Where the world is really flat
No, I’m not talking about the book by that hack Thomas Friedman, which said the world is flat even though it clearly isn’t (it’s roughly spherical, dumbass). I’m talking about Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, the odd little science fiction novel by Edwin A. Abbott published in 1884. I finished reading it last night.
Flatland is the story of a Square living in a two-dimensional world. In this world, people are two-dimensional geometrical shapes — triangles, squares, circles (not really circles, but polygons with so many sides that they seem to be circles). Having equal angles is everything in this world — isosceles triangles are looked down upon — and the more sides a person has, the higher up in society he is. I say he because women are not shapes at all. They’re simply lines. Dumb and tempermental lines. Dangerous lines, too, since they are difficult to see when they are facing you and can run right through you with their sharp ends.
The commentary on and satire of the social hierarchy is less interesting than the way Abbott tries to make sense of how living in Flatland works. When a strange being from Spaceland — a three-dimensional world like ours — visits the Square, the book becomes an entertaining exploration of just how difficult it is to grasp what we cannot engage with our senses or even with our minds. The Square cannot understand what it means to go up. He thinks it means go North. Going up, as in up in the air, is nonsensical to him. He can’t visualize it or see himself in it. How could he? He’s two-dimensional. There is no up.
While some scientists believe there are physical dimensions beyond the three we live in (time being a fourth, intangible dimension), it is really a mathematical belief. It is difficult to imagine what those dimensions might be like — we can’t visualize them or see ourselves in them. How could we? We’re three-dimensional.
The book is available for free as a download but is also only two dollars in the Dover Thrift Edition. It’s a good choice as an add-on when you need to spend just a little more to get free amazon.com shipping.
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When I was an undergrad, several of the physics profs (and even one of the textbooks) made reference to Flatland. I meant to read it, but I never did. And I had completely forgotten about it until this. I’ll take it as a sign.