Space and Time Articles

The Rudolf v. B. Rucker article started off for me interestingly enough. The idea of a 4th dimension is a very fascinating concept. While our dimension as we know it only allows us to move up/down, front/back, and left/right (hence the 3rd dimension) the 4th dimension goes beyond that. For me this invokes thoughts of taking space and trying to fold it like a sheet of paper and moving from one end of space to another. Whether or not this is possible remains to be seen. 

I did very much enjoy the reference to the cave theory, which is a parable that Plato passed on as one of Socrates'. We had discussed this parable in my philosophy class. In the parable, men are chained deep within a cave, facing only the wall. One of the men breaks lose of his chains and travels up to the cave opening, seeing the world and sun for the first time. When he went back into the cave and tried telling the other men what he had seen, none of the other men believed him, for they themselves had never seen it. The idea of the 4th dimension being much like "the world and sun" that the unchained man had seen is facinating.

I was also rather surprised that about one hundred years ago it was thought that spirits and ghost were beings in the forth dimension. It does seem somewhat logical to suggest that, since ghost are able to appear and disappear where ever and when ever they so choose, and the very concept of the afterlife is that of a world beyond ours.

The idea of time being the 4th dimension is also an interesting notion, seeing as how things move throughout time in some way. Logically, if one could jump through time at any given point, they would have in fact achieved a form of motion beyond any in our 3rd dimension. Although according to David Hume, a philosopher we discussed and read about in my philosophy class, suggests that time, as well as mathematics and other such things, are merely concepts which we use to analyze and organize data that we receive through observation in the world.

Sadly though, the further I attempted to get into and understand the article the harder and more convoluted it got, with its many mathematical equations and theories. I'm sure if I was an engineer, like my grandfather or uncle, I would get much more out of this reading simply by being able to understand the language better.

I found the interview with Pierre Huyghe very interesting simply based on his view that many narrative films are too seamless and efficient, and that we as viewers are not given enough distraction to form or own sense of time and space. I thought his views that films should create there own landscapes and atmosphere was very spot on. This made me think of the film Cloverfield. Seeing this film in a theatre was not just another "trip to the movie theatre" but an experience in itself. Very few films have ever made me feel that I was traveling throughout a world with its inhabitants in such a way as that movie did.

This article also made we think of the way we structure narratives and how most films follow a linear progression, i.e. beginning, middle, and end. I kind of wish there were more movies like Pulp Fiction, which break this concept and instead of presenting a movie into parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, it rearranges the parts into 3,1,5,2,4. Another interesting example would be the movie the Fountain which has three separate stories set in the separate timelines which we've in and out of eachother, and the end links to the beginning, and the beginning to the end.