Sunday, October 25, 2009

Akash Srivastava, Amit Gupta, Karan Grover, Sunanda Khosla



In mathematics and physics, the dimension of a space or object is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify each point within it.

The Definition is so repulsive that it sucks. Dimension to me is something that everyone perceives in the same manner, be it formal or informal. There is no definition a layman ascribes to dimensions. It is just a notion of walls, boundaries and edges. We see the length, breadth and height and these are the three dimensions for us, which are a result of associating space with coordinates. But then the dimensions were introduced to us as a part of making us educated men, though how the notion of knowing dimensions help in making a man educated still makes me scratch my head. A mason knows that he has to arrange bricks on a floor, unknowingly formalizing the notion of length and breadth, plus he has to stack them one on top of the other to give it a space objects can occupy; thus formalizing what height means as a dimension.

Now Sir Albert Einstein felt something missing in his life. He thought that with life, we grow older and die, so time also is another thing that every human perceives in equality and in equanimity. Thus it helped him conclude that Time just has to be dimension, supported by the argument that in this universe every event can only be described in completion when you specify the coordinates of the place where it happened and also tell when it happened. One example i can state here is if i were to describe the death of my Grandfather, in its completion, i must say when he died along with the coordinates of space where he took his last breath. So far so great. Mathematically formalized, makes physics great, gave the world a new notion of what relativity means.

The only question i have against it is that does everyone has the same notion of what time is? Does everyone perceive of time in the same manner? If you and i think of length, breadth and height as the same, does it mean that we rationalize time in similar ways too? I'm sorry i don't think so. Okay, in support of my argument i'd like to introduce you to two people, Vybap and Gipmu. Now Vybap just went to a trek in the hills, a trek deep into the higher ranges of the Himalayas.He went there for a week with a few mates of his. Every single day brought him a new challenge, he had to overcome his worst fears, saw the untouched beauty of nature which filled him with awe and reverence, in conclusion, he had the time of his life. The week for him passed so quickly that he never even felt time sliding by. He relives the time he spent through his memories amazed by how fast time really flies.

Gipmu on the other hand had the worst week of his life. He proposed to the girl he loved from the deepest trenches of the ocean of love that he carries in is heart, but the girl refused. He could never understand how the girl could never decipher his feelings and all he got was a cold No, a no that he won't soon forget. During this week he talked to his closest friends who tried to console him but then deep down he got hurt. He couldn't concentrate at all, didn't sleep well and some part of him died that week. Later he said "this was The worst week ever, did someone freeze time for me? Because I think its been ages since i proposed and got a No."

Well. Be honest and tell me if you realized that these people had a different notion of how the 604 800 seconds went by. Vybap almost couldn't realize how time flew and Gipmu could feel every second taking its toll on him and the notion of time grow heavy with every passing second. Time for me is not what everyone perceives in the same manner. For happy people there is no feeling of time passing by, for people who are sad every passing minute makes them realize the sluggishness of time.

Is it then justified to call time a dimension at all, just because it makes Physics interesting and helps the humans delve deeper into discovering what laws govern this Universe and what is life after all? Hasn't it yet dawned on you how fast the three years of your engineering have flown by and this fucking semester never seems to end? What the Fuck is Time?