Getting back to the actual subject of what SRT is about…
All relativity theories are about is our ability to construct knowledge. We measure things so as to know relationships between things. But we have to keep in mind that our measuring instruments and senses are a part of the system of the universe itself. Because a measurement is merely a comparison of one thing to another, as we measure, all we are saying is that “relative to this one thing, this other thing is bigger, smaller, or whatever”. It is always a relative comparison.
The problem comes up when one realizes that all things are not merely an issue of simple comparison, but deduction. Once we know that we are being affected at the same time that we are trying to compare something to ourselves, we can stop and think. We must consider if what we witnessed is actual or the result of us being affected in some way and thus mis-perceiving.
An example of deductive measure might be a situation of us knowing that our gas gauge is misreading. If we know that it reads only half of what is in the tank, we don’t accept our direct measure but instead, we compensate and deduce that we “actually” have twice as much as measured.
The relativity theories have a little trouble in that regard, because they postulate that there is no “actual”. In relativity theories, it is postulated that what we measure is the only existence. Thus if our ability to measure becomes hampered, according to relativity theories, we must accept what is measured even if we know that our instruments are flawed. “Truth is what we measure and nothing else. There is no Absolute. There is no God.”
The problem of course, is that we can get around flaws in our instruments to deduce what is actual anyway and we do it without even realizing it in most cases. But at times, we deduce incorrectly, so such logic must be very carefully constructed. Time is one issue that had always been deduced to be an absolute measure when in fact, it wasn’t. People, including the new age scientists, have never been very good with logical deduction (as is being displayed on the Stopped Clock Paradox thread).
Time gets into the special relativity issue because;
Time == the measure of relative change
That simple statement is pretty new to the world today but is really all the relativity theories were expressing.
But due to the fact that time is relative measure, everything related to time becomes relative as well, most especially velocities and observations of simultaneity. And thus logic becomes even more important to ensure to be cleanly presented. Without logic, we easily conclude that nothing is real. There is no absolute. There is no God.
One observation was that light seemed to be always measured to be traveling the same speed regardless of how fast the observer was traveling. If we accept that what is “real” is only what we measure, then we have to conclude that light is indeed traveling at the same speed and everything else must be distorted. The problem with that, is that when you distort every other measurement to try to keep the speed of light as a constant, you end up with irrational and illogical paradoxes.
The good of it is that it gives the world of students something to think about. The bad is that it doesn’t actually teach them to be any better at logical deduction and thus they merely replace old mistakes with new mistakes.
:D/