On Friday 23 Sep 2011 6:16:30 am Udhay Shankar N wrote: > Erm. I don't have either details or theoretical background to say more > at this point, but does anyone else have any thoughts? > Well the only thing I can recall about a layman's view of the theory of relativity is that at the sped of light, time comes to a standstill - i.e zero and mass becomes infinite. Using a "logical" extrapolation of that anything that travels faster than light should have a mass heavier than infinity and time should become negative.
Somehow this brings to mind Minkowski's space time. All in all it consitutes gobbledygook to me. Enjoy: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Consciousness_Studies/The_Philosophical_Problem >The physical theory of relativity consists of four dimensional geometry plus > the assumption of causality and the assumption that physical laws are > invariant between observers. It should be noted that space-time could > contain preferred frames of reference and is not, by itself, a theory of > relativity. The assumption that physical laws are invariant between > observers leads to the postulate that nothing can travel faster than c > metres per second. This means that the constant c, which in Minkowski > space-time is the conversion factor from seconds to metres then has a new > significance as the maximum velocity. > >A result of c being a maximum velocity is that nothing can travel from > regions of the light cone that are spacelike separated to the observer at > coordinates (0,0,0,0). This is problematic for observers if time is real > because, as Stein (1968) wrote: > >“in Einstein-Minkowski space-time an event's present is constituted by > itself alone.” (Stein 1968). > >However, to each of us it seems that the present is characterised by many > things simultaneously. As will be discussed below, this simultaneity of > present things also results in the appearance of phenomenal space. But in > Minkowski space-time with real time the plane of simultaneity is entirely > space-like separated from the observation point. If real time is accepted > it would appear that we cannot have the space of phenomenal experience. shiv
