You know that a long time ago people believed the Earth was flat, right?
Now we’re well aware that it’s more or less a sphere, and it seems ridiculous to
think otherwise when there are so many hard facts proving it.
But what if those people of the past were actually… right?
It turns out they could be, just not in the sense we thought about it.
In a nutshell, the way we think holds the key to understanding this idea.
You see, our brain is a highly complex thing, and science has not yet fully explained how
it works.
We know, however, that it exists in 3D, meaning that we perceive objects from three different
perspectives: length, width, and height.
Take a pencil, for example.
You can tell it’s, say, 3 inches long, quarter of an inch wide, and the same in height because
it’s round at the base.
If it lacked any one of these measurements, it would be flat, like a drawing on a sheet
of paper.
Now, all this seems obvious, and you must wonder why I’m even saying it.
Well, the thing is, since our brain can only think of things in a three-dimensional way,
it can’t hold the idea of a two-dimensional space being real.
But a physicist from the University of California in Davis, James Scargill, has shared a theory
that 2D universes can exist and even support life.
And what’s more, our very own universe might, in fact, be a 2D hologram, simply shaped to
create an illusion of a 3D space to comfort our brains.
But I’m getting ahead of myself here.
First, let’s explore what Dr. Scargill means by 2D universes.
Initially, he wanted to test the philosophical concept that a universe can only exist if
there’s life to observe it.
Put simply, if there’s no living thing in a universe, it just isn’t real.
So basically, he took 2D universes as something that can’t exist by any means.
How would you like your apartment to be flat?
(Yes, there’s a terrible pun – thank you very much).
Dr. Scargill did some complex calculations and was surprised to find out that, hypothetically,
life can exist in such universes.
Wait, does it mean those stick figures I sketched at my school classes could be from another
universe?
Argh, I already feel lost!
Okay, the main arguments against the possibility of life in a 2D universe are, one, that there’s
no gravitational force possible in two dimensions, and two, that restriction to a single plane
is allegedly too simple for life to exist.
Well, let’s break it down, shall we?
In his theory of relativity, Albert Einstein had an uncle and an aunt.
They were among his relatives.
No wait, that’s a different relativity… sorry.
About his other general theory of relativity, Albert said that moving objects with mass
create a curve in space-time, pulling other objects nearby towards them.
That’s how gravity actually works: anything has it, and the bigger the mass, the stronger
the gravity.
That’s why our planet orbits the Sun, and not the other way around — the Sun simply
has a stronger gravitational pull.
Okeydokey, gravity explained, but who said it can only exist in three dimensions?
In fact, no one did.
And Dr. Scargill’s calculations show just that: there could be a gravitational field
in 2D space, so the first argument is invalid — theoretically, at least.
The second argument seems to be even weaker than the first: it’s generally believed
that life can’t exist outside our dear three dimensions because anything less is just too
simple.
Dr. Scargill argues here that there are planar graphs that have properties like neural networks.
In math, such graphs can be drawn in a single plane so that no lines cross each other and
only meet at their ends, so they don’t need any third dimension.
And if they share properties, then they could essentially be similar.
All this just might be proof that 2D universes exist.
At least they can sustain life, and that means they are possible.
I hope your brain doesn’t hurt yet because mine sure does.
And that’s not even the best part!
You see, many mathematicians believe that our very own universe is two-dimensional itself.
Didn’t want to break it to you like this, but we’re all flat here!
It’s just our brain again that thinks everything around us has three dimensions.
Well, at least that’s the theory.
It’s called a holographic principle, and its main idea is that the universe is essentially
2D, and it looks 3D to us because its image is overlaid onto a cosmic horizon.
Holograms work in a similar way, hence the name.
And there’s a solid scientific base to this, no worries.
Universe is enormous, right?
It’s so huge, in fact, that a human mind can’t even imagine its size.
But it must have some shape, and scientists have predicted three main possibilities.
The first is a positive curve, where all edges of the universe twist in the same direction.
If this is true for our universe, then it is finite, that is, it has an end.
Basically, it becomes a giant ball of vacuum and galaxies within.
And on top of that, if you throw something into space, it will eventually come back to
you from the other side — just like it does on Earth.
Astronomers have long since proved, though, that the universe is constantly growing, and
its edges are moving away from us faster than light.
That means it can’t be sphere-shaped.
So there.
The second possibility is that the universe is negatively curved, and if so, it takes
the shape of a saddle.
This way, it can expand infinitely, but as Alan Duffy from Swinburne University of Technology
in Australia explains, this would result in some pretty weird effects.
For example, if you fired two parallel laser beams into space, they would soon start moving
away from each other, not giving a heck about what you learned in school.
Since that doesn’t happen, it leaves us with the third possibility.
And that is a lack of any curve.
If the universe is flat, then it can grow infinitely, and it won’t distort the space-time
around us.
That’s what really is happening to us right here, right now.
And it brings us back to the theory that the universe only needs two dimensions.
Why should it need more, right?
So here you go: the whole world is flat, and we don’t even realize it!
Whoa, that’s a huge thing to realize, I get it.
But what about the people of the past?
Did they really know something that we don’t?
Well, perhaps there’s a simpler and more comforting explanation.
Let’s go back in history and meet our ancestors, the ancient humans.
You know cave paintings, right?
Drawings of animals and humans on cave walls dating back thousands of years?
If you saw them, then you realize that ancient artists knew nothing about perspective.
They simply drew what they had seen from their own standpoint.
If you think about it, little kids do the same — there’s no volume to their drawings.
That’s because they see the world as it is, without any artificial concepts we adults
add.
And it was the same thing with ancient humans.
I guess you can call them kids of the planetary scale.
They didn’t need to see the Earth as a sphere, they just lived on it, and so they saw things
clearly.
This mindset stayed for quite a long while, and it got deeply ingrained within human brains.
Have you ever tried to argue with something you know is true?
Like, if someone told you the sky is purple and the grass is blue, what would you think?
(Me?
I’d first check it for myself just in case.
Who knows?)
Anyway, share your opinions in the comments below!
The people of the past naturally didn’t want to adopt new and radical ideas about
our world, and they preferred to see it as flat.
But then it was proved that it’s not, and the evolution of the human mind finally began.
Don’t think I’m nuts, though, because I perfectly understand that people have always
seen objects around them in 3D.
They just didn’t care about it that much.
And finally, I have to say that our brains can easily mess up with us.
The thing is, whatever we see, hear, smell, touch, or taste is not really an actual object
— it’s our subjective perception of it.
You know how it is: you take a spoonful of a delicious fish soup, and it just makes your
taste buds go all excited.
Then you offer a friend of yours to try it, and she goes all green just smelling it.
How could you forget that she loathes fish?
Shame on you!
But I’ve diverted again.
What I want to say is that whatever you do, it’s your brain that processes signals from
your organs and limbs and gives you a clear picture in front of you.
So many humans, so many views of the world.
And there are literally no two worlds that are completely identical.
This is just crazy, but it kind of makes you believe we could all be living in a two-dimensional
space, only seeing it as 3D.
Okay, I need a break to let it sink in, and you might want one too now.
This blew my mind a while ago, and I got grey matter all over the microphone.
Just kidding of course.
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