WEBVTT

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Does anybody here happen to be interested
in other dimensions?

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(Applause)

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Alright.

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Well, thank you all
for your time... and your space.

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(Laughter)

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Good, I'm glad that one worked here.

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Alright.

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Imagine a world
whose inhabitants live and die

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believing only in the existence
of two spatial dimensions.

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A plane.

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These Flatlanders are going to see
some pretty strange things happen;

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things that are impossible to explain
within the constraints of their geometry.

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For example, imagine that one day,
some Flatlander scientists observe this:

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A set of colorful lights
that appear to randomly appear

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in different locations along the horizon.

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No matter how hard they try
to make sense of these lights,

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they'll be unable to come up
with a theory that can explain them.

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Some of the more clever scientists

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might come up with a way
to probabilistically describe the flashes.

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For example, for every 4 seconds,

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there's 11% chance that a red flash
will occur somewhere on the line.

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But no Flatlander will be able
to determine exactly when

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or where the next red light will be seen.

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As a consequence, they start to think

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that the world contains
a sense of indeterminacy,

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that the reason
these lights cannot be explained,

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is that at the fundamental level
nature just doesn't make sense.

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Are they right?
Does the fact that they were forced

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to describe these lights probabilistically

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actually mean that
the world is indeterministic?

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The lesson we can learn from Flatland

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is that when we assume only
a portion of nature's full geometry,

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deterministic events can appear
fundamentally indeterministic.

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However, when we expand our view

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and gain access
to the full geometry of the system,

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indeterminacy disappears.

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As you can see, we can now
determine exactly when and where

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the next red light
will be seen on this line.

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We are here tonight

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to consider the possibility
that we are like the Flatlanders.

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Because, as it turns out,
our world is riddled with mysteries

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that just don't seem to fit inside
the geometric assumptions we have made.

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Mysteries like warped space-time,
black holes, quantum tunneling

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the constants of nature,
dark matter, dark energy, etc.

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The list is quite long.

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How do we respond to these mysteries?

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Well, we have two choices:

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We can either cling
to our previous assumptions,

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and invent new equations
that exist somehow outside of the metric,

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as a vague attempt
to explain what's going on,

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or we could take a bolder step,
throw out our old assumptions,

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and construct a new blueprint for reality.

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One that already includes
those phenomena.

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It's time to take that step.

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Because we are in the same situation
as the Flatlanders.

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The probabilistic nature
of quantum mechanics

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has our scientists believing

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that deep down,
the world is indeterminant.

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That the closer we look,
the more we will find

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that nature just doesn't make sense.

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Hmm...

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Perhaps all of these mysteries
are actually telling us

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that there's more to the picture.

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That nature has a richer geometry
than we have assumed.

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Maybe the mysterious phenomena
in our world

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could actually be explained
by a richer geometry,

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with more dimensions.

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This would mean that we are stuck
in our own version of Flatland.

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And if that's the case,
how do we pop ourselves out?

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At least conceptually?

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Well, the first step is to make sure
that we know exactly what a dimension is.

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A good question to start with is:

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What is it about x, y and z
that makes them spatial dimensions?

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The answer is that a change in position
in one dimension

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does not imply a change in position
in the other dimensions.

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Dimensions are independent descriptors
of position.

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So z is a dimension because an object
can be holding still in x and y

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while it's moving in Z.

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So, to suggest that
there are other spatial dimensions

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is to say that it must be possible 
for an object

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to be holding still in x, y and z,

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yet still moving about
in some other spatial sense.

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But where might these
other dimensions be?

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To solve that mystery,
we need to make a fundamental adjustment

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to our geometric assumptions about space.

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We need to assume that space
is literally and physically quantized,

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that it's made of interactive pieces.

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If space is quantized,

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then it cannot be infinitely divided
into smaller and smaller increments.

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Once we get down to a fundamental size,

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we cannot go any further

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and still be talking
about distances in space.

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Let's consider an analogy:

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Imagine we have a chunk of pure gold

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that we mean to cut in half
over and over.

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We can entertain two questions here:

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How many times can we cut
what we have in half?

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and: How many times can we cut
what we have in half and still have gold?

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These are
two completely different questions,

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because once we get down
to one atom of gold,

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we cannot go any further

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without transcending
the definition of gold.

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If space is quantized,
then the same thing applies.

