clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org
clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org
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130 <strong>surfing</strong> <strong>through</strong> hyperspace<br />
Hyperthickness<br />
Is it possible that our space has a slight 4-D hyperthickness? If every object in<br />
our space is a millimeter thick in the direction of the fourth dimension, would<br />
we notice this 4-D component of our bodies? If we are actually 4-D creatures,<br />
and our bodies are only 3-D cross sections of our full bodies, how would we<br />
know?<br />
As I've mentioned repeatedly, the possibility of a fourth dimension led to religious<br />
debate over the centuries. Spiritualists have even wondered whether the<br />
souls of our dead drifted into another dimension. For example, British philosopher<br />
Henry More argued in Enchiridion Metaphysicum (1671) that a nether<br />
realm beyond our tangible senses was a home for ghosts and spirits. His descriptions<br />
were not too far from how modern mathematicians describe a fourth<br />
dimension. Nineteenth-century theologians, always searching for the location of<br />
Heaven and Hell, wondered if they could be found in a higher dimension. Some<br />
theologians represented the universe as three parallel spaces: the Earth, Heaven,<br />
and Hell. Theologian Arthur Willink believed that God was outside of these<br />
three spaces and lived in infinite-dimensional space. Karl Heim's theology,<br />
described in his book Christian Faith and Natural Science, emphasizes the role of<br />
higher dimensions. Several philosophers have suggested that our bodies are simply<br />
3-D cross sections of our higher 4-D selves.<br />
Aliens with Enantiomorphic Ears<br />
Although the vague notion of a fourth dimension had occurred to mathematicians<br />
since the time of Kant, most mathematicians dropped the idea as fanciful<br />
speculation with no possible value. They had not discussed the fact that an<br />
asymmetric solid object could, in theory, be reversed by rotating it <strong>through</strong> a<br />
higher space. It was not until 1827 that August Ferdinand Mobius, a German<br />
astronomer, showed how this could be done—eighty years after Kant's papers<br />
on dimension.<br />
If you encountered a Flatlander, you could, in principle, lift the Flatlander out<br />
of his plane and flip him around. As a result, his internal <strong>org</strong>ans would be<br />
reversed. For example, a heart on the left side would now be on the right. Similarly,<br />
a 4-D being might flip us around and reverse our <strong>org</strong>ans. Although such<br />
powers are, in principle, possible within the auspices of hyperspace physics, I<br />
should remind readers that the technology to manipulate space in this fashion is