The Known Universe and Beyond - A "Fishy" Analogy

An Analogy of "Fishy" Proportions

I was doing some thinking the other day and this thought popped in my
head. We, as humans, know of three spacial dimensions and one of time.
Our ability to see PAST these dimensions is hindered only by our minds.

Here is the analogy I have come up with.

If you were a fish in the sea and were capable of advanced cognitive
processes, you would know of three spacial dimensions and maybe if
the brain allowed, one of time. BUT, think of everything else in the
universe that they will NEVER be able to see, let alone even the
slightest bit comprehend. Here is the explanation.


Aquatic Life and Their World

The sea bed would be equivilant to our land, some fish burrow, which would be akin to our digging. The actual waters of the ocean would be like our air. Some fish are specificly bottom dwellers, these are the "humans" so to speak. Unable to "fly", yet they can see other fish swimming around, flying.

Now, the fish who are able to swim, are aware of the bottom of the ocean,
which is their land - as well as the waters they swim in. Now, some fish
with "gifted" abilities are able to go even a step further. These fish
are deemed "astronauts" in their world. They speak of a place far out
of the reach of the bottom dwellers, and would be considered a nut job
by many of the even smartest organisms who are "land" based.

To take it even a step further, is OUR outer space. This would be a
completely unknown, inconcievable idea to even the "astronaut" fish
that are able to go beyond the known waters into an unknown world
above them. But because they cannot even fathom the idea of anything
beyond that world, it does not mean it dosent exist. It just means
their perception of the world is limited due to the nature of their
being.

So, say we were to take the smartest fish in the universe. We brought
him aboard our space shuttle and took him into a world even further
beyond the furthest reaches of any other sea based species, outer
space. This fish on his return, would speak of marvelous things, a
world beyond even the unknown world. Branded a lunatic and scoffed at
by the population, his crazy experience is deemed insanity.

This, in my opinion, in just like how us humans are unable to even
fathom the idea of other dimensions, worlds, and universes that lay
beyond the boundries of our minds. Maybe one day, us as "fish", will come
into contact with a "human" that takes us beyond the boundires of
anything we can ever imagine.

Just because we cannot see it, measure it, touch it, hear it, or
know if it - dosent mean its not there.

What do you think?

I think this is not the right forum this, Skunk Works would be better IMO, but what you say is very plausible.

I guess that we as a race are going to evolve in time, and would not be impossible to contemplate what you are envisioning, it might be happening already who knows. Take for example people that the IQ of a genius, those people now are few, may be in the future the entire race will posses that kind of gift.

I also believe there are many factors that hinder our colective advancement as a race, if those were taken out of the way or resolve some how, we would have accomplish many things already IMO.

There is an excellent short film about 10th dimension. Of course it is still human mind, but lets try to think from that poin of view. Here is the website www.tenthdimension.com...
we can also discuss on this.

I think you have a nice analogy there. It's roughly equivalent to Plato's Cave Analogy except that you given it more dimensions. Thanks!

I've been reading Brian Greene lately. I finished The Elegant Universe and am reading The Fabric of the Cosmos. The former is also a 3 hour Nova program available to watch free online. He is one of the original researchers on String Theory, which involves ten or even eleven dimensions. The ones beyond four, however, are extremely tiny and can't be 'used' to postulate 'aliens from the other dimension.' Nevertheless, it does open up the possibility of a multi-verse where other 'branes' (from the word 'membrane') could exist and serve essentially the same purpose. The Nova program even has a skit where Greene picks up an inter-dimensional telephone and talks with a green skinned 'Grey' who admonishes him never to call when the Simpsons is on. Of course, they had to make a joke of it, but the implication is clear. If you want to postulate an 'inter-dimensional' theory of EBE, String and M theory is clearly a place to investigate.

String Theory is not 100% accepted mostly because it defies experimentation to prove its points. The 'strings' are so tiny that they are beyond our ability to measure them or their results. But the mathematics in String Theory does a good job of reconciling quantum mechanics and relativity, which are mutually incompatible. That has been a big problem in physics which has been kind of ignored because no one could see a way around it. String Theory appears to provide an answer.

The main point is that modern physics does not rule out the possibility of the inter-dimensional theory and, in fact, is pointing to it rather dramatically. It also lays the groundwork to support speculation in a great many topics that could fall within its aegis, which I will leave mostly to the imagination. Suffice it to say that those people who keep saying we must reconcile science and religion (as the ETs allegedly keep telling us) may have a way to do that using String Theory as a foundation.

I highly recommend watching the Nova special. If that turns you on, get the books. They are slow going sometimes for a non-physicist, but worth the effort. For example, Greene gives one of the best explanations of Relativity and the limitations imposed by the Speed of Light I've ever read.

[edit on 9/6/2007 by schuyler]

Actually, its funny you mention that. I have read Elegant Universe, which is a great book btw, as well as watched the Nova video. I would love to discuss them in a different thread, but trying to keep this one on the topic in the OP.

I have never heard of Plato's Cave Theory but I am going to read up on that now. Also, if a moderator deems that this thread is better suited in skunk words, please feel free to move it to there. I was just wondering what the rest of the ATS community thought of my "theory" if you will, of the mind and how we concieve reality. A reality that may be FAR different then how we envision it, due to our limited understanding.

I would love to hear some more posts from you all regarding the OP, thanks so much for taking the time to read this.

[edit on 7-9-2007 by deadline527]