Seeing is Believing

The statistician (me) was talking to the nuclear physicist (Rich M.) on a recent rendezvous in the farmland of Granville Ohio.

I mentioned the book "Evidence of the Afterlife" by Jeffery Long M.D. (the book is intriguing but not well written) and the fact that statistically if two lines of evidence (mutually exclusive) of Near Death Experiences (NDE) are 90% convincing that together we would be 99% confident of an after life.

Rich M. responded that evidence in science is based on what can be replicated and observed. He then updated me on the current theory of scientific unknowns - we live in 11 dimensions. Why eleven? - because the mathematics seems to most elegantly work in the various equations.

Naturally thinking time was the 4th dimension, I asked about the other seven. Rich responded that the 4th dimension is not time - it would be better explained by rotating your left shoe in a way that it becomes identical to your right shoe. WOW - ponder that one.

I remember the book "Flatlands" that described what it would be like for a two dimensional inhabitant to describe activities of things popping in and out of the third dimension (almost like magical disappearing acts or teleporting).

Those individuals talking about NDE's are believers - maybe three dimensional inhabitants describing some other dimensions. For them - seeing is believing.