The problem tetronians would have in identifying their sides

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The problem tetronians would have in identifying their sides

Postby anderscolingustafson » Fri Apr 22, 2011 8:39 pm

For us 3d life forms it is easy to determine were our left and right sides are as we only have symmetry across a line so we cannot rotate our right and left sides around any circle of Symmetry. We always know were our right and our left is.

A tetronian though would have a circle of symmetry though. Et/It's Left Kata, Left Ana, Right Kata, and Right Ana sides would all look the same and could all rotate around the circle of symmetry. If you choose to look at one side of a tetronian and then saw that tetronian later on you wouldn't know, which side you looked at. So basically unless for a tetronian each of et/it's sides had unique characteristics that were only found on that side which side et/it would define as et/it's Left Kata, Left Ana, Right Kata, and Right Ana would be somewhat arbitrary. Once a tetronian decided that one side was to be et/it's Right Kata for instance et/it could then define each of et/it's other sides but if a tetronian looked at anyone of et/it's sides if et/it didn't have a side that et/it used to define the other sides et/it would not know, which side et/it is.
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Re: The problem tetronians would have in identifying their s

Postby wendy » Sat Apr 23, 2011 7:07 am

Except this is patently silly.

Firstly, there is no such thing as left/right/aka/etc.. It just means that one has not thought it through, though.

The across-space is that perpendicular to up/down and front/back [ie space divided by gravity and time]. In three dimensions, this is linear, giving rise to left and right. In four dimensions, this is a hedrid or 2d space. This means, that a single appendage, like an arm or a tail, can freely point to any direction of this hedrid, while still being perpendicular to both up/down and front/back.

This space has no grain. It is possible for several individuals to lie at any angle of this space.

Further, there is no particular reason for four directions here: six might as equally do.

What /does/ exist in four dimensions, is that there is a -direction-of-rotation- that is universal to all members. That is, even though the specific angles might not be namable, the notion of left-turn and right-turn still do.
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Re: The problem tetronians would have in identifying their s

Postby Halfbaker » Sat Jun 04, 2011 4:31 am

Well hold on a second, what if the tetronians had radial symmetry?
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Re: The problem tetronians would have in identifying their s

Postby Mrrl » Sun Jun 05, 2011 7:23 pm

They may have also almost-triangle symmetry (three arms, legs, eyes etc.) If their arms are not completely equivalent, tetronians may call them somehow (say, "alpha, beta and gamma"), and the direction will be like "on gamma-hand side and sligtly backward".
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