Monday 5 November 2018

Kinds Of Hyperspace

hyperspace
/ˈhʌɪpəspeɪs/
noun
noun: hyperspace; noun: hyper-space
  1. space of more than three dimensions.
    • (in science fiction) a notional space–time continuum in which it is possible to travel faster than light.
      -copied from here.

      (Addendum, 9 Jan 2020: This link now does not work or does not go to the right place. It is a dictionary definition of "hyperspace" and the letters of the words, "Submit Query," should  not be displayed on successive lines as they appear here.)

      As I thought, "hyperspace" means space of more than three dimensions but sf has changed it into something else.

      In Poul Anderson's Technic History, "hyperspace" is neither multi-dimensional space nor another continuum but three-dimensional space traversed in many instantaneous quantum jumps. Thus, a ship on hyperdrive continually disappears from and returns to ordinary space.

      In Julian May's Jack The Bodiless 16, p. 196, the "hyperspace" sounds like Anderson's because a superliminal ship is described as "...popping in and out of..." it. However, in this case, the space popped in and out of is not familiar 3D space but a "'...gray limbo...'" (18, p. 219), patrolled by the Lylmik who prevent quarantined races from leaving their planetary systems.
      These Lylmik do not sound so beneficent, after all.  

8 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I have sometimes wondered if we should think of Anderson's Technic Civilization's form of hyperspace as OTHER than light speed, instead of FTL. Might that be how a real "FTL" drive might someday work? I hope so!

While the Lylmik might be able to prevent quarantined races from using super luminal ships from the "gray limbo" of Julian May's hyperspace, what about STL? Do the Lylmik intervened to prevent such races from using STL means of reaching the stars?

I agree, this quarantining of some intelligent races by the Lylmik opens the door to people having DOUBTS about them.

Sean

David Birr said...

Paul:
Isaac Asimov's novelization of Fantastic Voyage stated that miniaturization was carried out by means of "hyper-space": "We are miniaturized, not as literal objects, but as images; as three-dimensional images manipulated from outside the universe of space-time.... We neither get rid of atoms nor push them together." [These had been the non-viable techniques the viewpoint character discussed as having proved miniaturization wasn't possible.] "We reduce the size of the atoms, too; we reduce everything; and the mass decreases automatically."

So that's another kind of hyperspace; one that has nothing to do with FTL. (At least so far.)

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, DAVID!

I've actually read both versions of Asimov's FANTASTIC VOYAGE and had forgotten there was yet another kind of "hyperspace." From what you said, this seems to be a kind of miniaturized hologram of people travelimg inside a man's bloodstream. If so, the objection I've thought of is how can holograms physically ACT inside that man's bloodstream? The persons in that hologram are not literally inside that person's bloodstream.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Wells uses the Fourth Dimension a few times, not just for time traveling.
Paul.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
Superliminal is described as the only practical means of interstellar travel.
Paul.

David Birr said...

Sean:
I think Asimov, or at least the character he portrayed giving that explanation, was being sloppy in his phrasing when he used the word "literally," and spoke of being "manipulated ... as images" rather than objects. The depiction in the book certainly is NOT of holograms, and the people are inside the bloodstream.

What he seems (to me) to have been trying to convey was that use of hyperspace (note that Asimov wrote it with a hyphen) allowed changes that wouldn't be possible if using only the three (or four) everyday spatio-temporal dimensions. The talk of "images" was something of a metaphor in conversation with a fellow who wasn't a physicist and thus didn't have the right knowledge-set to grasp the complex mathematics involved.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul and DAVID!

Paul: but we know STL means of travel is at least theoretically possible, as Anderson has shown more than once. Esp. if the people using such means are willing to expend the TIME needed for doing so.

David: Thanks for explaining what seemed an odd point in Asimov's FANTASTIC VOYAGE. A scientist was using inadequate means for trying to explain difficult points of physics.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

David,
But Andrea has told me that there is a cosmology according to which our reality is somehow a hologram.
Paul.