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clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org

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appendix h<br />

challenging questions for further thought<br />

The unbelievably small and the unbelievably vast eventually meet—like<br />

the closing of a gigantic circle. I looked up, as if somehow I would grasp<br />

the heavens. The universe, worlds beyond number, God's silver tapestry<br />

spread across the night. And in that moment, I knew the answer to the<br />

riddle of the infinite. I had thought in terms of man's own limited dimension.<br />

I had presumed upon nature. That existence begins and ends is man's<br />

conception, not nature's. And I felt my body dwindling, melting, becoming<br />

nothing. My fears melted away. And in their place came acceptance.<br />

All this vast majesty of creation, it had to mean something. And then I<br />

meant something, too. Yes, smaller than the smallest, I meant something,<br />

too. To God, there is no zero. I still exist!<br />

—Scott Carey, The Incredible Shrinking Man<br />

This appendix includes various unsolved problems, challenges, break<strong>through</strong>s, and<br />

recent news items relating to higher spatial dimensions.<br />

Photons<br />

Is it difficult to imagine a universe with four dimensions in which we are constrained<br />

to three dimensions? Could there be some mechanism constraining us—<br />

such as being stuck to a surface via adsorption? If we were stuck to some surface in<br />

this manner, then the way in which 4-D beings could interact with us would be<br />

constrained by that surface.<br />

What happens to photons in four dimensions? For example, how do 4-D beings<br />

see? Our 3-D universe doesn't seem to be "losing" photons into the fourth dimension,<br />

so how would 4-D creatures use photons to see us or themselves? 1<br />

Four-Dimensional Speech, Writing, and Art<br />

Would we be able to hear the speech of a 4-D being inches away in the fourth<br />

dimension? How would sound work? What would a 4-D being sound like using its<br />

4-D vocal cords?<br />

199

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