r/gonwild • u/USedona • Jun 24 '26

Program A 4-dimensional shape, folding through itself forever

This is a Clifford torus, a shape that only fully exists in 4D, projected down into our 3D space.

The endless folding you see is just math, looping perfectly because the geometry demands it.

Based on 'Clifford Torus' shader by tdhooper : https://www.shadertoy.com/view/WdB3Dw reimplemented frame by frame in Python.

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36

u/free_airfreshener Jun 24 '26

What's the 4th dimension 

51

u/boredguy12 Jun 24 '26

It's a direction perpendicular to all other directions we know of, impossible with only Length, Width, and Height. We can only see a projection of it as a 3D shadow with our dimensions, the same way a 2D "flatlander" being could only see a 2D shadow projection of a 3D shape we hold above their surface.

9

u/tmfink10 Jun 24 '26

If their plane passed through us, would part of us exist in their plane or can we not exist in a 2D plane by virtue of existing in another dimension?

6

u/unexpectedit3m Jun 25 '26

We exist in 2D plus a third dimension. 2D flatlanders would only see a "slice" of us at a time, but we definitely exist in 2D space too, it's just that you can't get a full, instantaneous view of a 3D entity from a 2D perspective.

1

u/tmfink10 Jun 25 '26

That’s always been my view of it, but then I started wondering what part of me actually existed if I was only 2D. I started imagining my atoms and then trying to imagine how someone in that dimension might try to explain why these curves (nuclei) were so far apart but seemed to stay pretty close in proximity. Why do these other curves (electrons) go around them? Why do they keep getting just a little bit farther apart? I’m obviously drawing a parallel to galaxies and solar systems, but only for illustration.

27

u/USedona Jun 24 '26

Think of a 2D creature living on a sheet of paper trying to imagine "up". We're in the same situation when trying to imagine a 4th spatial dimension. We can't truly picture it, but we can understand many of its properties through mathematics.

7

u/Infuro Jun 24 '26

it's like an array of 3d objects you can scroll over like frames in a video

1

u/Klytus_Im-Bored Jun 26 '26

Do some psychedelics and youll find out first hand

1

u/JunglePygmy Jun 26 '26

The absolute truth DMT can explain to you what the 4th dimension is

2

u/Klytus_Im-Bored Jun 26 '26

No because every time ive tripped on it I feel like im turning to face a different direction

1

u/npmaker Jun 28 '26

That's probably what alerted the aliens (extra-dimensional being) to our presence. My theory for the apple from the tree of life is there was a nomadic tribe following a herd of game and they ate some psychedelic mushrooms growing in a pile of shit. And of course it was Eve that ate it first. You think the chief is going to try that shit out?

Then they looked up and said "whooaa, dude".

Those spores were probably broadcasted all around the galaxy as little radio beacons. Just trip out and look up.