Dimensionally constrained thinking
A long time ago I saw this program on TV in which the brilliant Richard Feynman was explaining the basics of dimensions and he brilliantly used a chess board as an example to demonstrate the invisible wall imposed by the dimensions we perceive.
Imagine a chess game being played on a board. The board and the game are 2 dimensional, and all the things that happen happen in 2 dimensions only. A chess piece, for example, can not jump 2 spaces in the air and remain there until it's next move, or indeed, burrow 2 spaces below. All the pieces move only in 2 dimensions.
Imagine a being perceiving only along one dimension - in this case, one of the rows or columns of a chessboard. How would that being perceive the game? How would the being understand the "rules" that govern the reality of chess? Not very well, because all that would be visible would be those pieces and moves, which would intersect or end up on the row. The being would never know that the bishop travels diagonally, or that pawns can claim an opponent's piece diagonally.
Now expand the being's perception into 2 dimensions, and the whole game is visible. Suddenly a lot more information is available for making inferences about the game's reality. Now it all makes a lot more sense. What were earlier one dimensional actors in the game, suddenly appear to be playing their full parts.
What a brilliant brilliant analogy. Hats off to the amazing Feynman - a truely brilliant mind!
I'll talk about how we can extend the analogy to more dimensions in later posts.
Imagine a chess game being played on a board. The board and the game are 2 dimensional, and all the things that happen happen in 2 dimensions only. A chess piece, for example, can not jump 2 spaces in the air and remain there until it's next move, or indeed, burrow 2 spaces below. All the pieces move only in 2 dimensions.
Imagine a being perceiving only along one dimension - in this case, one of the rows or columns of a chessboard. How would that being perceive the game? How would the being understand the "rules" that govern the reality of chess? Not very well, because all that would be visible would be those pieces and moves, which would intersect or end up on the row. The being would never know that the bishop travels diagonally, or that pawns can claim an opponent's piece diagonally.
Now expand the being's perception into 2 dimensions, and the whole game is visible. Suddenly a lot more information is available for making inferences about the game's reality. Now it all makes a lot more sense. What were earlier one dimensional actors in the game, suddenly appear to be playing their full parts.
What a brilliant brilliant analogy. Hats off to the amazing Feynman - a truely brilliant mind!
I'll talk about how we can extend the analogy to more dimensions in later posts.
posted by the grim sleeper at 7:41 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home