. Imagine what true 4D would be like, and how everyday items would change massively in 4D, if they would even exist at all.

Here's an interesting tidbit I learned. Shadows in a 4D environment will become 3D. You know how when light hits a box, there's a 2D shadow of the box behind it, or in front of it depending on the positioning of the sun. Welp, in 4D those shadows become 3D. Imagine a cardboard box, except it ain't a cardboard box. It's a fucking shadow.

Then I heard the term surface volume. Bitch I thought surface area was a pain in school. What the fuck is a surface volume?

Now I'm having a crisis since I just learned that if humans existed in a 4D environment, we could see every single angle in a 3D environment. Much like how you can see practically every angle presented in a 2D environment, you could see every angle of a 3D object in a 4D world. We'd be the drawings on paper by that point, except technically not cause the whole point of 3D is the ability to move up and down. HOW THE SHIT DOES THAT WORK!!!

Not to mention, in a potential 4D world, we don't know exactly how that would work cause we literally do not have the extra dimension to theorize. All we have is X, Y, and Z. I don't want to think about where and how fucking angle W fits into that.

For the people saying time is the fourth dimension, go to 0:28 in this video. The dude explains it better than I can:

I wanted to do research on the potential of a 4D world, but now I'm left with an existential crisis.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

One could consider time a 4th dimension to our world.

 

[AnonUnlimited]

I think Aizen had the solution to this...

 

[Syringe]

Yeah 4D is a massive headache, but super interesting. I recommend looking at Ramiel from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Really cool with how it basically phases in and out of our 'reality' and appears like a mass of geometric objects to us.

 

[Corty]

I always thought the 4th dimension meant time…

 

[AnonUnlimited]

4th dimension if it exists isn't something we can comprehend. Dimensions are space... I think in string theory there are quarks or some sort of matter that exists in an alternate space away from the visible spectrum sort of how we can only see light in the visible spectrum. All that science stuff however is still theory and can't mathematically be proven because there is no anchoring point to start a formula.

 

[Cipiteca396]

Time is definitely the fourth.

If you want a fifth, planar realms is fine. I wanted to add that as a game mechanic for my game, once upon a time. Just shift one coordinate and be in a different reality entirely.

 

[Gryphon]

One could consider time a 4th dimension to our world.

Not really. This video explains it way better than I could though since I'm still new to the whole concept:

Where he talks about time is exactly 0:28 seconds in.

 

[Snusmumriken]

If you consider a human as a static 4D object that exists in a chunk of spacetime. (Because in 4D spacetime humans are rather immobile and static - an elongated "noodle" of our life through time with all our decisions and movements in 3D being unchanging, final, and therefore solid)

Then the shadow of that noodle at any particular time will be that living person in that time. And all activity you see them doing every second is just shadow appearing to move due to the change in the angle of 'light' that is casting said shadow

 

[georgelee5786]

My head hurts from learning that

 

[Deleted member 19066]

My head hurts from learning that

I didn't try to learn it, my head doesn't hurt at all.

I just thought, "oh, ah-huh, cool."

and then I typed this. ^

 

[Aaqil]

I wanted to do research on the potential of a 4D world, but now I'm left with an existential crisis.

Play some 4d games,
There's a bunch made by university students and/or their professors,

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

So I've been writing another story where one of the main plot points is that the MC and the group of intergalactic travelers travel between dimensions that follow their own very weird rules.

There comes a point where they figure out there's four types of dimensions, of course being dimensions 1-4.

1D is basically just what if everything in existence was a line.

2D is cartoons, anime, and all that junk.

3D is the world we live in.

And then there's 4D. Like what the fuck is this:

Here's the kicker. That ain't true 4D. It's 3D trying its damndest to emulate 4D. Imagine what true 4D would be like, and how everyday items would change massively in 4D, if they would even exist at all.

Here's an interesting tidbit I learned. Shadows in a 4D environment will become 3D. You know how when light hits a box, there's a 2D shadow of the box behind it, or in front of it depending on the positioning of the sun. Welp, in 4D those shadows become 3D. Imagine a cardboard box, except it ain't a cardboard box. It's a fucking shadow.

