Time Is Not the Fourth Dimension

Philip Dhingra
Jul 26, 2017 · 1 min read

Can we really call time the fourth dimension? If that were true, we would be 4D centipedes, with each segment representing a 3D slice of who we are at any given moment. If you live for 80 years, your centipede would be 80 years long. But if this were true, collisions with four-dimensional objects should rotate past or future 3D slices of yourself into the present. If you were to trip on a 4D apple, your centipede would twist in four dimensions so that parts of your past or future selves would stumble into the present. Apparently, this doesn’t happen. Physicists respond that time is a special…

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Philip Dhingra

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Author of Dear Hannah, a cautionary tale about self-improvement. Learn more: philipkd.com

Philosophistry

Complete essays from Philosophistry: The Love of Rhetoric

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