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Comment by Modified3019 | Hacker News Reader

“Try to teach an alien on a telephone about left and right” actually sounds like a fun game to try with a class full of kids.

I would solve this particular circumstance by using the andromeda galaxy (“the closest galaxy”) as a reference, but it definitely stumped me for a bit.

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You can't use cancellation or heavenly bodies:

"He is far away, or in some strange location, and he cannot see anything we can see. For instance, we cannot say, “Look at Ursa major; now see how those stars are arranged. What we mean by ‘right’ is …” We are only allowed to telephone him."

Ah good catch, I somehow still assumed same galaxy.

Thinking about it, ironically I think the direct mention of Ursa Major might have played a part in that.

"imagine that we were talking to a Martian"

I think by Martian he just meant "alien". Obviously if you're on Mars you could use all sorts of celestial bodies to demonstrate chirality.

" he cannot see anything we can see. For instance, we cannot say, “Look at Ursa major; now see how those stars are arranged"

The rest of the story about developing a way to communicate with the alien is a significant part of Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary, which is also a good book for kids.

I would love to try it, but I think the problem is hard enough to explain to an adult. I think it's difficult to describe the constraints. I've tried to explain this problem to adults and they just didn't really get it and the problem sounds like either a riddle or a bunch of nonsense rather than a physics problem with deep implications for the laws of nature.

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