Then I heard the term surface volume. Bitch I thought surface area was a pain in school. What the fuck is a surface volume?

Now I'm having a crisis since I just learned that if humans existed in a 4D environment, we could see every single angle in a 3D environment. Much like how you can see practically every angle presented in a 2D environment, you could see every angle of a 3D object in a 4D world. We'd be the drawings on paper by that point, except technically not cause the whole point of 3D is the ability to move up and down. HOW THE SHIT DOES THAT WORK!!!

Not to mention, in a potential 4D world, we don't know exactly how that would work cause we literally do not have the extra dimension to theorize. All we have is X, Y, and Z. I don't want to think about where and how fucking angle W fits into that.

For the people saying time is the fourth dimension, go to 0:28 in this video. The dude explains it better than I can:

I wanted to do research on the potential of a 4D world, but now I'm left with an existential crisis.

4D is time though. Being 4D means you can time travel and shit. Being 5th dimensional means you can see all realities and outcomes and forms of you and become a mulitversal singularity across these timelines or something.

 

[Syringe]

4D is time though. Being 4D means you can time travel and shit. Being 5th dimensional means you can see all realities and outcomes and forms of you and become a mulitversal singularity across these timelines or something.

I think he means in a geometric sense, because in geometry and mathematics we have well over 4 dimensions. Also fun fact, String Theory only works in a 10, 11 or 26-Dimensional universe depending on the version.

Take this for instance. The cabai yau manifold - a compact six dimensional space.

In 4d you could theoretically move from one coordinate to another, effectively bypassing everything in between. Think of a wormhole. There are some really great games that showcase this!

 

[LilRora]

You can check out Bioshifter, it explains the 4th dimension quite neatly without going into scientific mumbo jumbo most people wouldn't understand.

Also, the way I see it, 4th dimension is time as long as we are talking about reality. To add a 4th physical dimension, you need to add something that would restrict matter to a certain plane, or you would have no 3-dimensional objects at all; it is physically impossible to insert a 3d object into 4d reality just as much as 2d object into 3d reality.

The only known possibly 2d object in the universe is a black hole, but it is only possible because time - which is directly tied to speed, representing a single physical dimension - stops working there.

If you don't restrict your 4d world in a similar manner that a black hole restricts whatever is on its surface - so ideally using a fundamental law or critical conditions, although you could replace it with a force that could be exceeeded in certain ways, allowing for movement in 4d - your world will not make sense physically. That's because just as nothing would stop a potential 2d object from moving in 3 dimensions, nothing stops a 3d object from moving in 4 dimensions unless you introduce some additional factor we don't have in our reality. It can be magic.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

So I've been writing another story where one of the main plot points is that the MC and the group of intergalactic travelers travel between dimensions that follow their own very weird rules.

There comes a point where they figure out there's four types of dimensions, of course being dimensions 1-4.

1D is basically just what if everything in existence was a line.

2D is cartoons, anime, and all that junk.

3D is the world we live in.

And then there's 4D. Like what the fuck is this:

Here's the kicker. That ain't true 4D. It's 3D trying its damndest to emulate 4D. Imagine what true 4D would be like, and how everyday items would change massively in 4D, if they would even exist at all.

Here's an interesting tidbit I learned. Shadows in a 4D environment will become 3D. You know how when light hits a box, there's a 2D shadow of the box behind it, or in front of it depending on the positioning of the sun. Welp, in 4D those shadows become 3D. Imagine a cardboard box, except it ain't a cardboard box. It's a fucking shadow.

Then I heard the term surface volume. Bitch I thought surface area was a pain in school. What the fuck is a surface volume?

Now I'm having a crisis since I just learned that if humans existed in a 4D environment, we could see every single angle in a 3D environment. Much like how you can see practically every angle presented in a 2D environment, you could see every angle of a 3D object in a 4D world. We'd be the drawings on paper by that point, except technically not cause the whole point of 3D is the ability to move up and down. HOW THE SHIT DOES THAT WORK!!!

