Can a human fighter pilot fully grasp 3 dimensional frictionless movement in space?

My answer to this question essentially came down to the pilot being in a sphere with anything large jutting out of it. Some of the arguments made against me I feel are true if we assume fights like traditional jet planes, but not if a space fighter was designed to make optimal use of 3D space without friction.

By that I mean I was envisioning a fighter that had multiple jets to allow movement in any direction in short notice (since there is no need for a main jet in 'back' to counter friction). I also imagined that the fighter would fight on 3 dimensions, and that you never know exactly what angle you will be attacked from next since all angles are equally valid.

However, the obvious counter to my own arguments seems to be the presumption that this would be optimal for the pilots. A perfectly optimized AI may find this better, but humans have trouble thinking in 3 dimensions. We have an even harder time thinking of a frictionless world. The idea of "this was my front, but now I'm going in a top-right-backwards direction to pursue someone I saw in an angle I wouldn't normally even look in" would just feel odd to a human.

Would a space fighter piloted by humans therefore be made 'inefficiently' to better fit our cognitive biases? Would we have only a few engines and only a few directions we could 'fire' from because it's easier to think in terms of having two or three 'fronts' I can switch between then is to truly grasp the idea that there is no front and any direction is just as valid? Would we have only one set of powerful guns because it's cheaper to build then multiple and we found pilots couldn't handle controlling multiple?

Furthermore, how would we design our fighters, including the UI, control, and similar systems, to help pilots to make split second decisions when they have to handle 3 dimensions at once?

For this question assume we have space fighter jets, piloted by humans, fighting at relatively close ranges. I'm fully aware how impractical it is to use a space fighter over large capital ships and LOTS of AI driven missiles, but that was not the intent of the original question, and my own world uses a number of technological changes to help justify (mostly) space fighters so assume they exist for now.

posted almost 10 years ago

dsollen‭

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