With all this hype about possible life on Mars, what makes us think we would know it if we saw it? Life may already exist in another dimension that we may not be equipped to see.
That “life” may exist in the fourth dimension, a space that lies beyond our visible universe, operating in ways that our human minds cannot understand. This new form of life may be related or dependent on the interaction of what is seen and unseen.
Many researchers believe that the only reason we can’t see the fourth dimension is because we can’t possibly imagine it. Theories abound on what it might be. Einstein called the fourth dimension time, while noting it was inseparable from space. Mystics theorize it may harbor spirits not bound by earthly rules. Still others believe we already know the fourth dimension in our innermost selves.
Imagine for a moment that on Mars there were beings existing in the fourth dimension, how would we recognize them? Would “seeing” them require a change in our consciousness, forcing us to rise to a new level of understanding? Perhaps the way we interacted with these life forms would be as a unit, like cells in a body.
Consider how we humans would appear in a two-dimensional world: a world as flat as a sheet of paper. Entering its universe, our three-dimensional selves would be perceived by inhabitants only as cross-sections, in other words, flat.
What does fourth dimensional space look like? Here’s what science has to say on the subject. In laymen’s terms, the four dimensions are described as:
(No dimension): a point in space with no width, length or height
First dimension: the point extended out in any direction creating a line segment
Second dimension: the line extended in any direction that is perpendicular to the first direction, creating a square
Third dimension: the two-dimensional square extended in a third direction, perpendicular to the first two, creating a cube
Fourth dimension: the hard part: the cube extended in yet another direction perpendicular to the first three, or any space that is perpendicular to a cube, something most of us can’t even visualize.
It may take something from this other dimension, intersecting with our own, to open our minds to “see.” What would this four-dimensional being look like to us? Traveling in space, perpendicular to our own, its shape would be distorted and misshapen, possibly like a Picasso painting, with legs, skin and cells all appearing separately or at once, both inside and out of us.
All interesting concepts when we think about Mars and the fascinating new discoveries awaiting us from the Mars Rover. While nothing is certain, this author believes it won’t take “seeing” to believe it.