posted on Dec, 27 2005 @ 09:28 PM
It's important for everyone reading/participating in this thread to remember that they should be taking what they find with more than a single grain
of salt.
First, Yarium, you've expressed some great thinking, but you're mixing in your thoughts and the known facts without differentiating them. It is very
difficult to draw the line between what you think is going on, and what is definitely going on. That's a great stroke of overconfidence, because,
while you've got some good ideas and thought going on there, it isn't necessarily all true. When something is "Just your idea" it doesn't mean
that no one else has come up with it, it means that it's never been considered/proven to be the reality, so it could have been considered and found
to be false.
The same sort of thing needs to be said to gl2, and to a lesser extent The_Renegades. I'm not attempting to call anyone down - but I've done quite a
bit of research into this area, and while I'm not nearly an expert, or a qualified physicist, I happen to know that you are all doing thought
experiments based on past thought experiments that you conducted, which were based on others, upon others, upon assumptions that you made when you
were younger, mixed in with known science of today. It could very well be perfectly right, but I would ask that you attempt to separate thought from
fact.
Now, onto some explanations of my own, which, as far as I know, are a roughed out version of the known facts.
String Theory is, at present, an untestable, unverifiable theory that attempts to unite Special Relativity with Quantum Mechanics. In order to do
this, many possible methods that all fit under the blanket "string theory" were thought of. These methods each called for the existence of extra
dimensions. Let's define what a dimension, as used in String Theory, and in most physical sciences, means.
Dimension can have two meanings - one of which is really a subset of the other. A dimension is a means of measurement, that adds detail to a specific
"location". For example, at the location (6,4) on a graph. That point is located 6 units into the positive x axis, and 4 into the positive y axis.
You could add another dimension, which would make the location more specific, (6,4,-3) - the point is not just 6 units into the positive x and 4 into
the positive y, but also exactly 3u into the negative z axis. You could add another number, and this would extend into yet another axis, and another
number, and another - an infinite number of dimensions in this method is easily possible. We, as beings that experience 3 spacial dimensions, can only
really visualise three dimensional space, though in this way, you can make n dimensional space, where n is any dimension you desire.
That is the standardised definition, and is really the mathematical definition of a dimension, of course written in my own words. Strictly in physics,
spacial dimensions are generally only assumed to exist in terms of length, width, and height, and, superseding them, a time dimension would exist. Any
further dimensions would be either spacial, time, or a transcendent type that is neither space nor time. These dimensions are not simply tools of
measurement, they are properties of the physical universe. Things that would not be dimensions: Parallel Universes. People often call parallel
universes "Alternate Dimensions", which is a misnomer and is not at all the right use for the word. Similarly, people often use Dimensions in terms
of Astral Projection, and the similarities generally end with the spelling of the word.
Now, back to the String Theory. Four main "branches" of String Theory existed for quite a while, each one requiring the addition of extra dimensions
to our universe. Variants required 10, 11, 25, or 26 dimensions. Quite a math battle was fought, and the variant that won out was 11 dimensions. It
was named M-Theory, and the M doesn't really stand for anything.
In M-Theory, the three spacial dimensions we all know and love, in addition to time, all exist. Then, there are 7 more dimensions that are curled up
around each other that exist at every 'point' in space. Strings float around in all 11 dimensions, while we can only detect 4. There has been quite
a bit of suggestion and math that seems to point to the idea that our universe is simply a piece, known as a 'brane', short for membrane, floating
in an immense multiverse, known as a 'bulk'. From here on out, everything gets fairly convoluded, and it all becomes personal speculation.
My own thoughts are that M-Theory has quite a bit going for it. I've made several modifications to it in my own head that I've brought to my nearest
physicist who couldn't find any glaring errors, but protested that he likely couldn't see them if they were there, and I agree. Until I find a
physicist to exasperate by telling him or her my crackpot theorising, I'll just research, and refine. I'd say that's good advice, which is why I
take it.