>>> In oh-so-very-human 3-D,
>>> the earth's orbit has angular momentum and ³ action ² is conserved;
>>> not so in the ( unimaginable ) 4-D world that's intrinsic to nature.
>>>
>>> The earth is moving in a staight line.. but spacetime is curved.
>>> The spacetime continuum is also known as hyperspace,
>>> i.e. the 4-D gravitational field, a hyperstructure.
>>>
>>> Randomness is ignorance, nothing more.
>>> When a system is fully known it can be modeled in 4-D;
>>> otherwise its a 3-D model or ( worse ) a statistical model.
>>>
>>> For some light reading on this topic see
>>> this philosophical novel about World War II and 4-D hyperspace:
>>> ³ Slaughterhouse-Five;
>>> or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death ².
>>>
>>> Einstein said:
>>> ³ I see a pattern,
>>> but my imagination cannot picture the maker of that pattern.
>>> I see a clock, but I cannot envision the clockmaker.
>>>
>>> The human mind is unable to conceive of the four dimensions,
>>>
>>> so how can it conceive of a God,
>>> before whom a thousand years and a thousand dimensions are as one ? ².
>>> -- ³ The Expanded Quotable Einstein ²,
>>> Princeton University Press, 2000 Page 208
>>>
>>> Petkov ( 2005 ) has this to say:
>>> ³ This paper pursues two aims.
>>>
>>> First, to show that the block universe view, regarding the universe as
>>> a timelessly existing four-dimensional world,
>>> is the only one that is consistent with special relativity.
>>>
>>> Second, to argue that special relativity alone can resolve
>>> the debate on whether the world is
>>> three-dimensional or four-dimensional.
>>>
>>> The argument advanced in the paper is that
>>> if the world were three-dimensional
>>>
>>> the kinematic consequences of special relativity and more importantly
>>> the experiments confirming them would be impossible. ².
>>>
>>> -- ³ Is There an Alternative to the Block Universe View ? ²
>>>
http://Philsci-Archive.Pitt.EDU/archive/00002408/
>>>
>>> From Einstein's, " Ether and the Theory of Relativity " ( 1920 )
>>> quoted at "
http://TUHH.DE/rzt/rzt/it/Ether.html ":
>>>
>>> " But this ether may not be thought of as
>>> endowed with the quality characteristic of ponderable media,
>>> as consisting of parts which may be tracked through time.
>>>
>>> The idea of motion may not be applied to it. ".
>>>
