The Planiverse: Computer Contact with a Two-Dimensional World

Micro Adventurer

Tony Bridge

Author: A.K. Dewdney Publisher: Picador Price: £2.95 paperback Forget all these simulations of mere World Wars and Empires - how about simulating an entire universe? Well, not an entirely normal universe - rather a 2-Dimensional one! This idea has been explored before, in the 19th Century by Edwin Abbott, in his book Flatland, and at the start of the present century by Charles Hinton, in his An Episode of Flatland, among other more recent efforts. A K Dewdney has taken up the challenge and produced an exhaustive look at the practicalities of living in a 2-Dimensional world. His story starts at an unspecified, North American university in 1980. Dewdney, a lecturer in Computer Science, set his students to creating a two-Dimensional universe on the faculty's computer and populating it with flora and fauna. This takes, at first, the obvious route, with the students creating a sort of in-depth video game - and all proceeds well, although the project tends to take up rather too much time. One day, however, one of the creatures answers back... Unwittingly, Dewdney and his students have opened up some sort of gateway into a parallel, two-Dimensional world - the planet they have "discovered" is called Arde, and the being they forged contact with is Yndrd (who inevitably becomes know as Yendred). The Earthlings have the good fortune, as have the authors of Erewhon, Gulliver's Travels and so on, to meet the one person in the world best placed to give them all the details of the scientific, artistic, political and social life on the plane Arde. As it turns out, this is not by accident. Yendred communicates with Dewdney's group by thought transference and it is as well that the Ardean's main recreation appears to be meditating for long periods. The astonishment, on both sides, is extreme, but contact has been made at the right time, as Yendred has fortunately just decided to take a trek across his native land of Punizla, to find the secret of Life, the 2-Dimensional Universe, and everything, which he is sure he will discover in the other Ardean country of Vanizla. Much of the book is now taken up with an explanation of the 2-Dimensional world, and detailed explorations of the practicalities of living on a flat, vanishingly thin, surface. These details are completely absorbing - just try to imagine everyday life! In order to present as unbroken a surface as possible to travellers (who would otherwise have to clamber over houses (it would be impossible to go round them!), Ardeans live underground. Indeed, a complicated social ritual ha built up, in which those of younger years, or of one sex, allow those of older years, or the other sex, to walk over them. To sit, Ardeans simply have to squat down on the cushion of air trapped between their legs. Battles are fought by the simple process of the front-most warriors on each side slogging away at each other - when they are dead, the next pair move up, and so it goes, until there is just one soldier left atop a huge pile of bodies! The text is liberally scattered with detailed drawings of 2-Dimensional steam engines and pianos, sharks and other aspects of Ardean life. But this is not simply a dry text book. The story of Yendred and his adventures and loves is completely absorbing and thrilling. Is all this real? Well, it would be churlish to ask - the book is an exciting read, during which the reader becomes totally involved with Yendred and his Odyssey; and the climax is absolutely shattering. After finishing the book, I was left with a nagging feeling that will always be with me: if only I could unlock the secrets of this parallel universe.