Recent from talks
Flatland
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Flatland
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is a satirical novella by the English theologian, Anglican priest and schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott, first published in 1884 by Seeley & Co. of London. Written pseudonymously by "A Square", the book used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to satirise the class and gender hierarchies of Victorian society, but the novella's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions.
A sequel, Sphereland, was written by Dionys Burger in 1957. Several films have been based on Flatland, including the feature film Flatland (2007). Other efforts have been short or experimental films, including one narrated by Dudley Moore and the short films Flatland: The Movie (2007) and Flatland 2: Sphereland (2012).
The story describes a two-dimensional world inhabited by geometric figures (flatlanders); women are line segments, while men are polygons with various numbers of sides. The narrator is a square, a member of the caste of gentlemen and professionals, who guides the readers through some of the implications of life in two dimensions. The first half of the story goes through the practicalities of existing in a two-dimensional universe, as well as a history leading up to the year 1999 on the eve of the 3rd Millennium.
On New Year's Eve, the Square dreams of a visit to a one-dimensional world, "Lineland", inhabited by men, who are lines, while the women are "lustrous points". These points and lines are unable to see the Square as anything other than a set of points on a line. Thus, the Square attempts to convince the realm's monarch of a second dimension but cannot do so. In the end, the monarch of Lineland tries to kill the Square rather than tolerate him any further.
Following this vision, the Square is visited by a sphere. Similar to the "points" in Lineland, he is unable to see the three-dimensional object as anything other than a circle (more precisely, a disk). The Sphere then levitates up and down through Flatland, allowing the Square to see the circle expand and contract between a great circle and small circles. The Sphere then tries further to convince the Square of the third dimension by dimensional analogies (a point becomes a line, a line becomes a square). The Square is still unable to comprehend the third dimension, so the Sphere resorts to deeds: he gives information about the "insides" of the house, moves a tablet through the third dimension, and even goes inside the Square for a moment. Still unable to comprehend the third dimension, the Square is taken by the Sphere to the third dimension, Spaceland. This Sphere visits Flatland at the turn of each millennium to introduce a new apostle to the idea of a third dimension in the hope of eventually educating the population of Flatland. From the safety of Spaceland, they can oversee the leaders of Flatland, acknowledging the Sphere's existence and prescribing the silencing. After this proclamation is made, many witnesses are massacred or imprisoned (according to caste), including the Square's brother.
After the Square's mind is opened to new dimensions, he tries to convince the Sphere of the theoretical possibility of the existence of a fourth dimension and higher spatial dimensions. The Sphere at first scoffs at the idea of higher dimensions, just as the Square had done, showing that his comprehension is not as broad as he had thought. Still, the Sphere returns his student to Flatland in disgrace.
The Square then has a dream in which the Sphere revisits him, this time to introduce him to a zero-dimensional space, Pointland, of whom the Point (sole inhabitant, monarch, and universe in one) perceives any communication as a thought originating in his own mind (cf. Solipsism):
"You see," said my Teacher, "how little your words have done. So far as the Monarch understands them at all, he accepts them as his own – for he cannot conceive of any other except himself – and plumes himself upon the variety of Its Thought as an instance of creative Power. Let us leave this god of Pointland to the ignorant fruition of his omnipresence and omniscience: nothing that you or I can do can rescue him from his self-satisfaction."
Hub AI
Flatland AI simulator
(@Flatland_simulator)
Flatland
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is a satirical novella by the English theologian, Anglican priest and schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott, first published in 1884 by Seeley & Co. of London. Written pseudonymously by "A Square", the book used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to satirise the class and gender hierarchies of Victorian society, but the novella's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions.
A sequel, Sphereland, was written by Dionys Burger in 1957. Several films have been based on Flatland, including the feature film Flatland (2007). Other efforts have been short or experimental films, including one narrated by Dudley Moore and the short films Flatland: The Movie (2007) and Flatland 2: Sphereland (2012).
The story describes a two-dimensional world inhabited by geometric figures (flatlanders); women are line segments, while men are polygons with various numbers of sides. The narrator is a square, a member of the caste of gentlemen and professionals, who guides the readers through some of the implications of life in two dimensions. The first half of the story goes through the practicalities of existing in a two-dimensional universe, as well as a history leading up to the year 1999 on the eve of the 3rd Millennium.
On New Year's Eve, the Square dreams of a visit to a one-dimensional world, "Lineland", inhabited by men, who are lines, while the women are "lustrous points". These points and lines are unable to see the Square as anything other than a set of points on a line. Thus, the Square attempts to convince the realm's monarch of a second dimension but cannot do so. In the end, the monarch of Lineland tries to kill the Square rather than tolerate him any further.
Following this vision, the Square is visited by a sphere. Similar to the "points" in Lineland, he is unable to see the three-dimensional object as anything other than a circle (more precisely, a disk). The Sphere then levitates up and down through Flatland, allowing the Square to see the circle expand and contract between a great circle and small circles. The Sphere then tries further to convince the Square of the third dimension by dimensional analogies (a point becomes a line, a line becomes a square). The Square is still unable to comprehend the third dimension, so the Sphere resorts to deeds: he gives information about the "insides" of the house, moves a tablet through the third dimension, and even goes inside the Square for a moment. Still unable to comprehend the third dimension, the Square is taken by the Sphere to the third dimension, Spaceland. This Sphere visits Flatland at the turn of each millennium to introduce a new apostle to the idea of a third dimension in the hope of eventually educating the population of Flatland. From the safety of Spaceland, they can oversee the leaders of Flatland, acknowledging the Sphere's existence and prescribing the silencing. After this proclamation is made, many witnesses are massacred or imprisoned (according to caste), including the Square's brother.
After the Square's mind is opened to new dimensions, he tries to convince the Sphere of the theoretical possibility of the existence of a fourth dimension and higher spatial dimensions. The Sphere at first scoffs at the idea of higher dimensions, just as the Square had done, showing that his comprehension is not as broad as he had thought. Still, the Sphere returns his student to Flatland in disgrace.
The Square then has a dream in which the Sphere revisits him, this time to introduce him to a zero-dimensional space, Pointland, of whom the Point (sole inhabitant, monarch, and universe in one) perceives any communication as a thought originating in his own mind (cf. Solipsism):
"You see," said my Teacher, "how little your words have done. So far as the Monarch understands them at all, he accepts them as his own – for he cannot conceive of any other except himself – and plumes himself upon the variety of Its Thought as an instance of creative Power. Let us leave this god of Pointland to the ignorant fruition of his omnipresence and omniscience: nothing that you or I can do can rescue him from his self-satisfaction."
Recent media