I have thought of a new dimension in space travel, and I mean that literally. As it stands now traveling to distant stars is impractical, but maybe what we need is some "thinking outside the box".
What I mean by "thinking outside the box is thinking outside the spatial dimensions that we inhabit".
Suppose that there was a two-dimensional being living in a two-dimensional sheet. If we had a two-dimensional plastic sheet it would, of course, have to have a slight third-dimensional thickness to it, but we can ignore that for our purposes here. Any being would always see it's surroundings as consisting as the same number of dimensions as the being itself was. If the two-dimensional being moved from one side of the sheet to the other, it would always see itself as moving in a straight line. If we bent it's two-dimensional sheet the being would be utterly unaware of the bend because it would involve a third dimension.
Since a two-dimensional being living within a two-dimensional sheet would always see itself as moving in a straight line across the sheet, being unable to perceive any curve or bend in the sheet if it was bent from outside because that would bring in another dimension that was beyond the being's number of dimensions, then what about us?
We see an essentially infinite universe consisting of three dimensions of space, four if we include the dimension of space that we perceive as time. But we have to see the universe as consisting of whatever number of dimensions we consist of, because it is not possible for us to perceive any more dimensions than that.
Could it be that, once again, we see the universe as we do not only because of what it is but also because of what we are? Like the being in the sheet we could be living in dimensions of space far beyond our four dimensions.
Why should there be three, or four, dimensions? If there can be four, then why can't there be five? If there can be five, then why can't there be six?
The lowest information state, as far as the number of dimensions goes, is an infinite number of spatial dimensions, because it avoids making a choice with regard to a finite number. That then has to be the most probable number of dimensions in the universe, an infinite number. We can only see it as having three spatial dimensions because that is the number of dimensions that we are. The matter of which we consist is scattered over three spatial dimensions.
Instead of our universe of an infinity of distance in three dimensions we may well live in a very compact universe, but consisting of an infinite number of dimensions. What we think we see as an infinite distance in three dimensions could really be a short distance but in an infinite number of dimensions.
If we consisted of an infinite number of dimensions ourselves then the universe might appear to us as a very confined, even claustrophobic, space. But it may be that it only seems infinite because it consists of an infinite number of dimensions while we are of a very limited finite number of dimensions.
To explain what I mean about how the distances in the universe might really be a short distance, but over an infinite number of dimensions, let's consider a cube with dimensions of one meter.
The distances across the cube increase if we increase the number of dimensions traversed. Crossing one dimension of the cube the distance is one meter. Crossing a diagonal of the cube, so that we are traversing two dimensions, the distance is 1.414 meters which is an increase by a factor of the square root of 2. If we cross the cube from one diagonal corner to the other, traversing three dimensions, the distance increases to 1.732 dimensions which is an increase over the one-dimension distance by a factor of the square root of 3.
So the universe could be, and likely is, consisting of much shorter distances than we perceive, but over an infinite number of dimensions. If there was a cube that was one meter square, but of an infinite number of dimensions, the distance from one diagonally opposite corner would have to be infinite, since the square root of infinity is still infinity.
Since we are incapable of perceiving any more than our own three spatial dimensions the distances across the universe will always seem to us as near-infinite distances in three dimensions, even though the distances may actually be short but in an infinite number of dimensions.
Just like the two-dimensional being in the sheet, which would always see itself as moving in a straight line across the sheet, we would be utterly unaware if our three dimensions of space were somehow "bent" relative to the much-higher dimensional background space. We could be moving in a curve, or even zig-zagging, when we are sure that we are moving in a straight line. There could be "shortcuts" across space, if only we could break out of our dimensional confinement.
Let's go back to our one-meter cube. If we go in a one-dimensional straight line between diagonally opposite corners of the cube the distance is 1.732 meters. But if we move a two-dimensional sheet across the cube, from side-to-side or bottom-to-top, the distance is only 1 meter.
