Evolution has ensured that our brains just aren't equipped to visualise 11 dimensions directly. However, from a purely mathematical point of view it's just as easy to think in 11 dimensions, as it is to think in three or four.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Humans cannot visualize 11 dimensions naturally, but mathematically thinking in them is as easy as thinking in 3D.
- In plain terms
- We can't see 11 dimensions, but our brains can understand them with math.
- What can you take from it?
- Math allows us to grasp concepts beyond our biological limits.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What can't your brain see?
- Is math real?
Another view
Mathematical understanding differs from genuine intuitive visualization.
More from Stephen Hawking
My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.
Permalink to quote #16 I think that it's important for scientists to explain their work, particularly in cosmology. This now answers many questions once asked of religion.
Permalink to quote #18 I am discounting reports of UFOs. Why would they appear only to cranks and weirdos?
Permalink to quote #15
Related quotes
I am acutely aware of the fact that the marriage between mathematics and physics, which was so enormously fruitful in past centuries, has recently ended in div…
Freeman DysonFreeman Dyson quote #1 The universe has its secrets. Extra dimensions of space might be one of them. If so, the universe has been hiding those dimensions, protecting them, keeping th…
Lisa RandallLisa Randall quote #1 Light and matter are both single entities, and the apparent duality arises in the limitations of our language. It is not surprising that our language should be…
Werner HeisenbergWerner Heisenberg quote #2