Reach for the 11D specs!

LIFE AND OTHER BITS:

CAN we get any brighter; can we know and understand more than we do already or are we destined to stay as dim as a dead light bulb?

Well, according to our top scientist Lord Rees, we — you and me — have reached the limits of our ability to learn and will never see beyond our three dimensions to the 10 or 11 dimensions (you’d need some pretty big glasses) that exist out there somewhere.

And some of Lord Rees’s mates — heaven knows what they are on — think that we may be part of a giant computer programme and that there could be other 3D universes alongside us — less than a millimetre away they say — that we can’t see (that might explain the town centre on a weekend night).

All of this is apparently beyond us (and, phew, are we pleased?) just as surely as Einstein’s ideas would baffle a chimpanzee.

But do we want to be that smart? Do we really want to know that our entire universe is a grain of sand on some 11th dimension country’s beach or that we are a millimetre away from some parallel universe?

We have enough trouble coping with what we’ve got; politicians, tax forms, what to have for tea and women without worrying about 11 dimensions and whether we are part of some giant computer game operated by a brain as big as Australia in dimension seven.

What good would knowing all this 11 dimension, string theory (no, that doesn’t mean why you can never find a piece of string when you want one) consciousness and microstructure stuff do us?

Would it make us healthier, richer or happier or would it just give us more to worry about?

Lord Rees says we are just like fish, swimming around barely aware of where we live and that anything else would be far too complex for unaided human brains. Thank heavens (or should that be thank the micro world of atoms and particles) for that.


THE police are in trouble from the PC brigade for carrying out stop-and-search operations when, would you believe it, the proper paperwork was not in place. Only in this country could paperwork be an issue. Stop and search is a preventative measure, intended to save us all from getting blown up on the bus, on the train, in our beds or in the street.

We have enough recent experience of the impact of terrorism to know just how important it is that the police are able to remain vigilant and are not forced to police our streets with one eye shut and one arm tied behind their back.

Security is, or should be, our top priority and those of us who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear from stop and search.


FINAL WORD: Is it only me that’s surprised at the Oldham Integrated Care Centre is in line for a top building award? It will doubtless be good for health, but easy on the eye it isn’t.