Been down so long it feels like up to me.

(Inspired by the previous posting on gravity.)

"He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking."

Spock -  Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan

The history of exploration can be measured - literally - by the introduction of standards like the adoption of Greenwich mean time or the development of latitude and longitude as an aid to navigation.  But one of the greatest standards is a standard yet to come, a standard of the future: Universal Down.

I can only speculate as to the genesis of Universal Down, what meeting of slightly seasick (or more accurately spacesick) minds was involved, but the utility of a universally consistent orientation for spacecraft must have been so attractive that it was adopted immediately, in spite of logic.

Because logic, after all, would suggest that it doesn't matter.  Logically, "down" is an abstract concept in space, restricted to the frame of reference created by whatever system of artificial gravity is in place on any given spaceship, and that spaceship only.  Removed from any sort of planetary reference, ships would be able to align themselves in any orientation that they wish.

And yet, regardless of this elementary fact, every passing Imperial starship, Romulan Warbird, or Cylon Basestar manages to arrive on the scene in perfect alignment with the spacecraft already there.  How would this be possible without some agreed upon standard of orientation, perhaps one based upon the lenticular model of the Milky Way galaxy?

If that is the case, then beware, starship captains and battlestar admirals alike.  For somewhere out there is a mysterious alien ship, a ship from Andromeda, from the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, or from Messier-83, a ship which may be upside down or sideways.  

And let there be war...

- Sid