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6 In Search of Reality
the fact—which consists of molecules in motion—is located in the material
world. In contrast, the form of the fact, that is, its narration, is located in the
observer. There is a connection between the two, because when we state a
fact in words, it is assumed that there is a situation in the material world that
corresponds to it.
Another Perspective on Facts
There is a way of thinking of facts and events in a mind-independent fashion,
as things of the external world. Scientists like to think of events as pieces cut
out of space-time. In order to picture this appropriately, imagine first a particle
moving through space: In your mind’s eye you should be seeing a moving point
gradually tracing out a path. As you watch it, the particle’s position is changing
and time is passing. If you imagine this in a coordinate system in space-time
(that is, with a fourth axis for time), then the particle’s trajectory is a curve in
space-time.
If you have not one, but several moving points, they trace out separate paths
on the same space-time coordinate system. The separate paths are intertwined
curves, like a bundle of spaghetti. Thus, their joint motion is represented
as a twisted chunk of space-time that looks like a bundle of freshly-cooked
spaghetti.
One reason that space-time coordinates are used in science is that they
permit the representation of dynamic events in a static picture. Space-time
coordinates are coordinates in 4-dimensional space. For a moving point, its
first 3 coordinates specify its location in space at a given instant, and the fourth
coordinate designates the instant in time.
Any one event consists of a “solid” shape in four-dimensional space. It is
solid in the sense that it occupies volume in four dimensions. A volume in 3
dimensions is a chunk of matter, whereas a volume in 4 dimensions is an event.
An event is like a sculpture carved out of a four-dimensional block. It makes
one think of a famous quotation attributed to Michelangelo: “I saw the angel
in the marble and carved until I set him free.” You may think of an event,
similarly, as an “angel” in four dimensions carved out of a four-dimensional
block. 4
Our natural habitat is filled with myriad chunks of solid matter, some of
which have recognizable shape whereas others are shapeless. It is the same in
four dimensions: Most chunks of four-dimensional “matter” are shapeless, but
a few have what humans recognize as a shape. Those few are facts that we
6 In Search of Reality
the fact—which consists of molecules in motion—is located in the material
world. In contrast, the form of the fact, that is, its narration, is located in the
observer. There is a connection between the two, because when we state a
fact in words, it is assumed that there is a situation in the material world that
corresponds to it.
Another Perspective on Facts
There is a way of thinking of facts and events in a mind-independent fashion,
as things of the external world. Scientists like to think of events as pieces cut
out of space-time. In order to picture this appropriately, imagine first a particle
moving through space: In your mind’s eye you should be seeing a moving point
gradually tracing out a path. As you watch it, the particle’s position is changing
and time is passing. If you imagine this in a coordinate system in space-time
(that is, with a fourth axis for time), then the particle’s trajectory is a curve in
space-time.
If you have not one, but several moving points, they trace out separate paths
on the same space-time coordinate system. The separate paths are intertwined
curves, like a bundle of spaghetti. Thus, their joint motion is represented
as a twisted chunk of space-time that looks like a bundle of freshly-cooked
spaghetti.
One reason that space-time coordinates are used in science is that they
permit the representation of dynamic events in a static picture. Space-time
coordinates are coordinates in 4-dimensional space. For a moving point, its
first 3 coordinates specify its location in space at a given instant, and the fourth
coordinate designates the instant in time.
Any one event consists of a “solid” shape in four-dimensional space. It is
solid in the sense that it occupies volume in four dimensions. A volume in 3
dimensions is a chunk of matter, whereas a volume in 4 dimensions is an event.
An event is like a sculpture carved out of a four-dimensional block. It makes
one think of a famous quotation attributed to Michelangelo: “I saw the angel
in the marble and carved until I set him free.” You may think of an event,
similarly, as an “angel” in four dimensions carved out of a four-dimensional
block. 4
Our natural habitat is filled with myriad chunks of solid matter, some of
which have recognizable shape whereas others are shapeless. It is the same in
four dimensions: Most chunks of four-dimensional “matter” are shapeless, but
a few have what humans recognize as a shape. Those few are facts that we