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He means 4 spacial dimensions... he's thinking of things like *this*.

Currently you see a perspective drawing of a (3D) perspective drawing of a four-dimensional geometric object. It's a bit hard to wrap your brain around that.

Time *can* be used as another dimension to aid visualization, but it's a little tricky to see how things are connected sometimes. Also, if you want to be picky, relativity says the time dimension behaves differently than the others... distance is negative in it. This makes rotations in time into Lorentz transforms, which is not what you're looking for.

In other words, the paper seems to suggest that being able to see the flicker on a monitor is the result of eye fatigue from long use of computer monitors, and that continued use will only increase the problem. It would be interesting to know if there is an "upper limit" (ie, you can see 60Hz now, but not 75Hz - but will exposure over long periods to 75Hz make it so you eventually see 75Hz and have to move it up another notch?). Now - if all of this is true, think about those "mad gamers" who crank the frequency of their system up several notches...

Now - I am not calling the kettle here - I have used a computer since I was 10 years old and my monitor was a 19 inch TV less than a foot from my face (which might -maybe- be a reason for my myopia - heh) - so I too can see the flicker of a 60Hz display, so I knock it up a bit, especially on higher-res output (ie, I find a 640x480 or 800x600 60Hz screen acceptable - but anything greater and the Hz goes up for me).

Incidentally, some people here mentioned the Amiga and its flicker. I own a couple of Amigas, and a lot of gear - and one of the items I purchased (because at the time a true multi-sync/multi-scan monitor was hella expensive to buy - anyone know where I could get one today?) was a "flicker-fixer" filter - basically a piece of smoked-color plexiglass (which I paid waaay to much for) velcroed over the screen - which eliminated or reduced the flicker on the screen...

So, I wonder if something of a similar nature could be used on a 60Hz display? Or - perhaps wear a pair of sunglasses (which Amigan's also did back in the day)? Basically, I think the reason this worked is similar to what is known as the "Pulfrich Effect". So, perhaps two of these filters (or one large filter covering the screen) would simply delay the flickering of the image, forcing you to see a steady image, which is why this works?

I smell a new research paper here: "Theraputic Application of the Pulfrich Effect in the Reduction of Flicker Fusion Frequency" - just remember to give me a mention in a footnote or something, will ya?

Heehee. Hyperball. What with all the discussion of 2D vs 3D in this story, when I read "hyperball" the first thing I thought of was a 4D version of pong, played inside a hypercube, using spherical paddles.

Perhaps someone with a quicker mind and more math training could elucidate upon that thought?

Note to self: Copy comes before Paste...
http://dogfeathers.com/java/hyprcube.html

There is a decent demo here.

http://dogfeathers.com/java/pulfrich.html

Actually I was thinking about 4D, as in hypercubes, and trying to wrap my mind around the idea of what it would be like for someone in the 3 dimensional world to suddenly be transported to a 4 dimensional world. I wondered if the perceptions that person would have would be of the fourth spatial dimension or merely three dimensional representations of the fourth dimension.

Ford's plan to use three dimensional imaging to showcase cars is much like a thought I had today regarding the layout of my desk. I don't have one of those flat desks that are so common with executives. Rather, I have a few shelves and cubby holes to hold my stuff. I was trying to think of a way to organize all of it without actually pulling everything out of its place, and at that point I thought about modeling it on the computer using a CAD program. Unfortunately, I don't have one of those here at work and no one is likely to spring for one either, so I have to do it the old fashioned way with pen and paper.

That's when it hit me. Why *isn't* there a three dimensional modeling program that can help lay out desktops? People rearrange their desktops all the time, whether to clean them off or to simply change the scenery. I didn't want to duplicate any effort that may have already gone into this so I submitted the question to Ask Slashdot, but apparently it's not edgy enough or something.

Can anyone help me? Is there a 3 dimensional modeling tool for laying out desktops?

..and the second best way is right here.