Monday, January 23, 2012

String theory

I guess you have all heard of the expression Think outside the box. It means approaching the problems in new, innovative ways. By doing this, you may not be stuck with a problem because of looking for a conventional solution.

Here is a great example:
Once a political science student was doing very bad on the oral exam, and the professor offered a passing grade for the drawing of the flag of Djibouti. Student drew a picture shown on the right and said: "Here is a bird's-eye view of the the flag of Djibouti". Very clever, would you say?

So for the birds flying, all the flags are the same. I know what you think - what a revelation when they land, ha! Now, stop for a minute and think of your perception of the world.

Isn't it intriguing how if two entities have confronted opinions, it is more probable the one being right is actually the one you belong to!? Yes, you are stuck (don't be offended, I was too) in the environment you live in and you perceive the world from only one point of view (just like you closed one of your eyes). One of the best things of my study abroad program is I got the opportunity to perceive the world from another perspective. It opened my closed eye and I can see all the beauty (am I sarcastic?) of our world in 3D now!

Here we come to the part where string theory comes in. String theory is one of the contenders for a theory of everything, and introduces an interesting consequence - the Universe has 11 dimensions. By the analogy introduced above, you should change your environment at least 9 times in order to completely (?) understand the world (each change adds an extra dimension to your perception).

Is this something you want to do? Think twice and start your journey. My fingers are crossed for you. Au revoir!

2 comments:

  1. This blog is really informative i really had fun reading it.

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  2. Thanks, I appreciate it :)
    I hope you'll stick around to read some future posts as well.

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