
New paper explains why the Universe ended up with three dimensions - sarath749
http://www.sciencealert.com/new-paper-explains-why-the-universe-is-in-three-dimensions?
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combatentropy
I would have been interested to learn the reason, but here is a case where an
article really tells no more than its headline: there exists this paper, see,
that explains why the universe has three dimensions.

It's a shame, because as I was reading the article, I was impressed by how
well it was putting technical matters into plain English. It's just that I was
also anticipating getting to the juicy details, which it never did. Oh, okay,
I thought, I guess I'll go try to read the scientific paper itself.

When I clicked to the paper, though, all I got was an abstract, even shorter
than the article that I came from. To read the full article, I must subscribe
to the journal. I have nothing against that --- unless the research was
publicly funded.

Anyway, I just thought it was funny that the article was nothing but an
exquisitely written segue, with no real content beyond its headline. On the
other hand, had I got to the real content, I likely would not have understood
it, because the reason that the universe is three dimensions is probably:
math.

~~~
salemh
Unfortunate. Suggestions for "easy" reading of the like for this subject
matter? Meaning, the "technical matters into plain english" outside of the
actual Journal article?

~~~
combatentropy
Another summary gave a little more: [http://phys.org/news/2016-05-space-three-
dimensional.html](http://phys.org/news/2016-05-space-three-dimensional.html)

If you're interested in physics in general, there's nothing finer than the
Feynman Lectures:
[http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/](http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/)

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ytNumbers
The whole thing reminds me of Shakespeare's King Lear...

Fool: The reason there are only seven planets is a pretty reason.

Lear: Because there are not eight.

Fool: Indeed, sire, thou would'st make a good Fool.

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egjerlow
> Any number of dimensions could have worked equally well at this point; there
> wasn’t really any way to tell the difference between a universe with one
> dimension and a universe with seven.

What is that supposed to mean? Presumably you could still, if you were a being
able to withstand the crazy physical conditions in the early universe, tell
whether the universe had three or more or less dimensions? What's hindering
such experiments in the early universe?

~~~
Gibbon1
> What is that supposed to mean?

God took a big huff of DMT out of the celestial crack pipe?

