Are We 4-Dimensional Instead of 3?

[Selastan]

I've been thinking about this for a while...a 2 Dimensional being should have no ability to comprehend the concept of a Z Axis. A square shouldn't know what the hell "up" is, as it can't perceive up or down. We have always though we lived in third dimension, where we can understand 3 axes, but the fourth dimension, Time, is understandable to us. We can see it, observe it, and even measure it, yet we can't manipulate it. But why? If we can walk side to side, forward and back, and up and down, whats stopping us moving through time, or at least observing different places in time? According to the theory of relativity, time and space are one. So since we can observe two places at the same time, why can't we observe two times at the same place? Time manipulation has even observed, and breaking the speed of light should theoretically cause time to move backwards relative to the observer (That also explains the infamous "flying around the world to reverse time" in Superman, he didn't reverse the Earth's rotation to change time, he was just flying faster than light, making it looklike the Earth was spinning backwards. fun fact!).

[Zulandia]

Time is not a spatial dimension. 3D refers to the spatial dimension /thread.

[Selastan]

Time is not a spatial dimension. 3D refers to the spatial dimension /thread.

Time and space are one.

[StayTuned]

Well, yes. We live in 4 dimensions, but can actively only move through 3. Time and space are bound together, Spacetime, and as such, for practical matters, we can say that we do still live in only 3 dimensions, as the 4th (time) cannot be influenced by us in any meaningful way.

You could bend space with magnets in an attempt to also curve time back into itself, but all attempts to do so have been utterly unsuccessful.

[Zulandia]

Time and space are one.

No. It sounds like you stumbled on an article about Minkowski space and thought you understood it (you didn't).

[Abajaba]

I've been thinking about this for a while...a 2 Dimensional being should have no ability to comprehend the concept of a Z Axis.

A 2 dimensional being experiences the Z axis like we experience movement in space time. It could theoretically understand moving along that axis, as it's state does change. It just wouldn't be able to manipulate that movement.

[Spriestlawl]

No, not from a physics perspective.

A better example to show this is using your z-axis idea. So a 2D object can't manifest over the course of the z-plane. It exists solely within that plane. For instance, if we have a square of 2x2 units with a corner on the 0,0 point. It doesn't matter if we change that reference frame to include that the object is actually at z=1. It's still a 2D square with no actual interaction with the Z-axis. This is important conceptually because "We" as humans are identical. Time is instanced. Every unit of it we only exist in the 3D. We have no actual interaction with time, same as a square has no interaction with in the z-axis. Over the entirety of the human life cycle though you'll see each unit of time as an actual step and not a fluid existence.

NOWWWWWW, that being said, there's a lot of philosophical theory about the existence and such that is quite interesting. Even a lot that deal with similar concepts as this..

As for your understanding of time, you're confusing a lot of different topics of relativity. Essentially why this is important is because you're altering the perspective of time steps between two objects. That doesn't mean we are operating in 4D though. It's a matter of scaling between perspectives.


EDIT: TLDR in order to be a 4D object with time we would have to exist and interact at multiple time steps at the same time.

[Zython]

Time is not a spatial dimension. 3D refers to the spatial dimension /thread.

Time is orthogonal to space, making it another dimension.

[Garnier Fructis]

Time and space are one.

Time and space are not the same, and do not behave the same way in special relativity. Minkowski space does not work like Euclidean space.

[Spriestlawl]

Time is orthogonal to space, making it another dimension.

Time is not always orthogonal to space. It depends on the metrics of the coordinate system you're using.

[StayTuned]

No. It sounds like you stumbled on an article about Minkowski space and thought you understood it (you didn't).

Time and space are one..... They're not the same, but they're bound together. You change space, you change time within that space

[Abajaba]

^Has a nice breakdown of your question starting at 2:40 and ending at 3:30. Should clear up any of your confusion.

[Spriestlawl]

Time and space are one..... They're not the same, but they're bound together. You change space, you change time within that space

not exactly. It depends on the coordinate system. Time can be an interval which is entirely independent of space. Thus it can in fact be orthogonal but depending on the system it might not be.

[Linkedblade]

We cant "travel" through time as it isn't a spacial dimension. That's why it's called "space and time" and not just "space."

Time isn't orthogonal to the three spacial dimensions.

[StayTuned]

not exactly. It depends on the coordinate system. Time can be an interval which is entirely independent of space. Thus it can in fact be orthogonal but depending on the system it might not be.

The coordinate system reality uses... how about that one...

[Tradewind]

This is the angriest nerd thread ever.

[Concequence]

but the fourth dimension, Time, is understandable to us.

No. http://miegakure.com/

Think of the fourth dimension like the "Zelda: A Link to the Past", Dark World. In this there are two "layers" to the fourth dimension, but ultimately the fourth dimension could be an infinite alternate "heres". The distance between this here, and the dark here. Is the measurement of distance.

Miegakure gives it a more concrete distance. Think of the game Fez. A 2-dimensional being transversing a three dimensional world. This is the stepping stone to Miegakure, in which a three dimensional being can transverse a four dimensional world.

[StayTuned]

This is the angriest nerd thread ever.

When did you become an unstoppable force....

[Tradewind]

When did you become an unstoppable force....

I dunno what was I before? AN immovable object?

ja ja ja

[StayTuned]

I dunno what was I before? AN immovable object?

ja ja ja

What happens when the unstoppable force hits the immovable object? That's the real question here.