The ability to percieve a 4th dimension

[Mr. Mojo]

I've been doing some research on the perception of the 4th dimension for the past week or so. I've been interested in Theoretical Physics for a long time, and have excelled in the field.

During the reseach I came across the forums here, it seems as though there are a lot of intelligent, and polite people discussing ideas. I'd like to ask for your help/opinion with my latest question.

I have a colleague who says he's 'seen' the 4th dimension. Now before your warning bells go off about 'that's imposible', listen to what he says;

He was talking about staring at a 4 dimensional hypercube, as with all of us in the beginning it looks as though the lines are moving, seemingly randomly. If you stare long enough, you start to see that it's not moving lines at all, it's a shape...... but you just can't seem to visualize 'what' that shape is.

What he told me is that (not just him, he says this is a relatively common experience) after a time, the hypercube spins just right, it aligns itself just right, and your brain is able to make the leap of intuition that allows it to comprehend the shape it's viewing.

He describes is as seeing a cube in a cube, only that cube is the same size as the cube it's in -- yet it's inside the 1st cube. And all around it are more cubes, only they're insicde too, and the same size.

Obviously he looks at this as being an epiphany. He still can't see/visualize the shape, but he thinks that the brain is capable of it, even if they eyes aren't.

Anyway, that was a long-winded way to get to my question;

Have any of you had or know someone who claims a similar experience?

[jinydu]

I haven't, and neither have any of my math professors, although some people on this forum claim to be able to visualize 4D. In any case, I don't think it is such a big deal if one cannot visualize it; one can find out everything there is to know about 4D (or any space with any of dimensions) using pure logic, which does not rely on visualization.

[wendy]

i've been out to six dimensions. Really, you have to keep a level head on you.

[bo198214]

I would not say that I can see 4d. Though I developed a feeling for the movements in 4d.
If he is such good at 4d visualizing perhaps he has fun with the program I wrote. Its about building with 4 dimensional cubes.

[houserichichi]

I think 'seeing' and 'visualizing' are two totally different experiences. Everyone should, in theory, be able to visualize or construct the movement of a four dimensional shape emmersed in 3D through sheer imagination. Seeing a four dimensional shape, however, requires it to be real.

I can visualize a pink elephant but I haven't yet seen one.

This also doesn't prove that pink elephants and the fourth dimension don't actually exist, it just proves I haven't yet seen any.

[papernuke]

Well for who has had a similar experience, Duraultra or Jordon (real name) has. Here http://tetraspace.alkaline.org/forum/vi ... .php?t=648. Also, your friend said he saw the tesseract (hypercube, 4d cube, whatever), you see all everything of the tesseract at the same time, so he would practically be seing the front, back, top, bottom, insides, etc. at the same time, and he was probably under a drug that time .

[PWrong]

He was talking about staring at a 4 dimensional hypercube, as with all of us in the beginning it looks as though the lines are moving, seemingly randomly. If you stare long enough, you start to see that it's not moving lines at all, it's a shape...... but you just can't seem to visualize 'what' that shape is.

There's a few applets like this on the net. Just search "hypercube" in Google. There's even a little game.http://www.harmwal.nl/hypercube/

[shill]

I think it's entirely possible to visualize a 4D object being projected into 3D (it's harder if it's projected into 2D), just as it is possible to visualize a 3D object projected into 2D.

There was a man, Sidney Bradford, who was blind most of his life, but had a cornea transplant to restore his sight. For this man, it was impossible to visualize a 3D cube projected into 2D (Necker cube). He simply saw two squares connected with diagonal lines; he couldn't make that leap of intuition that makes those "diagonal" lines orthogonal to the lines that define the squares.

Perception is a funny thing.

[Batman3]

I am making a distinction between 'seeing' and 'visualizing'. In seeing I visualize based on an authority other than myself. On earth, in New York, USA, I see material objects. The objects represent variations from the flat 3-space of (w=0)(x<>0),(x<>0,z<>0). The objects are to some extent determined by the human authors of decisions. The word 'authority' comes from 'author' like author of a book.
I can visualize based on my own authority. This could be fantasizing about 3-space space stations. What I visualize can even have the perceptions of red, green, blue, etc. to some extent. I have more freedom to break the laws of normal reality in fantasy space, but I am limited because I don't have tangible physicle manual access to the space so I am more like a visiting ghost and have no other authorities there to help.
Similarly I can fantasize about 4d-stories which I can make up. The plot in 4d was rather thin.
So when I visualize a hypercube I use this imagination self-authority of mine to control my vision. The hypercube is not very much in my imagination with all the right rightangles because I am inadequate.

BUt I CAn imagine a hypercube, not moving, and residing in 4-space. I visualize it being 2 cubes, parallel with the one cube in this 3-space and the other in a parallel 3-space at (hopefully) an equal distance from this space as the cubes are wide. Naturally there are 6 cubes connecting the sides of the cubes together. Btw I have never looked at a hypercube collapsed into 3space or 2space and been caused to see motion of the lines. I don't know why that should happen to anyone.