In Machine Learning, the dimensionality of a dataset features the number of input variables passed into a model. Humans are individual robots functioning with the orders and perception from the most powerful neural network yet, the brain. We apprehend the physical world as a three-dimensional input in general. Visually, the reality is comprehended through three vectors: x, y, and color. Tactilely: x, y, and z. Audibly: loudness, pitch, and timber.
Humans live in a three-dimensional world. Until now, that’s how we perceive it. But diving deep inside, the world we live in is more than just a solid, cubic world. There are many more dimensions that we barely grasp its existence and dominance or that we haven’t discovered yet.
On the surface, space is where we stay, interact, and leave — where we temporarily live and exist in the present moment. This aspect of space made us unconsciously develop ourselves to obliterate its portion in our lives from our memories easily. Nothing is everlasting.
However, the meaning and significance of space to us are more than what it’s defined on the apparent aspect. Space is a place where we exist and where we create our memories and shape our future. Moreover, it is not only composed of objects but also every conscious existence in its surroundings. We face rapid changes in sojourning spaces during our long journey of life. We come and go. And while at that moment, we interact with different and various beings, make memories, learn, develop ourselves, and move along. A space is where all the kernel moments in life get realized. Without its existence, nothing would happen; humanity would be lonely and emotionless individuals, permanently stuck on a single point. Without space, we live in a zero-dimensional world, where nothing exists — no movements, emotions, and improvements.
Life is a continuous interaction between numerous individual identities, either externally or internally. We encounter various people, but also ourselves with different aspects. Here’s a question: As we live on, we form our identities in our very own way. But universally, what is the leading factor towards the creation of individual identities?
What I believe is not the experiences we had nor the people we met. It’s the space that fundamentally develops an identity. And I want to discuss more on how my space has created me in the present, writing this.
Space isn’t a single factor. It constitutes multiple different factors. Differentiation of space is dependent on the individual’s perspective. In my case, I divide my space into three. The understanding of each space can be approached by illustrating the different personalities of an individual.
Everyone’s identity is blended with three personalities. First, the person who you are to the outer world. This personality shows up to the people you meet for the first time or with no frequent interactions; often, people who take an essential portion at that moment. Second, the person who you are to the people close to you. This is who you are to your family, friends, and loved ones. Third, the person who you are to yourself. This is the person who you only know and never or nearly does not show up during interactions with others.
Identically, there are three spaces of mine: the space where I interact with the outer world, where I interact with the people close to me, and where I interact with myself, the inner world. Each plays a crucial role in shaping my identity. As a semi-adult 18-year-old, learning takes a significant portion in my operating system, named identity. I continuously learn from others and myself; constantly update my system.
Before diving into a more profound elaboration, let me simplify some concepts. There should be some name to be called, which represents my different three spaces. It feels too long and repetitive whenever I call them: the space where I interact with the people around me, the space where I…, et cetera.
So here, I’ll start by naming them; for fun, let me name them after the biome names from Minecraft. For people unfamiliar with Minecraft, it’s an open-world video game where you can explore the world and create new things — like living an alternative life in a digital world where everything is blocky.
- The space where I interact with the outer world. This is the Plains.
- The space where I interact with the people close to me. This is the Village (though, technically, a village is not actually a biome).
- The space where I interact with my inner world. This is the Caves.
Now, I will explain why I named each space like this, with the Minecraft concepts — but not too focused on the game.
The world consists of extroverts, ambiverts, and introverts. I guarantee that I am nearly 100% introvert. Just as its definition, I prefer being alone, I do not have many friends, and most importantly, I communicate with myself more than anyone else. Me itself is a mystery to be solved; I believe there are always hidden lessons inside. I enjoy the lonely exploration. Somehow, I guess that’s why I’m so enthusiastic about this game — as the game is purely about a never-ending journey of exploration and creation.
First, the Plains. This is the default biome of Minecraft — the very basis, common world for all players, which is nearly similar to the outer world’s nature, where everyone gets generally exposed by default since they were born. Here’s why. The fundamental starter’s guide of Minecraft is starting with wood because that allows the player to build the tools. The Plains is where the distribution of trees is high; growth is the most frequent. And it’s where getting wood is the least risky. Overall, most players get the essential resources at the Plains. There are trees, animals, seeds, and water.
