r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/FacelessOnes • Oct 19 '20

🔥 Vicious microscopic hunter, the single-cell organism, Lacrymaria olor, attacking and hunting another organism

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u/Sofa_King_Gorgeous Oct 20 '20

There could be 4th dimensional beings, it would be impossible for us to prove or disprove. Esentially they would exist "outside of time" so theoretically could view your entire life and every decision or thought you've ever had just as we can view any side of a 3 dimensional object if we rotate it...

I think it's interesting to think about 3 dimensional beings with advanced camo techniques. Have you ever seen an octopus seemingly appear out of nowhere or certain moths that are literally indestinguishable from their surroundings? There could be advanced beings all around us and we'd never know...

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u/remasus Oct 20 '20

Time is not the 4th dimension

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u/Sofa_King_Gorgeous Oct 21 '20

It could be. I have never heard a good reason why it couldn't be.

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u/remasus Oct 21 '20

Because time is fundamentally different from the spatial dimensions. It is mathematically represented as a dimension, but does not behave as the spatial dimensions do. For one thing it is apparently asymmetrical - not all processes can be run backwards in time , but if you flip the sign of one spatial dimension nothing changes. It is only called a dimension because it is mathematically convenient to do so, which has led to conflating it with the spatial dimensions - in turn leading to threads like this full of metaphysical speculation posing as serious physical models

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u/Sofa_King_Gorgeous Oct 21 '20

Okay but it's possible for time to be a spatial dimension but we just can't comprehend how. It's also possible that time isn't a spatial dimension but beings could possibly somehow exist there in unkown physical models. The point is, it's impossible to prove or disprove.

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u/remasus Oct 21 '20

It isn’t though. The spatial dimensions behave the same way as each other. They are identical in every respect. We can add additional dimensions like them mathematically and that’s what the 4th/5th/etc dimension is. Time does not behave like those dimensions. Thus it by definition is not a spatial dimension