Is Second Life a true 4D game?

I was describing SL to my dad when he said "Sounds like 4 D to me". Even though I don't think he new what he had said, it did describe it.
The 3 dimentions and Time. Time doesn't cease when you log off or start when you hit the grid. Time marches on, as they say.
Don't log in for a week or two and you notice BIG changes, just like when you visit your old stomping grounds after years away.

I don't think the 4th D is time. length and width are 2d...
3d is depth backwards...
all 3d graphics stop at the screen and go back.... so something 4d would have to come out of the screen forward....

So, when you notice secondlife feeding you and wiping your butt when you goto the bathroom... that's when it's 4d.

5d would start to get into the realm of time, but not really... 5D has to do with being able to see a curvature... example, when you look at a ball in RL, in 5D you'd be able to see the front of the ball and the back at the same time.

2DFrooD... that's a good snowball flavor

personally I think doubeldown dropped some acid before reading this... but in the aspect you described,Kornscope Komachi , as time occuring over time without your personal influence and likely much to your surprise upon your return that your description of this particular 'D' is rather accurate....

I know sometimes even one day can yeild surprising changes around me....


I dont wanna talk about what happened when I took a 4 month vacation in RL.
Sl changed. Nuff Said... 4D bitches....

I wouldn't describe time as dimension in this case, only because if you were to have a world with time as a dimension, you would expect to be able to manipulate it.

I would describe SL as 4D, the forth dimension being scripting. Scripts add an entirely new 'dimension' to SL, allowing things to happen that couldn't be explained any other way.

3D is not just depth backwards. When it comes forward it would simply be a movement in the the opposite direction along the same dimension.

Incidentally, as far as the image that appears on your screen, SL is totally 2D. It occurs on a flat screen, it only has two true dimensions. The third is an illusion, in the same way a painting employing perspective is a 2D work that creates the illusion of depth. The virtual space it describes has three dimensions, but the image has two.

to the original poster.. that's an astute observation.

Yes, just like the internet, secondlife will in fact go right on evolving without you. So don't log off or you might miss something!

Isn't time the fourth dimension in RL? We can't manipulate it there either, yet it exists. I think the OP's description is apt for SL, it's not static, it varies with time.

Fade...

Given the 11-dimension model of the universe given us by string theory... no, time is not a dimension. Many theorists think that time may not actually exist in any "dimensional" sense. Time may be more like a force.

Some thinkers beleive that time may be affected by intent. An example might be San Jose, California, versus Eugene, Oregon. In Eugene (where I lived for many years) time ran atr what I'd consider a "normal pace". On returning to San Jose to visit friends and family, time seemed to run faster.

Now I don't mean the usual "time flies when you're having fun" way. Everyone is is such a HUGE hurry in the bay area. Millions of people, all mentally screaming "hurry up, I'm going to be late!". some people postulate that this "in a hurry" mindset, spread over millions of minds, may actually be accellerating the flow of time, as perceived by those in the area.

No, it didn't run faster than Eugene. I didn't spend 2 weeks there and arrive the day after I left Eugene. But there may be a part of the human mind that can be influenced by the intentions of others. So that time appears to be "running away" in busy places.

What is time? who can say? it may be a dimension, it may be a construct of multiple dimensions, it may be something outside dimension itself. One thing is certain however. EVERYTHING is affected by time. Not all things change over time (numbers for example, or coordinates)... but computers, cars, bags of lettuce, even socalled "static" things like history books and webpages.. can age, since they are made of things which are affected by time. Even information changes over time, and can become dated.

I've never seen a description of what all 11 dimensions may represent.. but I'd like to.

"Time is an illusion. Lunch time.. doubly so."

Interesting Winter, thanks. I think I'll do some reading on string theory.

Strictly speaking that is not true Fade

In first life modern physics refers to the concept of a four-dimensional space-time continuum, where time or duration is the forth dimension. All four dimensions are interchangeable with one another.

The best example I can offer is that of light speed, of which you may know physics consider the ultimate speed limit. If you were travelling at the speed of light you would have infinite mass and duration would cease. Therefore any mass cannot travel at light speed, although it may approach light speed to an infinite degree.

