Comment on If simulation is possible, we could upgrade reality to 4D
ApollosArrow@lemmy.world 1 month agoI’ve always been fascinated by 4D, but a question just came to mind. Would we gain anything by being able to perceive that extra dimension living only in a 3D world? Is there anything we are currently not seeing that may exist in our world? Would we just have x-ray vision?
kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 1 month ago
If there were a 4th spatial dimension and you could see in 4 dimensions, yes, you could see the inside of some things that are enclosed in 3 dimensions. It wouldn’t be like x-ray vision exactly though. Think about a sphere in 3d. It is enclosed. When you take 2d projections of the sphere by slicing cross-sections of the ball, from a 2d observer on that plane, they would also see an enclosed circular object. But from the 3rd dimensional observer looking down at that cross section they can see everything enclosed in the circle. From the 4th dimension, then it stands to reason they would have a similar view of a 3 dimensional objects innards. But rather than seeing through the object like in an x-ray, they just see the whole thing laid out in every detail at once like we see the insides of the 2d circle.
barsquid@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I think it would depend on how the shapes extend into the 4th dimension.
Where the 2D slice is two circles: if in 3D we have a sphere inside a sphere the inside is occluded, but if we have a ball inside a cylinder the inside is visible from two ends.
Likewise where the 3D objects are a ball inside a ball, they may be two 4D spheres or one might be more like a cylinder.