[ExI] [Bulk] Re: [Bulk] Re: Virtual Reality is where the aliens are

[Tara Maya]

I read Flatland for the first time in fourth grade. I was so enamored of the cool idea of multiple dimensions, that when we had an English assignment to “describe an alien,” I made my alien from the forth dimension. It appeared as several seemingly distinct yet shifting 3D forms in our space, but they were all connected in a way the human couldn’t see in hyperspace. A pretty straight-forward application of the concepts in Flatland, but apparently my fourth grade teacher had never read this book, and couldn’t comprehend what I was talking about. He tried to flunk me on the assignment because I was supposed to only describe “one” alien, not several. I kept trying to explain that in hyperspace, it was a single creature…. sigh.

Later, of course, looking back on it, I realized that the teacher just wanted us to practice using descriptive adjectives and adverbs, not to actually hypothesize about alien lifeforms, never mind hyperspace. But how was I supposed to know that as a forth grader? I took the assignment at face value!

Tara Maya
Blog  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Amazon  |  Goodreads



> On Aug 27, 2015, at 8:53 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Mike Dougherty
> Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2015 7:51 AM
> To: ExI chat list
> Subject: [Bulk] Re: [ExI] [Bulk] Re: Virtual Reality is where the aliens are
> 
> On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 12:15 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>>> ..., I am filled with cognitive dissonance...the others should be out there, and they should be detectable.  Otherwise I and we are still missing something fundamental.
> 
>> ...I know... don't invent dimension just to pose a hypothetical...
> 
> On the contrary, do invent dimensions, if the notion explains some observed phenomenon.
> 
>> ... Ok, I assume everyone has read Flatland. :)  ... Is our spacetime in a similarly-special address of hyperspacetime?
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 
> Might be.  Note that the 2D guy in Flatland (terrific book is this) posed the possibility to his 3D visitor that there is a fourth dimension but the sphere couldn't comprehend it because he was too 3D.  The 2D guy was already having to open his mind to the possibility of a third dimension, so a fourth wasn't such a stretch.  The whole notion boggled the mind of the sphere.  {8^D
> 
> Edwin Abbott was brilliant.
> 
> spike
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> extropy-chat mailing list
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat