clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org
clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org
clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org
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XIV<br />
preface<br />
problems—from a four-dimensional version of Rubik's cube and the evolution of<br />
four-dimensional biologies, to four-dimensional fractal quaternions with infinitely<br />
complex structures. However, the emphasis will be on the powers and<br />
appearances of four-dimensional beings. I want to know if humankind's Gods<br />
could exist in the fourth dimension. 2<br />
If a fourth dimension did exist, God could be so close we could hear His<br />
breath, only inches away, but impossible to see because our perception is seemingly<br />
confined to three dimensions.<br />
What if you could visit a four-dimensional world filled with intelligent lifeforms?<br />
Would the aliens have heads, arms, and legs, or even be vaguely<br />
humanoid? What capabilities would they possess if they were to visit our<br />
world? The challenging task of imagining beings from other dimensions is useful<br />
for any species that dreams of understanding its place in a vast universe<br />
with infinite possibilities.<br />
Is there really a fourth dimension we can explore and understand? This question<br />
is an old one posed by philosophers and scientists and has profound implications<br />
for our worldview. There seems to be no reason why a four-dimensional<br />
world of material four-dimensional objects could not exist. The simple mathematical<br />
methods in this book reveal properties of shapes in these higher spaces,<br />
and, with special training, our dimensionally impoverished minds may be able to<br />
grasp the "look and feel" of these shapes. As we speculate, we touch on the realm<br />
of mysticism and religion—because in the fourth dimension the line between<br />
science and mysticism grows thin.<br />
Hyperbeings living in a four-dimensional space can demonstrate the kinds of<br />
phenomena that occur in hyperspace. For example, a hyperbeing can effortlessly<br />
remove things before our very eyes, giving us the impression that the<br />
objects simply disappeared. This is analogous to a three-dimensional creature's<br />
ability to remove a piece of dirt inside a circle drawn on a page without cutting<br />
the circle. We simply lift the dirt into the third dimension. To two-dimensional<br />
beings confined to the piece of paper, this action would appear miraculous as<br />
the dirt disappeared in front of their eyes. The hyperbeing can also see inside<br />
any three-dimensional object or life-form, and, if necessary, remove anything<br />
from inside. As we will see later, the being can look into our intestines, examine<br />
our nervous system, or remove a tumor from our brain without ever cutting<br />
<strong>through</strong> the skin. A pair of gloves can be easily transformed into two left<br />
or two right gloves, and three-dimensional knots fall apart in the hands of a<br />
hyperbeing who can lift a piece of the knot up into the fourth dimension. In<br />
his correspondence and verse, the eminent physicist James Clerk Maxwell<br />
referred to the fourth dimension as the place where knots could be untied: