clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org

MIRROR WORLDS 139
Figure 5.11 A more intricate model of a higher-dimensional object. [For more details
on this shape, see Ryan, E (1991) The earthscore notational system for orchestrating
perceptual consensus about the natural world. Leonardo. 24(4): 457—65. The drawing
was done by Gary Allen. The bottle object is called a relational circuit.]
Many kinds of spatial distortions are discussed in detail in my book Black
Holes: A Traveler's Guide. We still need to learn more about the large-scale structure
of our universe before we can determine whether orientation-reversing
paths exist. Imagine the possibilities if these paths exist. When you traveled in a
rocket ship and returned as your mirror image, all your screws, scissors, fonts,
body organs, and clocks would have changed their orientations relative to your
friends who never risked the journey. If your spouse or loved one returned to
you reversed, would your feelings for them change? Would you notice the difference?
Could they still drive your car, write in a manner legible to you, use a
computer keyboard, digest the same foods, or read your books? Would the
enantiomorphic molecules in their bodies also be reversed? Would there be any
advantages to being mirror reversed? Would future societies, seeking uniformity,
send out left-handed people in spaceships so that on their return they would be
right-handed? Would governments purposefully send out people to be mirror
reversed, thereby creating whole new segments of the population that could not
mate with "normal" people or contract deadly pathogens that evolved to prey
on biomolecules with particular enantiomorphic characteristics?
Scully: Oh God, Mulder, it smells like ... I think it's
bile.
Mulder: How can I get it off my fingers without betraying
my cool exterior?
—"Squeeze," The X-Files