Actually it would appear as an expanding and contracting circle.
Surely, it would appear as a circle only if you had a third dimension from which to view it; in which case it would appear as a sphere!
No, in flatland it would appear as a circle, a round area completely enclosed by a line, with no entrance or exit. It would be possible to go completely around it and see that it had a continuous smooth curve. That is it would have the same curvature at all points. That may not be the standard definition of a circle, but it would define it for flatlanders who couldn't see it from above.
I'm not sure what to say about your other comment. I don't have a problem with the universe that we know, because it presumably had at least 3 dimensions right from the start. I have no idea how a dimension could be created from nothing. Of course I have no idea how our universe was created from nothing. But then not even the theorists studying it really have any idea.
And I don't have much faith in the so called String Theory. It just seems to be to be over complicated, with no way to find out where our universe would fit into it. So as far as compactification of dimensions is concerned I have my doubts that it really happens. I would feel much better about a theory of everything that just had our standard 3 + 1 dimensions. Which obviously hasn't kept me from talking about other ideas.
Bill Gill
