Re: Kant's thought experiment : is chirality a dimension?


<jlette111@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1190755249.204894.293960@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
: Hello,
: Consider as suggested by Kant, a universe containing only of ONE hand
: and otherwise void. Since there is no intrinsic difference in shape
: between a right and a left hand (there is no way that you could
: describe the hand which would allow me to conclude if it is the right
: or left hand), why is chirality (handedness, mirror image) not
: considered to be an "extra" dimension in its own right in which case
: space would be 4 dimensional (5 with time)?
: Thank you very much in advance for your time and help,
: jean

The problem is the definition of the word "dimension".
In ordinary everyday English the word "off" has many meanings
and is context sensitive. For example:
The meat is off, I'm off to the shop to buy more.
The light is off, please turn it on.
Does this mean:
The meat is not illuminating, I'm rotten to the shop to buy more.
The light is going, please turn it on. ???
You'd be a little off if you thought it did.

We talk (and write) in clichés, the meaning of "off" in each case
is context sensitive and presents one of the major difficulties (if not
the major difficulty) for a computer to translate from one language
to another, or even from one jargon to another.

The word "dimension" suffers from the same difficulty.
Physical quantities are mass, length, time and charge, and
we refer to these as dimensions.
However, the dimensions of a brick are its width, length and height.
Even though we use the same word, we are not giving it the
same meaning, so to answer your question with agreement I need to
know whether you are speaking the language of mathematics or
physics. If mathematics, then the dimension of x and -x is the same,
I have a one-dimensional line and live in a three-dimensional universe.
If physics, the dimensions are mass, length, time and charge
and I live in a four-dimensional universe.
If you wish to call the universe 9-dimensional you can and
your meaning will be clear to me,
1) Mass
2) X
3) Y
4) Z
5) -X
6) -Y
7) -Z
8) Time
9) Charge
but you'll sure confuse a lot of other people (and yourself).

A point has no volume, but it has
Position x,y,z
Velocity dx/dt = vx, vy, vz
Acceleration ax = d2x/dt2,ay,az
Attitude pitch, roll, yaw
and so on...
How many dimensions would you like?
Kant was not a mathematician and never programmed a computer.
He was not even a good philosopher. Or perhaps he was, depending
on your subjective point of view.


.

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