Mike Ockizard

I agree. But again, we are looking at things from a perspective relative to human knowledge. Why would the building blocks of matter for the next "plane of existence" if you will, look anything like our own? I wasn't suggesting that everything follow a specific pattern on down the line, just that it could exist. In fact what you stated, is exactly what I believe. Although we could never observe it, it would be unlike anything we could possibly understand. As for the other end of the spectrum, I have always had an interest in the smallest particles as well. Although again, we are always trying to find "the smallest" component of matter that is the basis for everything. Again, I'm not so sure this exists. People used to believe matter consisted of the four elements (fire, water, earth, and air). They then moved on to basic atomic theory. Just over 100 years ago we discovered subatomic particles. Only recently have we come up with the idea of hadrons and quarks, which tend to be the smallest identifiable matter at the moment. Since everything in the universe tends to be infinite (time, space, etc), don't you find it unlikely that we could discover a finite "beginning" of matter? Say an electron or quark is deemed the smallest particle of matter. What would you see if you zoomed in infinitely on that particle? Doesn't everything have to consist of "something"? Or do we get to a point where everything exists as pure energy?

<br /><br /><br /> Thanks for the feedback AJB. What you detailed is what I had always been taught. I'm not sure what I am referring to would actually be considered "dimensions" or not, perhaps dimensional planes of existence may be a better term (but that just sounds weird). I suppose another way I could describe what I theorize, is that everything in the universe seems to be comprised of smaller components, or building block material if you will. Relative to humans, it would go something like: Subatomic particle>atom>element>molecule>cell>organs>systems>organisms>population>ecosystem>planet>planetary system>galaxy>universe. Obviously some of these are specifically human, but you could narrow the hierarchy down to just building block materials. My question is, why stop at universe? Isn't that just an artifact of our limited knowledge? Everything seems to be made up of smaller components, so shouldn't everything also make up something else? It's not like anyone has seen the end of the universe, so why would we think that it would end? Why can't the universe and all of it's components simply be the equivalent of subatomic particles in an atom in an element inside of some giant (again, relative to us)being somewhere? Imagine hypothetically that there is a group of people living on a subatomic particle inside a carbon atom in your spleen. How would they ever be aware of your (and our) existence? I theorize that the same thing continues ad infinitum. On somewhat of a side note, if the universe is expanding outward like most of the scientific community believes, then what is it expanding into? Infinity may be hard to comprehend, but for me, all these things just "ending" somewhere seems much more unlikely...

This is my first post here, and as someone who has always had a pretty big interest in science (particularly physics), I thought this would be a good place to possibly get some answers from those who have some more formal schooling. My first question is; is there a general scientific consensus regarding the number of dimensions that exist? Obviously, there are the the 3 spacial dimensions we exist in, combined with time (the fourth) to create the concept of spacetime. I know that there are few other theories out there such as string theory that have up to 11 dimensions, but anytime I try to get more in depth with those theories, things quickly go over my head. I guess this all comes down to something I was thinking about recently. This will probably sound weird, but I have always felt that there are an infinite number of dimensions that exist within each of us, and we in turn exist within an infinite number of dimensions. These dimensions extend outward and inward in every direction simultaneously. What I mean by this is, is that if you were to "zoom out" infinitely on the entire universe, you would pass through infinite dimensions, and the same would be true if you were to continue to "zoom in" on an atom. Essentially, our universe could just be a quark in an atom in some other beings meatloaf somewhere. The same would be true for that being's stars, and so on, and so on. This doesn't seem to be something that could be proven, since you could never "travel" to the other dimensions being that they extend in every direction at the simultaneously. Does anyone know of any theories that deal with this? Is this completely ridiculous to believe? It just seems like we are putting ourselves at the "center of the universe" so to speak, by believing that everything is relative to our size. Why is it we believe that matter becomes more and more simple the further we get away from our relative size? Is an electron really that much more simple than a star? How do we know that matter does not continue beyond the quark? Just because we cannot observe it? Why can't our entire universe be a small portion of infinite other universes? Sorry for all the questions, but this stuff really interests me. I would appreciate any suggestions for reading material that might delve deeper into this subject matter. Thanks!