clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org

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tiny discrete units. To quantize space, physicists postulate discrete states analogous to
the energy levels or orbitals of atoms. For further reading on quantized space and on
other theories including 4-D spin foam, see Ivars Peterson's 1998 Science News article.
8. According to a theory devised by James Hartle and Stephen Hawking, time may
lose its ordinary, time-like character near the origin of the universe. In their theory,
time resembles a spatial dimension at very early "times." Thus the universe has no real
beginning for the simple reason that, if one goes sufficiently far back, there are no
longer three dimensions of space and one of time, but only four space-like dimensions.
In other words, time does not "keep on going," but instead becomes something other
than time when one explores the far past. Here, time cooperates with the three spatial
dimensions to create a 4-D sphere. At this point, time becomes "imaginary."
Similarly, time may have no end. If the universe eventually contracts back on itself,
it may never get to the final singularity because time will become imaginary again.
If the universe has no beginning and no end, we can't ask why it was created at a
particular moment in time—because time ceases to exist. (For more details, see
Richard Morris's book Cosmic Questions in Further Readings.)
Chapter 2
1. However, would a 4-D man be interested in a woman who would seem paperthin
to him?
2. If a 2-D man has a self-gripping gut, how could his brain on one side of the body
control the other side? What 2-D chemicals would he use for energy?
3. Actually, they would step around the walls by moving a very short distance into
the fourth dimension.
4. However, you could still introduce bacteria carried on your 4-D tools. Other
advantages would be the minimal damage, healing time, blood loss, and scarring.
5. What motive would a 4-D Don Juan have? Insubstantial women with incompatible
genes and ova would not seem like desirable targets.
6. Also consider that in Pointland, there is nothing else in the universe that an
inhabitant could imagine needing or wanting.
7. How large would 2-D brains have to be to contain the same number of synapses
as in our brains? How could the nerves interconnect without interference or using a lot
more area for wiring?
Chapter 3
1. About a year after Morris and Thorne delved into wormholes, Matt Visser of
Washington University developed a wormhole model that "looked" more like a rectangular
spool of thread than the hourglass shape of Morris and Thorne. A rectangular