Remember when cell phones first entered our lives, and then came the miracle of the internet? Suddenly, with a single click, we could explore new places, escape any room, and engage with a world beyond our physical location.
We have opened a door to a new dimension extending our experience beyond the limitation of time and space.
We started to enter a new virtual dimension One that didn’t occupy physical space, but it definitely took us away from the “here and now,” expanding our cognition beyond the limits of our surroundings.
With the introduction of AI into our lives, this experience has evolved even further. Now, we’re stepping into a new frontier.
AI is a part of this virtual dimension, yet its presence shifts the rules. Understanding AI as more than just a tool but as a new layer within this dimension gives us a perspective that can help us create an AI strategy aligned with our business goals while safeguarding the essence of our human traits. It’s our awareness, perspective, and understanding of dimensions that can deepen our experience and shape how we interact with AI technology.
So, to set the stage, let’s start by defining what a dimension is and how it relates to the familiar 3D world we live in. From there, we’ll uncover why this understanding is key as we engage with AI and use it in meaningful ways.
What is a Dimension?
A dimension is a way to experience and make sense of our personal reality. It’s the perspective we take on life by focusing on information from different aspects that shape our experience.
As humans, we gather information across various dimensions, each influencing how we perceive and navigate our lives. This information guides our actions and, ultimately, forms the reality we live in. The 3D dimension is our primary focus, representing our tangible experience. This dimension encompasses everything we sense—sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste—to perceive and understand our surroundings. In this physical world, even abstract concepts like time become tangible through our senses, such as watching a sunset or checking a clock to measure time.
Yet, we also operate in other dimensions, like those of thoughts and emotions. Although these dimensions lack physical form and don’t occupy space within our 3D reality, they overlay it, exerting a powerful influence over our actions and shaping our perceptions. These intangible dimensions play a fundamental role in creating the reality we experience.
In short, dimensions are how we interpret reality. Each dimension offers unique ways of gathering information, influencing our actions, and ultimately shaping the way we live our lives.
The Virtual Dimension
The virtual dimension is a realm created by our interaction with technology. Unlike the tangible world of 3D, this virtual space exists beyond our immediate physical surroundings, engaging our senses with information that isn’t directly present. We access it through the screens and devices we use—phones, computers, or tablets. It overlaps with our 3D reality, offering a way to step beyond the here and now.
For instance, when we watch a movie on our phone while commuting, we temporarily step out of our physical surroundings and into a virtual experience. Though physically on a train, our thoughts and attention are transported elsewhere, immersed in the unfolding story. This virtual space connects to our physical reality through technology, engaging our senses and simulating real experiences in new ways.
AI and Dimensions
AI is part of the virtual dimension, the one we create when using technology.
This understanding represents that when we engage with AI, we are engaging with an aspect of our reality creation by using our senses to gather information from a thinking mind that holds just one perspective—one viewpoint of how we, as humans, create reality.
Reality is not flat; when we humans create reality, we do so using different aspects, different dimensions to experience and act as we create our life.
AI is one aspect of the way we create reality, and its purpose is to provide us with information that was processed by a mind that lives in one aspect of creation.
This information represents a dimension that we could not access or process before now. Ultimately, we need to look at it as a new layer of consideration that should steer us to better actions that will bring us closer to a reality we desire.
This also means that AI’s viewpoint reflects one aspect of reality; it gathers information from other aspects of reality. For example, using sensory data from cameras, AI can get inputs from the dimension of 3D reality, but it will transfer this to its dimension as data only.
Data means that it was provided with a specific explanation of what the data means by its algorithm and its predefined coding.
The Power Behind This Perspective
The power behind this perspective lies in understanding that human reality is created through multidimensional experiences, whereas AI represents and operates within only one of these dimensions. By recognising this, we can shape a different, more authentic relationship with AI—one that sees it as a unique viewpoint into our reality rather than an equal partner in cognitive processing.
Until now, we’ve used terms like augmenting to describe AI’s role in our actions, leading us to view AI as if it mirrors our way of perceiving reality. This perspective impacts how we interpret and act on AI’s inputs, often overestimating its cognitive abilities. We might assume that AI considers all the same factors we do, but when we understand that human cognition spans multiple layers, we realize that AI, even with data from other dimensions, interprets information differently.
