tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Feb 10 08:14:21 1998
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: {'evnagh} (was Re: KLBC: logh veQ)
According to Alan Anderson:
>
> mujang charghwI':
> >> I suppose I would understand it if someone wanted to discuss Special
> >> Relativity and used {'evnagh} to mean "space-time", but since we lack
> >> a good vocabulary base for mathematical concepts, I don't think that
> >> discussion would be very productive.
> >
> >logh-poH 'oH vIHtaHghach'e' 'e' vIHar. vIHbogh pat 'oH
> >logh-poH'e'.
>
> [I don't like using {poH} to mean "time" in general, the way we use
> {logh} to refer to "space".]
>
> pe'vIl jIQoch. bImujbej. Quv Del "space-time".
pe'vIl maQoch. bImujbej. "space-time" DellaHbe' Quv. 'ay'Hom
machqu' 'oH Quv. poH qelbe'.
> vIHlu' 'e' Delbe'.
> wanI' ngu' "space-time" Quv.
*Relativity* Dayajbe'bej. potlhqu' Do. Doch poH choHbej Doch
Do. potlhchugh Do vaj potlhba' vIHtaHghach. Quv juv 'Iv? chay'
vIH juvwI'? *space-time* Quv pIm tu' juvwI' pIm. wanI' veH
DayajnIS.
> bejwI'vaD Daq rep je Del. vIHtaHchugh
> bejwI' cha'DIch, Quv pIm juv ghaH, 'ach "space-time" Quv'e' juvbej.
Qochbe'meH Quvvammey Do qelnISlu'. reH vIHtaH Hoch.
> "space-time" qellu'taHvIS, potlhbe' vIHtaHghach. potlh Quv.
> vIH vay' net DelchoHDI', "space" "time" je luchevlu'pu'.
bIyajchu'be'.
> Motion is not the important attribute of space-time. Location in
> both space (physical coordinates) and time (what a clock reads) is
> what space-time is all about. As soon as you start talking about
> motion, you have separated space and time.
No. Motion is what connects space and time. Using the speed of
light as an arbitrary constant, you can measure distance in
terms of time and you can measure time in terms of distance.
Without motion, you cannot connect the math that measures
location with the math that measures duration.
For simplicity and because it is functionally acceptable for us
here on Earth with no vast distances or high rates of motion,
we pretend that there are absolute measures of distance and
time. In truth, we measure the interval between two times and
the interval between two locations and our motion relative to
each other is small enough for us to agree on measurements.
When we enter the realm of cosmic distance and speed near or
exceeding light, it becomes impossible to measure time or
distance without adjusting for velocity relative to common
landmarks among those wishing to agree upon coordinates.
A time coordinate will be different if we measure the duration
of Mercury's orbit from Mercury than if we measure it from
here. Your quartz watch will run measurably slower on Mercury
than it does on Earth, though you can't measure that while you
are on Mercury.
This is why Mercury's orbit "wobbles" relative to the other
planets. This was the first "proof" of Relativity. No other
theory explained the rotation of Mercury's eliptical orbit
relative to the other planets. Relativity accurately predicted
the rate of that relative rotation.
Space-Time is motion. It simply is. We like to break these
things down into space and time because standing here on Earth,
our relative motion is so small between observers and the
obeserved that it is easier to measure distance with a ruler
than with a laser and a clock, but in a larger context,
everything is in motion (both on the cosmic and infinitessimal
levels) and the properties of each object's motion (both on the
cosmic and infinitessimal levels) define most of the properties
of the object.
The physical properties of water are quite different for a
person wading in it than for a person falling from an airplane
at 3,000 feet onto water with no chute. Relative motion is
important. Heat is motion. Life is motion. Being is motion. The
absence of motion is a human concept with no parallel in nature.
We can digitalize all our measurements, but the universe will
remain analog, contiguous and moving. We misunderstand a
photograph, believing that it has recorded an instant, though
it actually records the event horizon for the full duration
that the shutter was open. Objects in background are recorded
at a slightly later moment than those in foreground. This is
more noticeable (and interesting to think about) if you take a
flash picture at night of objects near and far. Objects in
motion blurr.
The world is not made by smearing together discrete instants.
There are no discrete instants. There is only motion. We have
artificially invented the concept of a discrete instant, of
absolute distance and absolute time. These artificial concepts
are useful to us in many settings, but they interfere with our
ability to model the universe on either the cosmic or
infinitessimal scale.
> And I guess I was wrong about this discussion's productivity. :-)
ghaytan.
> -- ghunchu'wI'
charghwI'