The Amazing Fourth Dimension

                                         
I watched the brilliant film called Interstellar, by Christopher Nolan, recently. As is typical with his films, it was a cerebral masterpiece and left me thinking about it for many hours to come. This film is also half the reason for me writing this article. The other half is thanks to the impending exams and my mathematics syllabus having a topic called Basis and Dimensions.

I would like to begin by talking a bit about dimensions. A dimension is defined as "the minimum number of co- ordinates that are necessary to accurately represent an object in a certain space." So going by that definition, we can say that a simple line, is a 1-D object; a square or circle, is a 2-D object; and a sphere,a cube, a human being, or practically anything that you see around yourself, is a 3-D object.

So, we obviously live in a very three- dimensional world because all objects around us, clearly have a certain height, length and width. So, these can be called the three spatial dimensions. Here is a picture to give you a better idea:

We have dealt with three dimensions. Now consider time as a dimension.

Imagine a cube, which is a 3-D object. Now imagine the same cube but with five minutes having passed. If you now join each and every vertex of the original cube to each and every vertex of the cube from five minutes ago, you have something of a four- dimensional graph where the cube(3-D object) has been plotted against the passage of time. This image will help you get a brief idea.

The grey cube is the original cube and the black one is the same cube, only five minutes later; the red lines being the connection between the two cubes. The above object then is a four- dimensional object where the red lines represent the passage of time. Hopefully, now you will have a better idea of four dimensions.

Fancy yourself to be a square who lives in a fantasy world called Flatland. Everything in this world has just two dimensions- length and width. The idea of height or depth is completely alien to you. Let's say a 3-D object- a ball, decides to pay a visit to Flatland one day. The ball passes through your world, which is a plane. As it passes through Flatland, you will not experience it as a ball. You will only see a series of circles of varying sizes appearing and disappearing. 

Applying the same concept to our own three- dimensional world, we can ask a very valid question. What if ghosts or paranormal experiences, are just four- dimensional beings passing through our 3-D world? Just as the dwellers of Flatland could only see circles appearing out of absolutely nowhere and then disappearing into nothingness, what if the things we call ghosts, are also just visitors from the fourth dimension? 

Reports of ghosts, apparitions, poltergeists, specters and the lot, are also along similar lines- they appear and disappear. Our population is divided between believers and non- believers. I consider myself to be a non- believer as well since I certainly do not think that we magically get converted into spirits and ghosts after dying. Most ghost-busters, psychics and exorcists are nothing but charlatans who prey on the fear and naivete of the more gullible part of the human race. However, there could very well be at least some gifted people, who possess the ability to feel things in 4-D and hence, be able to communicate with four- dimensional objects/beings. These 4-D beings could exert a force and cause a chair to fly across the room(I plead guilty to filminess :P), or they could even be humans from the future who are trying to help us and catch our attention through these flying objects; although that would be a pretty morbid idea of getting attention. Although we must be skeptical about these psychics trying to solve our 'problems', we must also not blindly dismiss them as frauds. Surely, more investigation and research needs to be done in the field of dimensions.

Now you would ask, " How could it be humans from the future?'. Well, like I explained above, the tracking of a 3-D object through the course of time, forms a 4-D object. Similarly, we can think of our entire life as a 4-D object. If future human beings master the science of time- travel and gain better knowledge about extra dimensions, they could very well access a certain part of a person's life and interact with that part. Just imagine how fun and exciting it would be to see someone's life as a shape. You could send messages to the past or even scare the nosy neighboring aunty for fun's sake, and they would consider you to be a ghost or even God. You could even make airplanes and ships vanish and your actions will then result in the Bermuda Triangle. The possibilities would be endless.

On a concluding note, I urge all of you reading this to spend at least some part of the 4-D figure that is your life, thinking about this amazing domain of science. Also, you should watch the film Interstellar NOW if you haven't already watched it. Do keep your eyes open the next time you see or feel a ghost. Who knows, it might be a Cooper from the future trying to give you the solution to the the present biggest puzzle in physics.

Do leave your views and comments. I would love to hear your opinion on this.

Cheers! :)