Re: FT Combo: Super Carriers and FTL

On Mon, 26 Oct 1998, Atcliffe, Phillip wrote:
> Then, on Sun, 25 Oct 1998 23:40:41 -0500 John Crimmins 
> <johncrim@voicenet.com> wrote:
> > So how do other people work FTL? I have a few more alien races to 
> deal with, and I need some different ways for them to get around. I am
> personally fond of the Pournelle Alderson Drive, so I am probably
going to
> work that in with one of the minor powers. Any other thoughts? <
> Alternative methods of going FTL fall into one of two (or more, but I 
> can only think of two at present) categories: FTL in normal space, and

> FTL by means of hyperspace. (Note that there will be a lot of 
> duplication in terminology here, which could be confusing.)

third group: instantaneous travel. alderson drives, TK drives, etc.
unless
this was your zeroth group, i didn't quite get your taxonomy.

i think that the original hyperspace concept (pre being assimilated by
sf,
back when it was just topologists rambling on) was that, our 3-space may
be embedded in a 4-space, and may not be 4-dimensionally flat. if so,
points which are far apart in our 3-space may be close or even in the
same
place in 4-space (eg if our 3-space folds back on itself). if this is
the
case, if we go to a point which is zero distance from another in
4-space,
we may be able to travel to the remote point. the travel is not ftl in
4-space, it just appears to be in 3-space. travel between points nearby
in
hyperspace may or may not be possible - it would require travelling at
right-angles to reality. anyway, a 4-space is also called a hyperspace,
just as a 16-cornered figure with twenty equal edges and six cubic sides
is a hypercube.

is that right? how many sides *does* a hypercube have?

Tom
whose brain is turning inside out trying to think 4d