..Not in the least bit Pynchonic -- space

[Ian Livingston]

This thread seems to me to be discussing up to 5-d space in 3-d terms,
plus time, whether or not it is a true "dimension." Is it possible to
talk about 5-d in 3-d terms? Can we describe a third dimension in
strictly second dimension terms? As Laura notes, quantum models begin
to explore what may be necessary footwork to start a languaging
capability that might make it possible for us to assimilate dimensions
beyond the 3 + time. Until that is established, it behooves us to keep
the book open, and move, catlike (?), through what is with care in
mind. When we meet someone doing the Yashmeen blink, we can start
talking about dimensional leaps.

Still, though, as a matter of entertaining thought experiments, this
is a fun exercise y'all have been carrying on.

On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 10:21 AM,  <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
> But how real is the real?  Are atoms real?  We can infer their structure, but not view it directly.  The model that many of us here were raised on, the solar system analog, is just plain wrong.  Still, it was an introduction, a useful crutch, to get us (as school kids) thinking about atoms.  The quantum model may be closer to reality, but it "feels" much more abstract. Imagining a two-dimensional world is beyond our abilities, but only if we think about it too much.  If we accept it, at face value, as a Flatlands-style flat world, then it's a useful crutch for thinking about the concept of dimensions.
>
> Laura
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>>From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
>>Sent: Feb 7, 2012 10:59 AM
>>To: P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>Subject: Re: ..Not in the least bit Pynchonic -- space
> ace, the same you?
>>
>>What I am saying here is just that the real trumps the mathematical model, That the coordinate system of thought , for example, has qualities that don't accord with actual space-time qualities as they can be experienced and experimentally tested.
>



-- 
"Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant