RMann@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA (02/03/84)
I think at last count I heard there were 11 dimensions. <enter serious discussion mode> Note the similarity between the creationist discussion and this one. Both don't have a physical leg to stand on. So, why don't they go away and argue with the UFOlogists ? <exit pseudo-serious discussion mode> -Roger the cynic
fulk@sunybcs.UUCP (Mark Fulk) (02/07/84)
Actually there is support for more-than-four-dimensions from physics. The Kaluza-Klein theory of the early 60's unified general relativity and classical electrodynamics by postulating a 5-dimensional space. Four dimensions were the usual space-time ones; a section at a given space time point was a circle with circumference =~ the Planck length (<10 to the -30 meters, I think). We were supposed not to sense the fifth dimension because of the limited amount of room in it. More recently, versions of this theory with even more dimensions and more complicated structures have been proposed to unify general relativity, quantum chromodynamics, and the electoweak theory. For a reference, see the article by Bryce DeWitt in Scientific American; it appeared in Nov. or Dec. 1983 I think (certainly very recently). -- Mark Fulk ARPA and CSNET: fulk.buffalo@rand-relay UUCP: ...!seismo!rochester!rocksvax!sunybcs!fulk U.S. Mail: Department of Computer Science 226 Bell Hall SUNY Center at Buffalo Amherst, NY 14226 (716) 636-3197