On 7/15/2015 3:59 PM, Henry Wilson DSc. wrote:
> On Tue, 14 Jul 2015 17:34:05 -0500, Odd Bodkin <
bodk...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On 7/14/2015 4:16 PM, HW wrote:
>
>>> There is nothing actually wrong with Einstein's silly theory if one is
>>> prepared to redefine the very meaning of standard length and time in each
>>> frame. That just makes the whole thing incredibly more complicated and totally
>>> impractical and useless.
>>>
>>
>> The first sentence you said above actually is pretty closed to being on
>> target. The second sentence is just nuts.
>
> I can't see why. What is the point of measuring anything if what what is being
> measured depends on the method used, purely by definition?
It's a fact of life, from what I can see. Measured quantities are
defined operationally, and do not necessarily exist independent of that
operational definition. Newton made this same comment regarding both
motion and absolute vs. relative space and time. As mentioned before,
Poincare was the first to point out that there IS NO property of
simultaneity independent of the operational definition of how that is to
be determined. There are a slew of other such quantities, including
electric field, momentum, etc.
The fact that nature has let you down by not having quantities that can
be identified independent of an operational specification of measurement
is yours to deal with.
>
>> Einstein wasn't the first to realize that the assumption of absolute
>> simultaneity wasn't justified. Poincare realized the same thing years
>> earlier, and also came to understand that this meant that time durations
>> were also observer-dependent. Nailing down EXACTLY what is meant by
>> simultaneity in an operational way, as well as doing the same for
>> duration and length, is what turned the tide.
>
> Yes....but the fact that Einstein plagiarized Poincare doesn't make his RoS
> nonsense any more credible. Many theories were being put forward at the time
> after all attempts to measure Earth's absolute speed failed.
Yes, that's right. And Einstein's version of it was only one of them.
However, each of the theories made ADDITIONAL claims beyond the
experimental results they were intended to explain, and those ADDITIONAL
claims were subject to experimental test AFTER the proposal of the
theories. This, I'm sure you know, is how candidate theories are vetted
against each other, by comparison with later experimental tests. After a
number of such tests, the only survivor among all the candidate theories
at the time is the one that makes you gag, which is a very odd response
for a putative scientist to have to a theory that passes experimental test.
>
> The basic error was to associate simultaneity with light and apparently still
> is.
But it isn't.
>
>> As for it making things more complicated and impractical... posh.
>
> Well, fortunately Einstein's theory has never been vital in any aspect of
> technology and has done little harm.
Well, it depends on what you mean by vital. If you say that any design
informed by relativity could have just as well been informed by trial
and error and ad hoc adjustments, then you are of course right. Which is
the same complaint that engineer-adoring Koobee Wublee has. But of
course, a COMPETENT engineer will use any guiding principle that is
available that short circuits trial and error and ad hoc adjustments,
and so in that sense relativity has been very, very useful.
>
> __
>
> Henry Wilson DSc.
>
--
Odd Bodkin --- maker of fine toys, tools, tables