I was trying to explain the concept of dimensionality to a new age woman acquaintance.
"For example, if subatomic physicists should discover (or hypothesize) that the universe has 'eight dimensions,' all that would mean is that eight fundamental factors would be involved in any equation used to describe phenomena. It would not mean that there were four mysterious 'rooms' that you could go into. Dimensionality is a mathematical concept. Four or eight dimensions, it would not affect the way that we experience the world. You're confusing the map for the territory."
She insisted that she was in touch with another nonpsychological "dimension" where invisible beings live.
Exasperated, I said, "Well, actually, the world has five dimensions: length, width, depth, time, and the empty space in your head."
Peter Kosenko
---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 17:24:43 -0400
><http://www.gallup.com/poll/releases/pr010608.asp>
>
>POLL RELEASES
>June 8, 2001
>
>Americans' Belief in Psychic and Paranormal Phenomena Is up Over Last Decade
>Belief in psychic healing and extrasensory perception top the list
>
>by Frank Newport and Maura Strausberg
>
>GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
>
>
>PRINCETON, NJ -- What exactly do Americans believe in when it comes
>to the paranormal, the occult, and "out-of-this-world" experiences?
>The Gallup Poll recently updated its audit of Americans' beliefs in a
>variety of these types of phenomena. The results suggest a
>significant increase in belief in a number of these experiences over
>the past decade, including in particular such Halloween-related
>issues as haunted houses, ghosts and witches. Only one of the
>experiences tested has seen a drop in belief since 1990: devil
>possession. Overall, half or more of Americans believe in two of the
>issues: psychic or spiritual healing, and extrasensory perception
>(ESP), and a third or more believe in such things as haunted houses,
>possession by the devil, ghosts, telepathy, extraterrestrial beings
>having visited earth, and clairvoyance.
>
>Basic Beliefs
>
>The list of 13 experiences tested in the poll is eclectic, ranging
>from Halloween- and occult-oriented phenomena such as ghosts and
>witches, to mental experiences such as ESP, clairvoyance, and psychic
>or spiritual healing.
>
>Americans' overall beliefs in the experiences tested range from a
>slight majority who believe in the power of the human mind to heal
>the body, to a low of 15% who believe in the New Age concept of
>channeling or allowing a "spirit-being" to assume control of a body
>during a trance.
>
>Here is the overall pattern of results:
>
>[...]
>