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Impossible ObjectAn impossible object is an object that cannot exist according to the known laws of nature, but has a description or representation suggesting, at first sight, that it can. Drawings of objects that cannot exist are called "undecidable figures". The undecidability of these figures invariably rests on them being interpreted as two-dimensional projections of what would be an impossible higher-dimensional object. Artist M. C. Escher is notable for many drawings that feature undecidable figures, sometimes with the entire drawing being an undecidable figure. Notable undecidable figures include: The impossible cube The impossible cube or irrational cube is an impossible object that draws upon the ambiguity present in a Necker cube illustration. An impossible cube is usually rendered as a Necker cube in which the edges are apparently solid beams. This apparent solidity gives the impossible cube greater visual ambiguity than the Necker cube, which is less likely to be perceived as an impossible object. The illusion plays on the human eye's interpretation of two-dimensional pictures as three-dimensional objects. In M. C. Escher's lithograph Belvedere, the figure of a boy seated at the foot of the building is holding an impossible cube; the rest of the scene is based on the same principle that makes the impossible cube. In the scene, a ladder from the inside of the first story leads to the outside of the second. However, this is not appreciated by the prisoner in the basment cell because the basement is a possible cuboid and he is unambiguously on the inside. A doctored photograph purporting to be of an impossible cube was published in the June 1966 number of Scientific American, where it was called a "Freemish Crate". Impossible Objects in Fiction - In the episode "I, Borg", a plan was made to destroy the entire race of Borg – malevolent cybernetic aliens whose minds were interconnected – by showing one of the borg a picture of a highly-complex impossible object. This image would be transmitted back to the Borg hive, overloading its consciousness in larger and larger attempts to understand the image. This plan was dismissed as being genocide, so its potential results were never seen.
References - Mathematical Circus, Martin Gardner 1979 ISBN 0-14-02-2355-X (Chapter 1 – Optical Illusions)
- Escher's Belvedere
See also External links
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