Not to mention, in a potential 4D world, we don't know exactly how that would work cause we literally do not have the extra dimension to theorize. All we have is X, Y, and Z. I don't want to think about where and how fucking angle W fits into that.

For the people saying time is the fourth dimension, go to 0:28 in this video. The dude explains it better than I can:

I wanted to do research on the potential of a 4D world, but now I'm left with an existential crisis.

but have you ever considered how higher dimensions are basically like storage devices? Niel Degrasse tyson made a video explaining that iirc. Something about how an ant on a table has a very limited amount of space, the surface area of the table. And if you keep placing things onto that table, the available space becomes less. Now, but if you STACK those objects...i think it was paper being used in the vid...then to the ant, its like all those objects just disappeared. Or merged into one. Because they have no access or concept of a third, higher dimension.

So higher dimensions means more angles, and more angles means that higher dimensional beings could be colossal in size compared to us.

You could have a stack of paper a thousand miles high but to any 2D being it would only appear to be one. Couldnt see nor interact with that stack.

There could be a 4d being putting his phantasmal cock in my mouth right now and i'd never know it.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Here's the kicker. That ain't true 4D. It's 3D trying its damndest to emulate 4D. Imagine what true 4D would be like, and how everyday items would change massively in 4D, if they would even exist at all.

Uh, ACTCHUALLY...
It's a two dimensional representation of a three dimensional object trying to pretend to be a four dimensional object rotating through three dimensional plane.

Your computer screen is flat.

Now I'm having a crisis since I just learned that if humans existed in a 4D environment, we could see every single angle in a 3D environment. Much like how you can see practically every angle presented in a 2D environment, you could see every angle of a 3D object in a 4D world. We'd be the drawings on paper by that point, except technically not cause the whole point of 3D is the ability to move up and down. HOW THE SHIT DOES THAT WORK!!!

ACTCHUALLY...
What's going to blow your mind is that people don't see in three dimensions. The back of your eyes are flat, therefore you only see in two-dimensions. Because you have two eyes, you combine the two inputs to judge the differences and thus judge distance and depth that way.

SO, if you were a 4D being, you would need more than two eyes and then you would only see the three dimensional surface of objects, without being able to see the fourth dimensional "depth". You would need at least Three Eyes as a four dimensional being.

A method to get around this would be creating a transparent, yet partially opaque hologram so you could see the "surface" but also inside the object, then that would be one "layer" of an object. Not unlike how an MRI takes 2D "slices" of your body to see inside you.

Now what gets REAL fun is how many eyes would you need if you existed in 5 Dimensions? You would need a Fourth Eye that was INSIDE YOU, thus the four eyes would form a Tetrahedron that had 5 dimensional eyes with four dimensional retinas.

One could consider time a 4th dimension to our world.

THERE IS NO PROOF TIME EXISTS.
That clock over there? Proof of a rate of change, but not the existence of time.
FIGHT ME.

 

[owotrucked]

If you assume that shadows are projection on hyperplane, it means that you assume photons can freely travel in your 4th dimension too, and that you have sensory organs to capture that information. For consistency, you must add a hidden pair of special eyes in the ass to your characters to sense that 3d shadow.

Syringe example of Ramiel is great. It's definitely what an angry 4d rubicube would appear like in our world

I love how people make up the wildest shit for whatever in the unexplored unknown, especially paired with the devil's proof to justify their legitimacy.

There's new trade routes to india/golden land/barbarians with unlimited gold across the ocean. There are secret super advanced civilization hiding underground. There are baby universe inside black holes. But the best one? I have a huge dick in the 4th D.

 

[MajorKerina]

This makes me wonder about stories where people see fully 3D shadow people. Perhaps they’re not actually seeing a person who has a shadow but they’re seeing a shadow of someone from a higher dimension as well as they can perceive them.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

Then again, would light, sound etc even travel the same way in 2 or 4 spacial dimensions?

I wouldn't know since my physics knowledge is abysmal, and I don't really like science all that much. But I can imagine it's not difficult to generalise some equations to those dimensions, but some problems will probably not generalise that well.