Individuals do not get the knowledge for survival and life by themselves. Learning does not auto-generate from their brain. Instead, it is obtained from the outer world and interpreted in the inner world, which fills up the mind. The external world is the kernel fountain providing the essential resources. Some might argue that we initially learn from our parents and families, but they also obtained what they teach from the outer world.
Second, the Village. Here is where the villagers are, where the human-plus-Squidward-like NPCs are living. Here’s where I feel the most comfort from the game. But outside of emotions, this is where the necessary resources are available. There are livestock, farms, various infrastructures for crafting tools, and many more that guide the player’s next journey.
No one is entirely alone. There is always someone to talk to. They can be one of your family or friends. People close to you provide comfort, community, and the necessary feelings and resources needed for your roadmap of life. Not only can you learn something informative, but you can also learn something sentimental from close relations.
Third, the Caves. Here is the darkest and deepest place to visit in Minecraft. Initially, there are no lights, and monsters are lurking around. However, this is also where all the scarce resources can be found, like diamonds and obsidian. If the player travels through the Caves wisely, they would be lucky enough to obtain all the desired outcomes. But sometimes, it may lead the player to the wrong path.
For sure, we are one of the most unsolvable mysteries of the universe. It’s hard to know and define who we are precisely. The more one dives into itself, the higher the uncertainty will be, and that’s inevitable, as it’s part of the core human nature. Because that’s what being human is. We cannot fully understand ourselves. But we can try, to a controllable extent, while continuously exploring. We constantly debate ourselves and repeat asking questions, trying to find an answer. If the inner conversation goes well, you may result finding what you wanted; else, it might lead to another chaos and conflict in the globe of consciousness.
Earlier I mentioned dimensions — the quantity of input variables passed in, or simply, the number of data types used to represent something. And that the space we exist in is more than just a three-dimensional world.
We learn from various experiences. We make mistakes, face new things, and always learn from them — to avoid or get more used to it in the future when the same thing happens. We encounter a diverse range of types and categories of experiences, but in common, we always learn something from it. And what’s the common objective in that? To make us better, to develop ourselves.
So, how do we learn from experiences? Fundamentally, we remember it. But, taking a detailed approach on this, do we only remember the space surrounding the event? The x, y, and color, the x, y, and z, or the loudness, pitch, and timber? Absolutely not. There is more given to our memories whenever a new event gets updated. All these procedures are unconsciously operated without realizing the existence of numerous other dimensions provided in the input data — the event from reality.
I’ll dive into more detail, starting with the Plains — the everyday world where everyone is exposed to and where they spend most of their time. And I, even as an extreme introvert, spend most of the time here, a world built by the community, the people. During the days and the nights, I live on the Internet, with my computer. Here I learn the most about what I’m curious and interested in. This is where it gives me the answers to my questions from various perspectives. I’m a learner and a creator. I learn fast about the areas I’m interested and passionate about; create what I illustrate in my mind using the gained knowledge. I love to program, design, and study entrepreneurship, finance, physics, and engineering. What wakes me every morning is the enthusiasm about what I will be able to learn or create today. The Internet is the perfect place for getting what I desire. And it is generally accessible.
At the Plains, specifically the online Plains, the experiences I encounter are what I see or listen to on the Internet. The articles I read, podcasts I listen to, the videos I watch, and the lectures I take, these all provide the kernel inputs of knowledge to be processed in the Caves, my inner world — but about that later. The point to focus on here is: what vectors are put inside my unconscious mind? How is the knowledge from the Plains converted to vector variables and passed in?
From an objective perspective, the information obtained from the Plains is simply what we sense — see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. The online Plains is mainly concentrated on the distribution of visual or audible information. But information is not simply put in the mind, entirely relying on what is viewed or heard. There are more diversified vectors supporting the sensation of actualization for an event that is bundled with the necessary knowledge.
When reading a text, not only the text itself is interpreted, but also there’s an internal visualization continuously following up with the text. Call this a visualization vector set, where a virtual context is created using the space, time, color, and sound vectors that are generally used when creating a psychological illustration. Regardless of the text type — either an article, book, or documentation, et cetera — a framework for comprehension is built and continuously reinforced based on what is happening on the surface of the text.
