Diary 2024-10-18
I've been thinking about some things that could be a proper project, but I think I'm biting off more than I can chew. (Actual quote: "What would this imply? I have no idea.") So, I need to either find something more manageable, or really properly break up the stuff I've mostly been thinking about.
Let's have a stab at the latter. I've been speculating about four-dimensional planets. Geography, anatomy of the inhabitants, rotation, etc. However, a big problem with this kind of world-building project is that in a universe with four spatial dimensions, bounded orbits aren't possible (unless there's some kind of significant positive spatial curvature, maybe), and for that matter, atomic orbitals aren't stable (the theory here is more complicated than with the orbits, and I'd like to run it through myself, just to be sure; that does to a strong investment in learning/relearning the relevant material). I want to have, like, a hyper-spherical planet with gravity and celestial bodies, but I can't get them naively. I can see a few ways to deal with this contradiction:
- Ignore it.
- Run through the relevant theories and see what kind of "little tweaks" are possible to try to salvage familiar behavior.
- Toss nearly everything out, come up with another physical system, and try to derive stuff like life and rivers in the context of even more alien physics.
While I've made a few stabs at the third, I think I need something with a bit more of a guide rail. I'd like to try for the second, because coming up with a plausible set of physical rules would let me have some idea of how chemistry works. (And judging by what I've come up with under the assumption that four-dimensional orbitals can contain four electrons, and considering just the 1s orbital, I could draw so many crazy diagrams if I just had some assurance that every atom involved would not spontaneously destroy itself.)
Since the books I was reading were the Orthogonal trilogy, I'm right now thinking that I might as well reread the supplemental materials, and try to combine the stuff about the "Lorentzian universe" with the adaptations to four spacelike dimensions.
My initial goal there would be to see if I can confirm the statements that atoms aren't stable.
Anyway, that's not happening now; I need to get to bed.
Good night.