X-Message-Number: 19172
From: "John de Rivaz" <>
Subject: language corruption
Date: Thu, 30 May 2002 12:01:36 +0100

Even the word "dimension" has several meanings

Mass, Length and Time are considered "fundamental dimensions" with which all
other "dimensions" can be defined. "Dimensions" in this context are units of
measure such as frequency, power, voltage, work, energy etc. Once such units
were given understandable names such as "cycles per second" - but in the 60s
it was decided to honour famous people by giving their names to units, so
for example now we have Hz, which is, of course, quite meaningless whereas
c/s gives an immediate insight.

Co-ordinate systems giving direction and position are also referred to as
"dimensions", but they are completely different. The human brain seems to be
able to perceive only three directions, up-down, left-right and
forwards-backwards. It is also dragged along what is sometimes called the
fourth, time. To cope with quantum theory and so on, additional directions
are sometimes added when theories are being formulated. Computers, of
course, are capable of handling co-ordinate systems with large numbers of
directions limited only by the memory handling capacity of the compiler or
interpreter of the programming language used (the machine memory size is
often larger than this these days).

--
Sincerely, John de Rivaz:      http://www.deRivaz.com :
http://www.AlecHarleyReeves.com
http://www.longevity-report.com : http://www.autopsychoice.com :
http://www.cryonics-europe.org
http://www.porthtowan.com

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