This approach of perception applies to every interpretation based on sensation. This means it’s also the same for listening and other senses too. Shortly, whichever sense we use when encountering an event, an image is always illustrated internally in our mind. Again, this image is not just simply an image. It’s an image created by combining spatial and other sensory data — depending on the context — which means it’s a multi-dimensional data, not only three. At the same time, a logical connection is established, bounding numerous images created in different timeframes during an event. And this is what’s really put inside the mind, not the actual event from the three-dimensional world itself.
The Plains is where it initially processes and stores the interpreted information. Specifically, in my online Plains, this is where the sequence of images gets produced and passed in after I read an article or documentation, watch a lecture video, and all the other events that happen while I’m in the Internet world.
So, where does all the pre-processed data from the Plains get passed in? The Caves. Here, all the unlabeled and unorganized image sequences created from the Plains and the Village get stacked.
Before diving in, I have to mention what’s happening with the Village. Will I not mention it? Sort of, yes. Because what happens in the Plains and the Village are similar in all perspectives. Events happen; you sense it and create image sequences. What’s only different for the Village, is that emotions are also processed; this is also interpreted through the identical approach. A link is created between the emotions you feel with the image sequence created. Now moving on…
The Caves. Heard or watched the Disney movie, Inside Out? It’s a story about a girl named Riley Andersen’s journey of emotions while facing new changes in life. She moved her residence, went to a new school; everything is new. An interesting point of this movie is the method of the portrayal of Riley’s emotions. It’s not Riley controlling herself, but the tiny existences inside her brain — the basic emotions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger. They are the ones creating Riley.
Similarly, as Inside Out, the Caves consist of countless identical tiny beings. I say identical because they have nothing to do with emotions, but the organization of input data and further exploration enlarging from it. They are small, same tiny working beings inside my mind. Just like digging and mining down deep in the Caves, this is what they do. They manually label the input data, decide where it should be placed. This is the torch, providing the initial light for the discovery of scarce resources. They set the torch and deep dive into a search for something valuable. In the Caves, what’s valuable for me is the true understanding of a concept and the further creative applications based on the knowledge. This is what tiny beings inside my mind ultimately do. And if they make an error during the process, they either restart or search for another path.
I continuously have a conversation with myself, and I’ll explain it metaphorically as the conversation between the garrulous little beings inside the Caves. There are various identities in my inner-self, and through different chats with these identities, I often find something I want — a solution, understanding, or an application.
The tiny beings unpack every single image sequence passed in from the Plains and the Village to the unit of individual single-dimensional datum. Here, they filter out the unnecessaries after scanning each, without the permission of my conscious mind — these are conducted in my subconscious; what they believe to be necessary will remain, while the ineligible won’t. Visualize it as a Ford production line that dismantles instead of assembling; throws out the unnecessary parts so that only the core data remains, without the employees informing their boss.
Each disassembled datum is labeled based on its scope of usability and application — in which area can this be used for. Data with the same labels get organized; stored inside small minecarts. Each minecart is a packet of tools and resources needed for further exploration deep inside the Caves. Here’s something special about it. The rent protocol is temporarily executed when a particular material is demanded but not included inside the grouped data — the minecart. It’s a fancy phrase for naming an action for borrowing something for a moment from the other group of data. While this is executed in several different areas of exploration, if many tiny beings agree that a tool belongs more inside a new group than where it has initially been placed, it stays there. No returning is required.
Fundamentally, these processes are continuously repeated. The tiny beings inside filter, label, and group the raw data composed of multiple dimensions. The grouped data are passed to other tiny beings in charge of exploration using the provided tools and equipment.
At the beginning of this long story, I mentioned an argument that the rudiment that builds up our identity is the space surrounding us. Space creates our identity. So, to sum up, how do all these long, unrecognizable processes ultimately lead to building and reinforcing our identity?
The Plains and the Village provide the raw data into the Caves, and all the exploration takes place fundamentally relying on the processed data. To rephrase it, space gives the resources for identity creation; at the same time, is responsible for the creation of identity.
Whenever people ask about the meaning of life, countless answers come out. None of them are wrong. Each individual has their own universe, and all the outcomes given from these innumerable multiverses should be respected. However, what I fundamentally believe about the meaning of life is establishing our identity and truly knowing who we are.
The identity is built in the Caves, through numerous explorations. Here is a space of darkness, but its potential for undiscovered wonder is limitless. To what extent one lights up their Caves, to what extent one discovers the valuable resources and answers from there, is what I believe to be the core determinant of the development of ones’ identity.
