Yeah it is very cool. That's why I've been fascinated by it for years. Check it out though, (I know it sounds pathetic and weird,) I can understand and visualise the 4th dimension so well that I actually feel confined by the 3 dimensions I exist in now. Whew.
Stereo-scopic (or binocular) vision does indeed serve the purpose of visual depth. However there is more to it than that.
Binocular vision is a representational dimension. We have representational dimensions (colour, time, vision etc) and physical dimensions (Length, Height, Depth, katath)
Physical dimensions are dimensiones of our universe indicated by movement, and proportion (each of those words have a slightly altered definition in other dimensional worlds).
Representational dimensions is what allows us to indicate dimensions by vision (and in some cases, sound, but that is easily betrayed because when you go to the cinema, you're already hearing 4 Dimensional sound). Colour and Stereo vision are both representational dimensions.
Colour was longly labelled as a dimension, such as how time was labelled a dimension. these are not spatial dimensions though, they cannot allow organisms to exist by themselves.
Stereoscopic vision is basically where two eyes are both facing the same direction, being 2 1/2 inches away from each other. without stereo vision, you can still see depth, but it is only fixated. the product of stereoscopic vision is "Emphasis" (or Focal Point). you can never tell the effects of stereo vision because it is always working in the background. Hold a penny infront of your vision and focus on it. Here, stereo vision isn't distinguishable, but if you notice in the background of that image, (say for instance you're doing this experiment at your pc right now) your monitor has split into two separate unfocused images. simalarly when you focus on your monitor, the penny will follow the same result.
It is representational dimensions that allow us to tell whether a shape has depth, without it, a sphere may aswell be a circle.
Here's something intersting that whoever may wish to design the wallpaper may want to know, in our 3 dimensional world, there are 56 million colours. there are no more colours than that. In Flatland, only primary colours exist. This is because depth adds in the extra millions of colours that can be filtered through light. Imagine that you are in a hall-like room with various shapes scattered throughout. Also imagine that the only source of light in the room is coming from you (so you're... the light, the sun as it where) you'll notice that all the shapes that have sides facing you, are in primary colour (yellow fo instance) and the sides of the same shapes that are 'not' facing you are in...i don't know..cream. sorry i'm not good with colour, but what i'm trying to say is that the sides not facing you will never emit a primary colour (when the source of the light is coming from your direction).
So in our dimension there are 56 million colours, representing depth. A sphere will obviously utilise many colours (shadings of it's colour I mean). Without representational dimensions, we wouldn't be able to tell it's a sphere unless we use physical dimensions to 'feel' around the shape (which is what A. Square did in the book Flatland).
It's interesting to know that in the 4th dimension, the limit of colours will extend from 56 million, to 224 million colours. that's right, new colours, or..shadings should I say.
It's sometimes quite difficult to explain to someone about the 4th dimension..especially when they're opinionated. Man it turns into an argument everytime I try and do so. But sometimes I can't win, mainly because i'm useless with words and...evidentially, the 4th dimension remains to be a theory, even though it is mathemathically proven. I mean I haven't been there have I? so how the *@%# am I supposed to know?
For instance, I was *trying* to explain to a friend of mine what it would be like in Flatland. Remember that in Flatland, depth isn't removed (as most people think) Height is removed. And he argued that you could not live in a world without height, you couldn't even exist. Well you could, but you'd only have one layer of height. Remember that to have upward depth is simply to have more than ONE layer. one layer of height isn't really height at all. Dimensions have to have a measurement so if you live in Flatland, your will have the same upward depth as your world, and your fellow inhabitants. Meaning that height is indistinguishable. He then argued that Flatland MUST have one some small measurement of a 3rd dimension - no, one slice of a dimension isn't a dimension at all. if you put it like that, then we also have one slice of the 4th dimension. we have one section of 'Upsilon' - but that doesn't mean we live in the 4th dimension, it means that the 3rd dimension is 'contained' in the 4th dimension, just as Flatland is 'contained' in the 3rd dimension.
So there you go ADAM PRESCOTT!
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Sorry for making this..so long. I'd really appreciate if one of the talented designers on wincustomize rendered a really cool hypercube wallpaper. there isn't really a wallpaper image out there on google. Please. I'd deeply appreciate it and would offer anything in return.
Thanks!
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That's good Paxx, thanks for digging that up.