On Jan 25, 7:31 pm, Alfonso <
Alfo...@duffadd.com> wrote:
> On 25/01/12 02:01, train wrote:
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> > The Annals of Relativistic Criticism will not be complete without the
> > name Herbert Dingle. Made famous for his articles in Nature magazine,
> > and the subsequent heated arguments subsequent, he is still regarded
> > as either a crank or a genius who pioneered the fight against the
> > error of Relativity and perhaps Relativism.
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> > Taking a step back from his arguments, it seems that the way to settle
> > his the question of whether is right or wrong would involve taking a
> > look at what process we would follow to test his arguments. The agreed
> > process should then mechanistically churn out the result, with no one
> > changing the rules in between.
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> > Dingle has been discussed before, so I refer you to the post below,
> > which I have yet to read, but will, in due course.
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> >
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.sci.time-travel/browse_thread/thre...
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> What you might consider is not only whether Dingle was right or wrong
> but the appalling treatment he got from fellow physicists for daring to
> question the one true faith when he published his book.
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http://blog.hasslberger.com/Dingle_SCIENCE_at_the_Crossroads.pdf
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> I recall an article which appeared after the dust had settled by a
> sceptic who gathered together a series of replies to one of Dingles
> question. Most were to some extent abusive calling Dingle an idiot but
> what was interesting was that the reasons given as to why he was wrong
> differed widely. There was no consensus answer and surely anyone who
> raises a question to which there is no consensus answer is improving
> science.
>
> Take one of Dingles questions
>
> ' Thence' [AE wrote i.e. from the theory he had just expounded, which
> takes no account of possible effects of acceleration, gravitation, or
> any difference at all between the clocks except their state of uniform
> motion] 'we conclude that a balance-clock at the equator must go more
> slowly, by a very small amount, than a precisely similar clock
> situated at one of the poles under otherwise identical conditions.'
> The question is: what entitled Einstein to conclude FROM HIS THEORY that
> the equatorial, and not the polar, clock worked more slowly?"
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> Although Dingle was attacked on all fronts in a shameless way it was
> clear that at that time there was no clear consensus. In fact "FROM
> HIS THEORY" there was no way to reach that conclusion.
>
> The H&K experiment would have been impossible without a clear answer
> to that question. They accepted an idea put forward by "Geoffrey
> Builder" in 1958 [1] - his paper being one of the references in the H&K
> paper. The accepted answer, was that it is only an inertial observer -
> at the pole in the H&K case - who is entitled to hold a valid opinion
> about the physical fact of the relative rates of the clocks. Any
> observer whose state is not 'inertial' within a necessary degree of
> precision can conveniently be assumed to automatically come to some
> erroneous conclusion and can be ignored. Relativists will no doubt claim
> that that has always been what SR said but my assumption is that Builder
> (1958) was the earliest reference to this doctrine which H&K could find.
> Note that it is a fact (from measurement) that a clock at sea level at
> the pole will keep exactly in time with one at the equator. See:
>
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http://www.gsjournal.net/Science-Journals/Journal%20Reprints-Relativi...
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> What is interesting is that while H&K quoted G Builder's 1958 paper a
> statement in that same paper says:
>
> "Thus we conclude that the relative retardation of clocks predicted by
> the restricted theory does indeed compel us to recognise the causal
> significance of absolute velocities ........ there is therefore no
> alternative to the ether hypothesis" [1] :o)
>
> [1] Builder, G. Ether and relativity, Aust..l. Plys. vol. 11, 1958
> p.279.
>
> The H&K experiment was in truth incapable of giving a valid result.
> Essen - who designed the atomic clocks they used - wrote to the journal
> and pointed this out but the journal refused to publish his letter. He
> was probably the one person in the world qualified to referee the paper.
> Decades later, when the raw data became available analysis showed Essen
> was right. The raw data differed from the published data and the
> assumptions H&K had made in their statistical analysis in order to get
> the "right answer" were at best unjustified and at worse ludicrous.
>
> Physics is exceedingly good at making sure there are no disbelievers
> within their ranks. This starts with education. Anyone who questions
> relativity is accused of "not understanding" it. Dingle was made an
> example. A warning to others. He sensibly did not publish his book until
> after he had retired so it did not have the devastating effect on his
> career it would have had.
>
> What is lacking is any quality assurance. There is no one within the
> ranks of physics itself who is sceptical and who will look critically at
> experiments to try and fault them. It is orthodoxy approving orthodoxy.
> The chances of anyone having a career in physics if he was sceptical of
> relativity is about as good as someone being ordained priest who didn't
> believe in God.
>
> When Essen started criticising relativity pressure was put on his
> employers to stop him. They suggested he was bringing the National
> Physics Laboratory into disrepute. Trying to suppress criticism rather
> than answer it. His employer decided that what he did in his own time
> was none of their business.
I think the establishment does very well to protect tested scientific
theories. I do not like the type of social collapse that could occur
if SRT was proven incorrect, it just does not seem the best thing.
It is also right, for example, or should I say prudent, for patent
offices and government bodies to refuse any patent or device of system
says that relativistic corrections are simply not needed or worse,
incorrect. I would not be prepared to vote for a government that does
not follow this practice, since they have to rely on scientists, and
must take their word for it, which is good.
There is also the possibility that if life were ever discovered on
distant planets, and the speed of light limitation, our only defense,
would not apply, that would also create a mass panic or at least
global uncertainty that would paralyze if not destroy us.
Given this, however, I know that the general public does have the
view that the speed of light can be exceeded, and that AE could be
wrong:
A recent program 'through the wormhole' on Discovery Science told the
story of two astronomers who believe that AE was wrong: one measured
the light spectrum from stars at different points in Earth's orbit and
concluded the speed of light was not independent of motion. The other
theorizes that the speed of light changed its value since the
beginning of the universe in order to explain homogeneity of the
universe.
Whether they are correct or not is not the point, the message given by
the popular science media is that AE could be wrong - see the reports
of FTL that keep popping up from time to time.
I am willing to accept that AE was wrong, but more than that I am
submitting this to a logical analysis : If I find out I am wrong I
will "Cease and Desist".
It should be fun, except for the insults I get.