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If you liked Clockwork Rocket, you'll also like Dichronauts. Whereas Clockwork is set in a +/+/+/+ universe, Dichronauts is +/+/-/-. Between that and the +/+/+
by Filligree 3y ago
If you liked Clockwork Rocket, you'll also like Dichronauts.
Whereas Clockwork is set in a +/+/+/+ universe, Dichronauts is +/+/-/-. Between that and the +/+/+/- of the ones set in our own, he's covered every possibility.
(+/+/+/+ and -/-/-/- being mathematically equivalent.)
- NooneAtAll3 3y agowouldn't there also be +/-/+/+ for negative space dimention?
- 0cf8612b2e1e 3y agoUnless it is a complete spoiler, could you elaborate on what those universe designations mean?
- Filligree 3y agoBesides what sibling said- In a ++-- universe, you have two timelike dimensions but still just one time dimension. This is to say that one of the space dimensions is timelike, which means you get effects like "time" dilation from ordinary rotation. Our own universe is +++-. Between Dichronauts and Clockwork Rocket, it's possible to get a good intuition for the underlying geometry that causes special relativity; something none of my physics textbooks even tried.
- gpderetta 3y agoIANAP, but those +/+/+/+ are the signs in the distance function of your universe. Specifically ++++ is an Euclidean spacetime where the distance of any point in spacetime is the sum of the squares of the distances in each dimension (including time). Our universe is not Euclidean but Minkowski spacetime where the opposite sign is used for the time-like dimension (which gives origin to special relativity). Egan explores universes with two timelike dimensions (++--) and all spacelike dimensions (++++).