From: Mac Tonnies <macbot@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2003 17:25:16 -0700 (PDT)
Fwd Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 22:02:09 -0400
Subject: Flying Saucers From The 4th Dimension?


Semi-random thoughts on UFOs from my blog:

Reading "Spaceland" [by mathematician/SF writer Rudy Rucker] has
caused me to view some UFO reports in a new light. Apparent
"vehicles" that seem to change shape while in the air may not be
spacecraft at all, but cross-sections of four-dimensional
objects that bisect familiar 3-D reality. For example, a 3-D
cross section of a 4-D tube would appear spherical. And if the
tube was irregular in shape, we would expect it to "change
shape" in our three dimensions as it moved, much how a sphere
passing through a two-dimensional plane would appear like a
rapidly growing disk to any watching Flatlanders.

There's at least one good multiple-witness case on record that
makes sense if the UFOs seen were 4-D objects (or a single 4-D
object) occurring at right angles to our three spatial
dimensions. The pilots involved described the shape-changing
objects as "flying jellyfish" -- pretty much what one would
expect a 4-D phenomenon to look like if it happened to move
through three-dimensional space.

The slightly unnerving aspect to this theory is that it implies
that we literally coexist with the UFO intelligence (if it is,
in fact, intelligent). But we're unable to see it unless it
happens to intersect with us. And even then we're limited to
glimpsing tantalizing cross-sections; our 3-D minds must turn to
mathematical esoterica to reconstruct what the invading object/s
actually look like. (In "Spaceland," Rucker does an excellent
job of showing us how bewildering a four-dimensional landscape
would appear to a 3-D observor. In short: Gnarly!)

Summing up: A hidden world with four spatial dimensions might
account for some UFO sightings. The oft-reported lenticular
shape may be a clue as to what these 4-D manifestations really
look like. This theory also conveniently disposes of the
supposed incredible distances extraterrestrial UFOs would
presumably have to cross in order to reach us. It also resonates
with Dr. Jacques Vallee's idea of a vast, intersecting
"multiverse."

posted by Mac at 7/12/2003 07:04:03 PM

=====
>Mac Tonnies (macbot@yahoo.com)

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