Seasons

Here's the definition of a point: A dimensionless geometric object having no properties except location.

Time is not a dimension, but we are beings that move freely in the 3rd dimension and (for the most part) linearly in the 4th. So the 4th dimension acts like time to us. For everyday use and conception, I don't think more than 5 dimensions are necessary (5th dimension you could call "possibility"), but superstring utilizes a higher number (it's still not clear, Prof, that it's exactly 10).

As for time travel, time travel to the future is extremely possible, and time travel to the past is definitely possible in theory though so far the only time machine we've invented is probably impossible to survive a trip on.

One interesting question is whether time travel to the past has a limited carrying capacity.

Oh, and to OnyxFlame -- sure , there *could* be infinite dimensions, but if everything that happens in the universe can be explained with 10, then we wouldn't need to postulate the existence of others.

hey, how ya doin?

Mr. Crab: Everything that happens in the universe, or everything WE can perceive happening in the universe? There's a big difference. For instance, there might be infinite alternate timelines and such but how would we ever be able to tell if they were actually there? And what about so-called psychic phenomena? It's entirely possible that the few actual psychic incidents that happen are related to some aspect of reality that we don't currently know about. So yeah, maybe 10 dimensions or so can explain everything we know about, but think how much there is that even if we knew everything it was possible to know, would still be inaccurate compared to the way things really are. It's like a 1 dimensional being trying to measure an apple.

Here's a simple explanation that I use to keep my mind from getting too boggled at times like these: It's hard to imagine what you can't imagine.

*runs down the street chasing the conversation that flew over my head* Get back here!!!

*trips does a summer salt and lands on butt, brushes off dirt and goes back to chasing conversation*

Hey Fairy Queen.. I see you!

I thought I posted this earlier, but it appears not to have taken. I was responding to OnyxFlame by saying that there's a difference between everything we can know now and everything we can know ever. If there's another universe out there somewhere that "exists" but that we cannot percieve in any way and that has no bearing on our universe whatsoever now or at any future time (including explanatory power), then I don't think we can have knowledge of it and for all intents and purposes, it doesn't exist.

Though I also believe we can ultimately know all things knowable. Or rather, any things knowable.

Well, I don't believe in another universe that we can't percieve in some way AND that has no effect whatsoever on our own. I mean what's the point in believing in something if it doesn't matter whether it exists? Of course, just because we think it has no bearing on our own doesn't mean it doesn't. I may have said this already but I prefer to believe reality (including any other universes) fits together like the atoms of a human body. Maybe your toenail doesn't know what your pancreas is doing but that doesn't mean they have no relationship whatsoever to each other. I think it's a perfectly plausible view, because so far reality seems similar on a small scale and large scale. I mean atoms & solar systems are kinda similar, everything natural has a cycle, and so on. I don't claim to have any scientific knowledge to support my beliefs, but neither do some others who use their beliefs mainly to kill each other and I figure my beliefs are a lot more harmless than theirs so does it matter if I'm right?

Yeah, but your toenail and pancreas *are* related and do influence each other.

If our universe is part of a structure of other universes such that they are similar in some respects, I would be interested in that similarity and look for reasons why they should be similar. Though I would expand the "universe" to include those.