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We cannot talk about distances in space

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that are less than
the fundamental unit of space

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for the same reason
we cannot talk about amounts of gold

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that are less than 1 atom of gold.

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Quantizing space brings us
to a new geometric picture.

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One like this,

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where the collection of these pieces,
these quanta,

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come together to construct
the fabric of x, y and z.

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This geometry is eleven-dimensional.

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So if you're seeing this, you already
got it. It's not gonna be beyond you.

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We just need to make sense
of what's going on.

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Notice that there are
three distinct types of volume

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and all volumes
are three-dimensional.

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Distance between any two points in space
becomes equal to the number of quanta

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that are instantaneously between them.

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The volume inside each quantum
is interspatial,

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and the volume that
the quanta move about in is superspatial.

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Notice how having perfect information
about x, y, z position,

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only enables us to identify
a single quantum of space.

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Also notice that it's now possible
for an object

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to be moving about interspatially
or superspatially

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without changing
its x, y, z position at all.

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This means that
there are 9 independent ways

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for an object to move about.

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That makes 9 spatial dimensions.

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3 dimensions of x, y, z volume,
3 dimensions of superspatial volume,

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and 3 dimensions of interspatial volume.

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Then we have time,
which can be defined as

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the whole number of resonations
experienced at each quantum.

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And super-time allows us to describe
their motion through super-space.

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OK, I know this is a whirlwind,
a lot faster than I'd like to do it,

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because there are so many details
we can go into.

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But there's a significant advantage
to being able to describe space

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as a medium that can possess
density, distortions and ripples.

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For example, we can now describe
Einstein's curved space-time

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without dimensionally
reducing the picture.

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Curvature is a change
in the density of these space quanta.

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The denser the quanta get,
the less they can freely resonate

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so they experience less time.

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And in the regions
of maximum density,

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and the quanta are all
packed completely together,

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like in black holes,
they experience no time.

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Gravity is simply the result
of an object traveling straight

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through curved space.

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Going straight through x, y, z space

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means both your left side
and your right side

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travel the same distance,
interact with the same number of quanta.

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So, when a density gradient
exists in space,

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the straight path is the one
that provides an equal spatial experience

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for all parts of a traveling object.

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OK, this is a really big deal.

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If you've ever looked at a graph
of Einstein curvature before,

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space-time curvature,

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you may have not noticed that one
of the dimensions was unlabeled.

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We assumed we took
a plane of our world

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and anytime there was mass in that plane
we'll stretch it;

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if there was more mass,
we stretch it more,

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to show how much curvature there is.

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But what's the direction
we're stretching in?

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We got rid of the z dimension.

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We blow over that every single time
in our books.

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Here, we didn't have to get rid
of the z dimension.

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We got to show curvature
in its full form.

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And this is a really big deal.

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Other mysteries
that pop out of this map,

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like quantum tunneling –

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Remember our Flatlanders?

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Well, they'll see a red light appear
somewhere on the horizon

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and then it'll disappear,
and as far as they're concerned,

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it's gone from the universe.

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But if a red light appears again
somewhere else on the line,

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they might call it quantum tunneling,

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The same way when we watch an electron,

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and then it disappears
from the fabric of space

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and reappears somewhere else,
and that somewhere else

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can actually be beyond the boundary that
it's not supposed to be able to get beyond.

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OK? Can you use this picture now?
To solve that mystery?

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Can you see how the mysteries of our world
can transform into elegant aspects

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of our new geometric picture?

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All we have to do
to make sense of those mysteries

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is to change our geometric assumptions,
to quantize space.

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OK, this picture also
has something to say

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about where the constants
of nature come from;

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like the speed of light, Planck's constant,
the gravitational constant and so on.

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Since all units of expression,
Newtons, Joules, Pascals, etc,

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can be reduced to five combinations

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of length, mass, time,
ampere and temperature,

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quantizing the fabric of space,

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means that those five expressions
must also come in quantized units.

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So, this gives us five numbers
that stem from our geometric map.

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Natural consequences of our map,
with units of one.

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There's two other numbers in our map.

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Numbers that reflect
the limits of curvature.

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Pi can be used to represent
the minimum state of curvature,

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or zero curvature,
while a number we are calling zhe,

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can be used to represent
the maximum state of curvature.

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The reason we now have a maximum
is because we've quantized space.

