The Planiverse

The Planiverse () is a novel by A. K. Dewdney, written in 1984.

In 1977, Dewdney was inspired by an allegory of a two-dimensional universe, and decided to expand upon the physics and chemistry of such a universe. He published a short monograph in 1979 called Two-Dimensional Science and Technology. In July 1980, this was reviewed by Martin Gardner in Scientific American, and shortly after this, all copies of the monograph were sold out. In 1981, following the success of the monograph, Dewdney published A Symposium on Two-Dimensional Science and Technology, which contained suggestions for how a two-dimensional universe would work from scientists and non-scientists on varied subjects.

In the spirit of Edwin Abbott Abbott's Flatland, Dewdney and his computer science students design a vertical 2D world (i.e. East-West and Up-Down, no N-S) and consider the issues of biology and society for the inhabitants.

To their surprise, they find their artificial 2D universe has somehow accidentally become a means of communication with an actual 2D world – Arde (Arabic 'Ardh = Earth'). They make a sort of "telepathic" contact with "YNDRD," referred to by the students as Yendred, a highly philosophical Ardean (or Nsana, as they call themselves; Like many other terms this comes from Maltese Arabic: 'insan = human'), as he begins a journey across the western half, Punizla (Arabic 'Punent Nizla = ‘West Slope’) of the single continent Ajem Kollosh (Arabic 'ajm Kull shay = home of all things') to learn more about the spiritual beliefs of the people of the East, Vanizla (Arabic 'Levant Nizla = East Slope’). Yendred mistakes the watchers on Earth for 'spirits', hence his interest in communicating with them.

The students and narrator communicate with Yendred by typing on the keyboard, and Yendred describes how he "feels" their thoughts in his head. For Yendred's replies, he thinks an answer, and it appears on the computer's printout (this is 1980s technology). The name Yendred (or "Yendwed", as pronounced by one of the students, who has a speech impediment) is simply "Dewdney" reversed. The novel is in fact an allegory of Yendred/Dewdney's search for a reality deeper than that of scientific enquiry.

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