A philosophical interpretation of physics concerning light and time (Special Relativity)

[Alias Moniker]

"The best understanding we have is that it [light] is a disturbance in the electromagnetic fields of charged bodies." http://einstein.stan...ivity/q212.html

This is a lecture by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Special Relativity and Light are talked about, starting at around 10 minutes. Really the whole video and series is great. https://www.youtube....b8hWNrcd2gGW6Qc

This is a link to the most recent report I could find for experiments attempting to observe or measure a photon without destroying it.

http://www.livescien...-destroyed.html

"The photon didn't interact with the atom directly, but it did alter the atom's phase — the timing of its resonance with the cavity. The scientists could use the difference between the superposition state — when the atom is in two states at once — and the atom's measured phase to calculate whether or not the photon entered the cavity. In that way they "saw" the photon without destroying it, without touching it."

The title is misleading because this 2013 report concludes that the most advanced experiments to observe and measure a photon only observe how the photon interacts with other things, not the photon itself. Measuring and observing and predicting the impact that something has is not the same as measuring and observing and predicting the thing itself, even if your results are consistent and sensible.

If you have proof that a photon has been directly observed or measured please provide the sources.

Special relativity states:

• The speed of light in a vacuum is always c, regardless of the velocity of the observer.
• The laws of physics are the same for all observers in uniform motion.

These two statements that we know as "special relativity" indicate that c (speed of light) does not follow the same laws of physics as the observer (anything which is not traveling at c).

• The laws of physics are the same for all observers in uniform motion.

• The observer is (anything that never travels at the velocity c).

• The laws of physics are the same for (anything that never travels at the velocity c).

• The laws of physics are not the same for anything that does travel at the velocity c.

Special Relativity also indicates that any experiments regarding the "speed of light" that are not conducted in a vacuum will not allow for a "proper" velocity of c.

The laws of physics are the same for anything not traveling c, and because they are the same for anything not traveling c, we are able to transform the perspective of anything not traveling c, into the perspective of any other thing not traveling c, regardless of the velocities that each thing not traveling c is traveling.

The laws of physics are not the same for any observer as they are for c. That is why we are not able to transform the perspective of c to the perspective of anything not traveling c, or the other way around. If the laws of physics were the same for us as they are for c, we would be able to travel c. It is light's different laws of physics, in its different universe, that allow it to travel at c, while here in our universe, without the laws that make it possible, we can never travel at c.

c and "observers", which can never travel in uniform motion, are prevented from traveling in uniform motion by the different laws of physics that apply to each of them. Namely, c exists without time, so the entire concept of "motion" is different if you can't move from moment to moment, as well as from space to space. This is also why it's not possible for c to have an "inertial frame of reference", or for c to have "inertia". Where c exists, there is no time, so there is no change, so there is no resistance to change. The concept of inertia is inapplicable to c.

Philosophically speaking, the two statements of Special Relativity could be said as:

c is constantly different from everything else. Everything else is relatively the same.
And philosophers are VERY particular about the use of "absolute statements".

Why is this meaningful?

First, it explains the dual nature of light, being both particle and wave. Distinguishable from one another and yet the same thing. The photon exists outside of time in a parallel universe, while the wave "co-exists" in time, in our universe.

Physics would say that Special Relativity only prevents us from applying physics to c's perspective. But c doesn't just have a different perspective of the same physics. Other observer's have a different perspective of the same physics, which allows us to transform our perspective into any other observer's perspective; because we're using the same physics. If c had a different perspective of our physics, then we would be able to transform our perspective into c's perspective using our physics, the way we can with anything else that has a different perspective of our physics. Since c has a different set of physics, our definition of "perspective" can't be applied to c, so there can be no transforming between perspectives because only one "perspective" (as WE define a "frame" using coordinates that include time) exists. Transforming perspectives between two observers is like two people who speak different languages agreeing on a single word for a color. Applying the perspective (or frame) of an observer to c is like asking two people who speak different languages to agree on a single word for a color when one of them is blind.

Assume for a moment that time truly does not exist to the photon (c). We can't even say that it's "instantaneous" because an instant is a unit of time, and time doesn't exist. A photon (c) isn't created on the surface of the sun, it's created in a parallel universe. In that universe there is no time.

If time does not exist in c's universe, when c is created, it must come into existence already existing at every infinite point in space between, and including, its point of origin and its destination. There is no time, so c can't travel from one location to the other, so it will just have to "be there". Strictly speaking, c isn't a "speed", it only appears that way in our universe where there is time.

The "passing" of this "particle" (c) through space, but not through time, causes a sort of friction between space and time, a disturbance that manifests in our universe as the electromagnetic wave "light" (not "strictly" c), which we measure and predict according to our laws of physics because it exists in our universe, unlike it's photon/particle/c counterpart. This disturbance, the electromagnetic wave "light", (not c) which unfolds in our reality, does not unfold according to the physics of c, (the photon/c has already existed and is now gone), but according to the physics of our universe. What we observe in our reality is more like time catching up to the passing of the photon (or, catching up to the passing of 'whatever causes the disturbance that we observe as the electromagnetic wave, or, catching up to c). After the photon (the cause) is gone, the electromagnetic wave begins to ripple through space but now, this understanding of "light" (which does not strictly travel at c) is under the influence of time (because it does not strictly travel at c), which means it can't exist at two points simultaneously and instead it has to travel, much unlike it's photon (c) counterpart.

So it's important to distinguish that when our physics predict "light" (not strictly c) it is only meaningfully predicting "half of the total light phenomena", the half that exists in our universe and which is consistent with our laws of physics, known as the electromagnetic wave "light". Which is not strictly c. Trying to understand c by observing electromagnetic wave "light" is similar to trying to understand the cause "lightning" by observing its "disturbance", thunder; where in both cases, c and lightning, energy creates a wave form disturbance in a medium. Lightning creates the disturbance thunder in the medium of atmosphere, photon (c) creates electromagnetic wave (not strictly c) disturbance in the medium of "space time", or "time", or "our physical universe where time exists".

Theoretically, there could be one single photon creating all of the electromagnetic wave disturbance light in all of our existence throughout all of our time.

Edited July 22, 2014 by Alias Moniker

[Strange]

If you have proof that a photon has been directly observed or measured please provide the sources.

 

Please define what you mean by "directly detected" first.

 

One can argue that nothing is directly detected, in which case your question is meaningless.

 

(Oh, and science doesn't deal in "proof".)

 

 

So it's important to distinguish that when our physics predict "light" (not strictly c) it is only meaningfully predicting "half of the total light phenomena", the half that exists in our universe and which is consistent with our laws of physics, known as the electromagnetic wave "light".

 

And what do you claim "the other half" is? What evidence do you have for "the other half"?

[imatfaal]

!

Moderator Note

moved to Speculations. Please take a moment to read the rules of that sub-forum

[hypervalent_iodine]

Please confine conversation on a single topic to a single thread. Since this is identical to a post made in a long running and existing thread, this thread is closed.