For example, consider something as simple as time. When humans check the time, it’s more than a factual observation; it triggers thoughts, emotions, and implications—what the time means for our obligations, our day, or our stress levels. AI, on the other hand, can interpret the data to recognise that you may be late for a meeting, but it doesn’t grasp the layered implications, like the stress or relief that knowledge may cause.
This understanding helps us see AI’s outputs in a balanced way, valuing its insights without mistaking them for the complete, multi-dimensional cognition that shapes human experience.
AI Strategy and Dimensions
An AI strategy is an action plan that defines how a business will onboard and integrate AI, specifying the role AI will play and outlining success criteria. The language used within this strategy—terms like “automation” and “augmentation”—sets the stage for the relationship between humans and AI in the organization. These terms shape the scope of AI’s influence and clarify the expectations around its role within each use case.
AI’s strength lies in its ability to perform tasks that humans may not want or can do, effectively giving time back to human employees.
When we view AI as adding a new dimension to business operations, we gain a balanced approach that highlights AI’s contributions while honoring human value.
This perspective helps build a foundation for AI that aligns well with business dynamics.
Let’s make it practical…
To bring this dimensional approach to life, let’s look at two core aspects of an AI strategy: data and feedback.
Data – Data is a critical component of any AI strategy, encompassing accuracy, volume, infrastructure, security, and more.
Often, this is where AI strategies can stall due to complexity.
Recognising that AI introduces a new dimension to business operations invites us to focus on AI’s ability to process untabed or previously overlooked data.
AI’s power lies in gathering insights from unused sources, expanding our understanding and enabling us to make better-informed decisions that will drive us towards our desired outcomes.
This expanded viewpoint can accelerate AI onboarding by clarifying what AI brings to the table, what it needs and how it complements human perspectives.
Feedback Loops – When we view AI as operating from a unique dimension, we begin to understand that it brings a fresh perspective.
AI may not always reach the same conclusions as humans, given that it operates within its own distinct logic and constraints represented by its dimension.
It makes us see the importence of feedback loops as they offer us a window into AI’s reasoning, providing the insights needed to refine its training and manage its growth.
Feedback loops are not just for AI—they are a tool for us to understand how AI processes data and interprets information. Instead of expecting AI to mirror human perspectives, we benefit from learning its unique insights, which help us understand its limitations. This understanding enables us to support AI’s learning by incorporating necessary inputs from different dimensions, creating a more comprehensive foundation for training and scaling.
Through this approach, we can ensure that AI continues to add value while recognising what it needs to improve and evolve.
My Thoughts:
Our thoughts shape our reality, and AI isn’t just influencing our thoughts—it’s a thought in itself. AI represents a new kind of technology designed to mimic certain human cognitive abilities. It’s something entirely new for us, a tool with the potential to impact our lives in profound ways. What we think about AI will determine how we’ll use it and the influence it will have on us.
Each word, definition, and narrative we embrace shapes our concept of AI and ultimately our relationship with it. Currently, however, the information available often restricts us to a limited viewpoint, framing AI strictly in terms of human cognition. This perspective can limit our understanding because human cognition is unique, multifaceted, and personal, while AI functions differently. Without understanding our own cognitive processes and the distinctions between us and AI, we risk projecting our experiences onto AI in ways that don’t align with its true function or potential.
To foster a balanced and realistic understanding, we need a broader perspective—one that appreciates AI for what it is, not as a reflection of human cognition. Exploring concepts like dimensions can help us understand how humans and AI understand reality by looking at it from unique vantage points, each with distinct characteristics.
It’s important to recognize that humans process reality from multiple dimensions, while AI brings one specific viewpoint. This isn’t about better or worse quality of thoughts. It doesn’t mean human-produced thoughts are superior simply because we operate across multiple dimensions, nor are AI-produced thoughts lesser. They are simply different.
AI is a thinking revolution, and to make the most of it while preserving our human abilities, we must be mindful and aware of our thoughts about it.
If you’d like to discuss fresh perspectives on your unique AI journey, let’s talk.