This is really interesting because if we could somehow build a spacecraft that consisted of more than three dimensions, the spacecraft would move over a distance in space much faster because it would have less distance to move. The spacecraft would seem larger in our three dimensions, because we would have to move further to get across it, but the spacecraft would be able to arrive at distant points by crossing less distance.
This is in no way a matter of cosmology but of simple geometry. If going from one to two dimensions in crossing the one-meter cube decreases the distance required to be traversed by a factor of 1.732, which is the square root of 3, then building a spacecraft of eighteen dimensions, instead of the usual three, would decrease the distance that we had to travel to get anywhere by a factor of 4.36, which is the square root of 19.
This could be a revolution, not only in space travel but in all transportation. It would not necessarily require any new methods of propulsion, just to build a spacecraft with more than the usual three dimensions.
Wasn't that simple? A revolution in space travel. Unfortunately that's the easy part.
The next question is how, if we are limited to three dimensions and are completely incapable of perceiving or accessing any dimensions outside that, can we possibly access any matter outside those dimensions so that we can build our spacecraft from it?
My cosmology theory, described in detail in the posting on this blog "The Theory Of Stationary Space" July 2017, provides a starting point.
In my theory we perceive matter as consisting of particles, such as electrons, which are actually strings. We perceive such strings as particles because we can only see in three of the four dimensions over which the matter that composes our universe was scattered by the Big Bang. This does not mean that there might not be many more spatial dimensions than this, I believe that the most likely number of dimensions is an infinite number, but that our component matter is scattered over only four of them.
The fourth spatial dimension over which our component matter is scattered is the one that we perceive as time. This is the dimension along which the strings of our universe are mostly aligned. Our consciousness moves along the bundles of strings comprising our bodies and brains at what we perceive as the speed of light. This is why we can find no physical explanation for either what time is or why the speed of light is what it is.
But physicists detect a multitude of particles that are not part of our ordinary matter. These particles appear for an instant and then vanish. Ordinary physics cannot possibly explain this, what would cause particles that appear for an instant and then vanish?
My cosmology theory has a ready explanation for it. These mysterious instantaneous particles are actually strings like our component matter, but which share only one of our spatial dimensions. They do not share our time dimension, which is why they appear for only an instant as our consciousness moves past them.
This must mean that these strings are in other spatial dimensions that we cannot access but share only one of our dimensions. I find this to be the direction to look for a real revolution in space travel. It would likely be the greatest scientific breakthrough ever if we could access spatial dimensions outside our own.
These strings that we encounter only instantaneously may be scattered over more than four dimensions of space, but we encounter them in only one. They may, in turn, share only one dimension with still more strings, with which we do not share any dimensions at all. This forms a "ladder" to more and more outer dimensions.
Doesn't it make sense to look to these "particles", that seem to appear only momentarily, but could lead us to dimensions beyond our own. To begin with, this could be a great revolution in space travel.
PASSING THROUGH MATTER IN OUTER DIMENSIONS
Here is something that is really mind-bending.
Since there are strings of matter in outer dimensions, that share only one dimension with us, that means, as our consciousness moves along the bundles of strings composing our bodies and brains at what we perceive as the speed of light, we might actually be passing through matter in those outer dimensions.
When physicists detect what appears to be particles that exist only instantaneously, which are actually strings of matter that share only one dimension with us, we could well be passing right through a star whose matter shared only that one dimension with us. Heat is the kinetic energy of moving atoms and molecules but there can be no movement of those apparent particles if we share only one dimension. We would have no sensation of heat at all.
If we, with our three spatial dimensions, could move into those three dimensions, we might then pass through our own world but only one dimension of it.
The instantaneous particles that physicists can detect are strings that share only one dimension with us but the strings may not be co-dimensional with each other. Some of them may share only one spatial dimension with each other.
Clearly there is matter in outer dimensions but the matter of those dimensions may have been scattered over more, or less, than our three, four including time, dimensions. The matter may be much more sparse, or much more concentrated, than the matter in our dimensions.
The matter of those outer dimensions, while it must be composed of electric charges, may not have coagulated into the electrons, protons and, neutrons of our familiar matter.
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