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We can't infinitely continue to go on.

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What do these numbers do for us?

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Well, this long list here
is the constants of nature,

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and if you've noticed, even though
they're flying by pretty fast,

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they're all made up of the five numbers

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that come from our geometry
and the two numbers

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that come from the limits of curvature.

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That's a really big deal by the way,
to me it's a really big deal.

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This means that the constants of nature

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come from the geometry of space;

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they're necessary consequences
of the model.

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OK. This is a lot of fun
because there are so many punch lines,

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it's hard to know exactly
who's going to get caught where.

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But, this new map,

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allows us to explain gravity,

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in a way that's
totally conceptual now,

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you get the whole picture in your head,

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black holes, quantum tunneling,
the constants of nature,

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and in case none of those
caught your fancy,

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or you've never heard
of any of them before,

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you've definitely just barely heard
about dark matter and dark energy.

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Those too are geometric consequences.

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Dark matter,
when we look at distant galaxies,

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and watch the stars
that orbit about in those galaxies,

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the stars out at the edges
are moving too fast,

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they seem to have extra gravity.

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How do we explain this?
Well, we couldn't, so we say

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there must be some other matter there,
creating more gravity,

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making those effects.
But we can't see the matter.

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So we call it dark matter. And we define
dark matter as something you can't see!

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Which is fine, it's a good step,
it's a good start,

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but here in our model we didn't have to
take that kind of a leap.

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We took a leap,
we said space is quantized,

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but everything else
fell out from that.

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Here, we're saying,
space is made up of fundamental parts,

00:13:11.441 --> 00:13:15.221
just the same way we believe air
is made out of molecules.

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If that's true,
then an automatic requirement is

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you can have changes in density,
this is where gravity comes from,

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but you should also have phase changes.

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And what stimulates a phase change?

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Well, temperature.

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When something gets cold enough,
its geometric arrangement will change,

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and it will change phase.

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A change in the density here,
at the outer regions of the galaxies,

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is going to cause
a gravitational field,

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because that's what
gravitational fields are,

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they're changes in density.

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OK?

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Totally skipped through all that.

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And now we'll go to dark energy,
in 15 seconds.

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When we look out into the cosmos,
we see that distant light

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is red shifted, OK?

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That it loses some of its energy
as it's traveling to us

00:14:12.441 --> 00:14:14.233
for billions of years.

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Now how do we explain
that red shift?

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Well, currently we say it means
the universe is expanding. OK?

00:14:21.326 --> 00:14:24.038
All of our claims that the universe
is expanding come from this,

00:14:24.038 --> 00:14:25.757
from measurements of how
the red shift changes,

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out of this distance
to this distance to that distance.

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OK? And also we measure
the expansion that way.

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But there's another way
to explain red shift.

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Just like there'd be another way
to explain how if I had a tuning fork

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tuned to middle C,

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and I went in a tunnel
and you could hear... a B note.

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Sure, you could say it's because
I'm moving away from you inside the tunnel,

00:14:46.168 --> 00:14:51.011
but it could also be because
the pressure of the atmosphere

00:14:51.011 --> 00:14:54.405
is decreasing while the sound
is traveling to your ear.

00:14:54.405 --> 00:14:56.308
Here, that seemed
a little far fetched

00:14:56.308 --> 00:14:58.667
because atmospheric pressure
doesn't decrease fast,

00:14:58.667 --> 00:15:02.805
but when we're talking billions of years
of light traveling through space,

00:15:02.805 --> 00:15:05.134
all we need are the quanta themselves

00:15:05.134 --> 00:15:11.150
to have a small amount of inelasticity
and red shift is imminent.

00:15:11.150 --> 00:15:13.782
Alright, there's a lot more
to explore in this,

00:15:13.782 --> 00:15:17.224
because if you're interested,
feel free to check out this website

00:15:17.224 --> 00:15:20.335
and give all the feedback you can.

00:15:20.335 --> 00:15:25.947
We're out of time so let me just say,
that this blueprint gives us a mental tool,

00:15:25.947 --> 00:15:28.934
a tool that can expand
the reach of our imagination,

00:15:28.934 --> 00:15:34.817
and, maybe, even respark
the romanticism of Einstein's quest.

00:15:34.817 --> 00:15:36.457
Thank you.

00:15:36.457 --> 00:15:38.506
(Applause)