2D & 4D lifestyle

[ParadoxJuice]

Now, in Flatland, Abbot attempts to explain the world a bit. Okay, he goes very in depth, but there is one strange thing that bugs me. The lack of gravity. Why don't 2D planets form, just as 3D planets form in our world.

Now, this is where my discussion comes in. A lot of my posts here mention how we assume that bionians and tetronions are like us, when they really wouldn't be. I want to know what anyone out there thinks a 2D world would actually be like-what would the creatures be like, how would they adapt to live, etcetera. I believe there was a book about this already, called planiverse. I've never read it, if anyone else has, it would be nice if they mentioned a bit of whats in the book.

[Sideshow]

I haven't read the book, but I know what the theories are in Flatland. I think the version of a two-dimensional world portrayed on this website is more accurate, with planets forming as large circles in two-dimensional space. That would be if they had gravity in a form we recognize, however. Maybe gravity is a universal constant, as some scientists have theorized that the reason gravity is so weak in this universe is because it's leeching out to other universes. That's another discussion, however.

As to what life would look like in these dimensions, I think it would be a good idea to define what life is first, and then work from there. In general terms, something is considered alive only when it exhibits the following characteristics:

1. It maintains homeostasis
2. It metabolizes energy and converts it to other forms
3. It grows over time
4. It adapts to its environment
5. It is organized on some physical level (i.e. has cells)
6. It responds to stimuli
7. It reproduces

These are all acceptable in three dimensional terms, where the physics of energy are well known. However, #5 may be different as the physics would be different, and numbers 1 and 2, while reasonable, may not be applicable in other dimensions where the physics may be different. Using this template, though, with given variables in mind, it may be possible to theorize other forms of life unlike the ones we're accustomed to.