Consider your position if you were travelling at near light speed in a spacecraft to say a nearby star, lets say Tau Centa that is about 12 light years away. Duration would become elongated to the extent that from an outside observers viewpoint your journey time would be just over 12 years, but from your own viewpoint the duration time would be far less, maybe a year or so or even less.

Of course relying on Netons Second law of motion you would have to carry so much fuel with you to achieve this speed AND slow down at the journeys end, would be at best impractical and at worst not possible. Therefore current scientific theory suggests you could turn your spacecraft into a type of sailing boat and use light pressure as the wind (please don't nag me about the debate that states "if light has no mass it cannot push" (the answer is ("it may be both mass and light energy at different discrete moments), or perhaps rely on an external source of power such as vacuum energy.

So to conclude time dilation is a proven fact, another example to illustrate that is the GPS satellites systems have to adjust for it. Here is a Google link that explains this issue in more depth.

http://www.leapsecond.com/history/Ashby-Relativity.htm

Now moving on to the Second Life virtual reality world there are parallels between real and virtual life.

One example is that of travel between two discrete points. Let us say I am in Caledon and I wish to travel to Dreamland. I cannot walk or fly between the two because there is no universe linking them, therefore I have to enter hyperspace (teleporting) to achieve my aims.

Here are a few links that start to explain hyperspace in real life.

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=EMiu3xTidOEC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&sig=RaEccUl6jjJR6inf_vmyUKsS4FE&dq=hyperspace&prev=http://scholar.google.com/scholar%3Fq%3Dhyperspace%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperspace

Perhaps another software example of hyperspace may be hyperlinks over the net between two documents as we are both doing at this moment. But the relevant point I am trying to make is while teleporting duration in Second Life ceases, in other words while teleporting you cannot do anything else, in short you are "suspended" while teleporting. Time ceases.

There is also a theoretical maximum speed within Second life for more normal travel between two discrete points, and this would be the maximum speed you can walk, fly, or transport using a vehicle before lag renders such a journey meaningless

Finally there are other parallels between virtual and real life but I will leave that debate to other posters, I suggest if this reply sparks any interest a good book to buy as a starting point is "A Brief History Of Time" by Stephen Hawking, a link is below

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=A+brief+history+of+Time&btnG=Google+Search




Regards


John

How did this evolve into a post about Astrophysics so quickly?

I think string theory is not science until we have any evidence to support it. It's just one of an infinite number of ways that you could descibe the Universe in an abstract way. Observable, emperical, measurable evidence required!

Read a little Stephen Hawking and you will discover that the fourth dimension IS time.

I dunno but it beats talking about copybot!

Damn, not even the Universe is safe :/

LMAO Hiro. Nice one.

Deep shit here.... Tandino pass that cid man!
ahhhhhhhh to reflect............marinate.......good stuff!

It doesn't end there. With the thread discussing whether it would be better for the copy to display the original creator's name or the copier's name, I decided to investigate. I right-clicked and selected edit on both The Universe and its copy, and it displays the creator as (nobody). What does that mean?

*runs & hides*

Ask for support at [email]philip.rosedale@thisuniverse.god[/email]

Just don't hold your breath for a reply.

You don't have to because in any universe God is the ultimate detached indepentent observer, therefore sl time does not apply for him/her/it -

I personally disagree. I think SL is actually a 5D game.

I'm finally comin down off my 2 D Froo D acid... whoa , intense!


So yeah, SL is 2D..... your avatar's perscpective is 3D

and Stephen Hawking is 4D



.... wait, this just in..... The Lindex says that SL has dropped to 1.5D.. however Phillip still says the dimensions are stable.

0th dimension - a single sizeless point
1st dimension - linear
2nd dimension - planar
3rd dimension - spacial
4th dimension - time, change, motion, duration, ...
5th dimension - an American popular music vocal group, whose repertoire also includes R&B, Soul, and Jazz. -- wikipedia

At this point they are calling it "M Theory" it just turns out that nobody knows what the 'M' stands for.

PBS did a program on it, you can watch it online, it gives a good introduction of modern physics.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html

of course it can push ... how else does a radiometer work??


Nooooo! pleeeease! only joking!

5th Dimension: On the Beach - excellent song - I have it on my mp3