Increment Dimensions Pattern

I see a possible pattern where adding a dimension increases functionality....

eg: gears to spheres

One example I've thought of is the chemist who came up with the benzene ring. He was trying to figure out how all the bonds could work together as advertised, and had an inspiration that they could be in a ring rather than a straight line.

There are wonderful molecules called "fullerenes" (the most famous of which is actually called BuckminsterFullerene?), consisting of lots of carbon atoms in a geodesic-dome sort of shape. BuckminsterFullerene? itself is the lowest-energy configuration possible for 60 carbon atoms. (These molecules are named in honour of BuckminsterFuller, who worked on geodesic domes and recognised their great stability, though he didn't anticipate the existence of the molecules that bear his name.) [DeleteMe: this paragraph has been considerably changed from Shae's original, so he may wish to disavow it.]

--ShaeErisson

The next dimension might be a bit harder.

I don't think so... My reasoning is that you just think in the higher dimensions, you don't have to have them in front of you. I think this is a pattern to suggest how you can shift your paradigm more than anything else.

See also CritiqueOfUseCases for a small discussion on dimensionality of software system models.