bilglik 6

Bilgilik 327
The dimensions of the plane he’s lying flat on is his “space”. To him, it’s the rest of the
universe that’s gone a little weird, but he himself is perfectly
normal. However, once he reorients himself, it is clear that the rest of the universe has
moved
on without him. This is clearer if we introduce a second 2D person.
Initially, both of our individuals do not move in space – all of their vector is pointing
in the direction of time. Nothing that strange seems to happen so far. However, if our
stickman on the right turns and vectors at near the speed of light for
a bit and then reorients himself, while the 2D man on the left just stays where he is,
it becomes clear that our 2D men have not moved at the same rate through time. Assuming
that our two stickmen can still somehow see each other (let’s imagine that they
somehow project an image of themselves onto the other’s “space” plane), they’d
immediately notice that there is a difference in age.
The one who travelled at the speed of light did not advance so quickly through time as
the other who remained stationary, and so is younger.
But why do we find this model so compelling? Well, it is because of what those
projections would look like during changes in direction.
From the point of view of the first stickman, initially, the projection of their friend seemed
to be fairly normal.
However, as they started travelling very quickly in “space”, and their vector oriented in a
direction away from “time”, a 2D shape reveals its inherent flatness.
From a face-on perspective, it goes from this, to this: The speedily travelling stickman
appears to flatten, with an effect that’s more pronounced the faster they go, with the
flattening taking place in the direction of their travel. The stickman who remained
stationary might wonder at the strange change that is occurring
to their friend, never comprehending that it represents a reorientation of a 2D figure
in 3D space. Now what captures my imagination about this is that this same thing happens
in real life.