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Andrew Cheong
Andrew Cheong
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Post Reopened by Andrew Cheong, Ton Day, Johnny, The Square-Cube Law, elemtilas
Post Closed as "Needs details or clarity" by rek, EDL, John, Escaped dental patient., ProjectApex
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Andrew Cheong
Andrew Cheong
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What would make a civilization only able to walk counterclockwise around an object they're looking at? For example in this culture a sculpture like

enter image description here

might only have been viewed in counterclockwise sequence. And we're talking about counterclockwise with respect to standing upright against gravity. (Clockwise is fine too.)

I'm looking for a biophysical reason—something to do with, I don't know, angular momentum, the magnetic field, etc. Cultural reasons like superstition seem kind of cheap—but more interesting proposals are welcome. The civilization should be humanoid—they can have a very different evolution than our reality, but I should be able to write about them more or less like they're humans... except about this walking 😂

I realize the looking at part might be a challenge. What if one isn't looking? Why would that change things? That's the challenge. But in case this question goes crickets, it would be compromiseable to change the looking to being in the presence of certain kinds of objects or materials.

What would make a civilization only able to walk counterclockwise around an object they're looking at? For example in this culture a sculpture like

enter image description here

might only have been viewed in counterclockwise sequence. And we're talking about counterclockwise with respect to standing upright against gravity. (Clockwise is fine too.)

I'm looking for a biophysical reason—something to do with, I don't know, angular momentum, the magnetic field, etc. Cultural reasons like superstition seem kind of cheap—but more interesting proposals are welcome. The civilization should be humanoid—they can have a very different evolution than our reality, but I should be able to write about them more or less like they're humans... except about this walking 😂

I realize the looking at part might be a challenge. What if one isn't looking? Why would that change things? That's the challenge. But in case this question goes crickets, it would be compromiseable to change the looking to being in the presence of certain kinds of objects or materials.

What would make a civilization only able to walk counterclockwise around an object they're looking at? For example in this culture a sculpture like

enter image description here

might only have been viewed in counterclockwise sequence. And we're talking about counterclockwise with respect to standing upright against gravity.

I'm looking for a biophysical reason—something to do with, I don't know, angular momentum, the magnetic field, etc. Cultural reasons like superstition seem kind of cheap—but more interesting proposals are welcome. The civilization should be humanoid—they can have a very different evolution than our reality, but I should be able to write about them more or less like they're humans... except about this walking 😂

I realize the looking at part might be a challenge. What if one isn't looking? Why would that change things? That's the challenge. But in case this question goes crickets, it would be compromiseable to change the looking to being in the presence of certain kinds of objects or materials.

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Andrew Cheong
Andrew Cheong
  • 620
  • 1
  • 4
  • 10

Why would a civilization only be able to walk counterclockwise around a thing they're looking at?

What would make a civilization only able to walk counterclockwise around an object they're looking at? For example in this culture a sculpture like

enter image description here

might only have been viewed in counterclockwise sequence. And we're talking about counterclockwise with respect to standing upright against gravity. (Clockwise is fine too.)

I'm looking for a biophysical reason—something to do with, I don't know, angular momentum, the magnetic field, etc. Cultural reasons like superstition seem kind of cheap—but more interesting proposals are welcome. The civilization should be humanoid—they can have a very different evolution than our reality, but I should be able to write about them more or less like they're humans... except about this walking 😂

I realize the looking at part might be a challenge. What if one isn't looking? Why would that change things? That's the challenge. But in case this question goes crickets, it would be compromiseable to change the looking to being in the presence of certain kinds of objects or materials.