From: olson@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov (Paul Olson)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk.tech
Subject: Re: n-Dimensional Cyber Space
Date: 8 Sep 92 18:13:00 GMT
Organization: Mission Operations and Data Systems
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Sep7.084619.23317@src.umd.edu>, tedwards@src.umd.edu (Thomas Grant Edwards) writes...
>In article <1992Sep5.214552.19306@ncsu.edu> naoursla@eos.ncsu.edu (NORMAN ALAN OURSLAND) writes:
>>   In article <3525@bcstec.ca.boeing.com> hall@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Robert  
>>   J. Hall) writes:
>>   >etc. I mean an actual 4th, 5th, 6th,... and so on, spacial dimensions.)
> 
>>As I understand it, our mind actually makes a sort of three dimensional image
>>when it pictures something. There is actually a path of active neurons (or 
>>something to that effect) in the shape of the object being imagined. That is why
>>it is so difficult to picture 4-D objects. Our minds cannot physically "see"
>>them. This would lead me to beleive that a 4-D spacial cyberspace would be
>>impossible.
> 
>People are definately built for dealing with 3D space.  However, I've
>heard some annectdotal evidence from net.people working with 4 and 5
>D object manipulation programs (where they would see a 3D "shadow"
>of the higher dimension object), that you can learn to maniuplate
>4D objects, but it takes alot of practice.
> 
>-Thomas

I don't claim to be any expert on VR, cyberspace, etc, except for what I've
read and experienced, but it seems to me that people in this thread are trying
to deal only with 4D objects.  What if the 4th-D were logical only?

For example, what if there was a cyberspace of cyberspaces?  It's the way
I've always envisioned the net.  The domain would be a cyberspace, but the
backbone between domains would be the cyberspace of cyberspaces.  It's similar
to the universe of universes idea.

It also ties back to something I saw or read somewhere.  Imagine a stack of
planes (i.e. 2D spaces) on which reside 2D creatures.  Being constrained to
their planes, the creatures are only able to move and interact in 2D.  But now
comes a creature that lives in the 3D space surrounding the stack of planes. 
That creature can take a 2D creature and move it to another plane.  In other
words, to change from a universe of a given dimensional order, it requires a
move through the next highest dimension.  To the creature, it would appear that
it just popped from one universe to another.

So now, you're interacting in one cyberspace, let's say the 3D cyberspace of
virtual games, and you want to go back to work because your lunch break is
over.  You make a logically higher order jump back to the work cyberpsace in
which you control a virtual machine through another 3D interface.

That's O.K. and good, but you're still limiting your interactions to things
within a given 3D cyberspace.  To make things truly 4D, you'd have to be able
to affect things in 3D cyberspaces other than the space you're currently in. 
What kind of affects?  Well, how about being inside the space of the ball which
is being used in a game of virtual raquet ball?  Say the ball, in your space,
is a small asteroid being mined by you through a telepresence interface. 
You're taking mass away from the body.  The decreasing mass affects the play of
the ball on the court, which is the other space's representation of the
asteroid.

Is this 4D?  The possibilities are truly endless.

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|      __| Paul J. Olson - VAX Systems Manager & Resident Amiga Addict |
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