Gravity, Time and Leibniz.
Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 11:11 pm
This thought experiment seeks to illustrate the difference between subjective and objective reality, which in Kantian philosophy might be termed distinguishing between the observed phenomenon and the underpinning noumenon which gives rise to it.
Whether we call it the “Law of Parsimony”, “Occam’s Razor”, or the “Principle of Sufficient Reason” there is a universal explanatory principle which applies to all of science and philosophy. When two conflicting explanations are available to account for an observed phenomenon then the simpler of the two must always be preferred over the more complex. The most famous example of this principle in action in physics was the overthrow of the Ptolemaic geocentric cosmology by its Copernican heliocentric alternative. Many lay people completely misunderstand this principle and might thus say that heliocentrism is a “true” model for the solar system whereas geocentrism is a “false” one but this is not what Occam economy implies. It merely means that the Copernican model is a “better fit” for the evidence and the reason for this is that it is SIMPLER. Thus we can fall back on the age-old truism in all branches of philosophy which states that Simplicity is Truth.
The definitive proof which was offered for the so-called “curved space” of GR was the phenomenon of gravitational lensing, but this so-called proof fails this important test of parsimony. 3D space has no physical properties, thus to say that it can expand and contract and bend and twist and curve cannot be regarded as a physical statement. Instead it must be regarded as a metaphorical statement describing a more fundamental underlying process. In other words Einstein’s geometric space is every bit as much an action-at-a-distance model as was the Newtonian space it sought to overturn. Einstein himself stressed this point throughout his life and spent the 40 years of his life after the publication of GR looking for just such an underlying process.
“Spacetime should NEVER be regarded as physically real”....Albert Einstein”
There is an alternative explanation for gravitational lensing available from within the exact same GR model as that which presented us with the metaphysical absurdity of a “curved space”. Einstein’s genius always lay in his remarkable intuitions and capacity for clear thinking rather than in his physics. He was only ever an adequate physicist, and as a mathematician he was downright mediocre, but his instincts for the simplest logic was impeccable. The reasoning behind his conclusion that acceleration and gravity were simply two different expressions of the same phenomenon is exquisite in its austerity and thus utterly beyond falsification. An inescapable and direct consequence of this reasoning is that the speed of the passage of time must dilate as the strength of the gravitational “field” increases. Einstein was able to show that this relationship between gravity and time was inversely logarithmic in its nature, which means it could be mapped in a 2D co-ordinate space as a steeply ascending rectangular hyperbola. This mathematical representation has been empirically verified countless times since the publication of GR in 1915 and much of our modern technology is founded on it. Inasmuch as it is possible to say such a thing in science we must regard it as a “fact” that gravity and time are simply two different ways of expressing the same phenomenon because once you specify one you can automatically derive the other from the hyperbolic mathematical relationship. The simple truth is that gravity slows down time and in extreme gravitational environments, such as black holes, gravity slows down time dramatically because this is where the effects of the steeply ascending part of the hyperbolic curve are revealed. None of the mathematics of this is all that difficult and none of it is in the least bit controversial so as a philosopher of physics I’m more than happy to accept it as a given.
Consider now the beam of light travelling towards a distant observer and being deflected from its straight trajectory by the presence of an intervening mass. We know without doubt that this intervening mass will project a gravitational influence beyond itself approximately according to Newton’s inverse square “law”. We also know that time will slow down under this gravitational influence according to Einstein’s inversely logarithmic gravitational “law”. What effect will this have on the passing beam of light? Surely if time slows down then the passing beam of light must slow down accordingly because to suggest otherwise would be to suggest that light can travel faster than time, which is metaphysical horseshit.
The crucial question in this thought experiment is this:
Q. What does the observer observe and what is the simplest way to account for this observation?
A. The observer will observe the beam of light bending towards the intervening mass BECAUSE THE LIGHT HAS SLOWED DOWN RELATIVE TO THE OBSERVER.
This is exactly the same phenomenon as refraction, or the “bent stick in the water” which we can all recall from our high school science days.
Q. Why does a stick appear to bend when we put into a bath of water at an angle.
A. The stick appears to bend because, RELATIVE TO THE OBSERVER, the speed of light in water is slower than the speed of light in the air above it,. In other words the bent stick is an observer effect consequent on the inconstant speed of light.
In accordance with the “Law of Parsimony”, “Occam’s Razor”, or the “Principle of Sufficient Reason” why should this far simpler explanation for gravitational lensing not be preferred to the metaphysically nonsensical idea of a “curved space”. ???
Whether we call it the “Law of Parsimony”, “Occam’s Razor”, or the “Principle of Sufficient Reason” there is a universal explanatory principle which applies to all of science and philosophy. When two conflicting explanations are available to account for an observed phenomenon then the simpler of the two must always be preferred over the more complex. The most famous example of this principle in action in physics was the overthrow of the Ptolemaic geocentric cosmology by its Copernican heliocentric alternative. Many lay people completely misunderstand this principle and might thus say that heliocentrism is a “true” model for the solar system whereas geocentrism is a “false” one but this is not what Occam economy implies. It merely means that the Copernican model is a “better fit” for the evidence and the reason for this is that it is SIMPLER. Thus we can fall back on the age-old truism in all branches of philosophy which states that Simplicity is Truth.
The definitive proof which was offered for the so-called “curved space” of GR was the phenomenon of gravitational lensing, but this so-called proof fails this important test of parsimony. 3D space has no physical properties, thus to say that it can expand and contract and bend and twist and curve cannot be regarded as a physical statement. Instead it must be regarded as a metaphorical statement describing a more fundamental underlying process. In other words Einstein’s geometric space is every bit as much an action-at-a-distance model as was the Newtonian space it sought to overturn. Einstein himself stressed this point throughout his life and spent the 40 years of his life after the publication of GR looking for just such an underlying process.
“Spacetime should NEVER be regarded as physically real”....Albert Einstein”
There is an alternative explanation for gravitational lensing available from within the exact same GR model as that which presented us with the metaphysical absurdity of a “curved space”. Einstein’s genius always lay in his remarkable intuitions and capacity for clear thinking rather than in his physics. He was only ever an adequate physicist, and as a mathematician he was downright mediocre, but his instincts for the simplest logic was impeccable. The reasoning behind his conclusion that acceleration and gravity were simply two different expressions of the same phenomenon is exquisite in its austerity and thus utterly beyond falsification. An inescapable and direct consequence of this reasoning is that the speed of the passage of time must dilate as the strength of the gravitational “field” increases. Einstein was able to show that this relationship between gravity and time was inversely logarithmic in its nature, which means it could be mapped in a 2D co-ordinate space as a steeply ascending rectangular hyperbola. This mathematical representation has been empirically verified countless times since the publication of GR in 1915 and much of our modern technology is founded on it. Inasmuch as it is possible to say such a thing in science we must regard it as a “fact” that gravity and time are simply two different ways of expressing the same phenomenon because once you specify one you can automatically derive the other from the hyperbolic mathematical relationship. The simple truth is that gravity slows down time and in extreme gravitational environments, such as black holes, gravity slows down time dramatically because this is where the effects of the steeply ascending part of the hyperbolic curve are revealed. None of the mathematics of this is all that difficult and none of it is in the least bit controversial so as a philosopher of physics I’m more than happy to accept it as a given.
Consider now the beam of light travelling towards a distant observer and being deflected from its straight trajectory by the presence of an intervening mass. We know without doubt that this intervening mass will project a gravitational influence beyond itself approximately according to Newton’s inverse square “law”. We also know that time will slow down under this gravitational influence according to Einstein’s inversely logarithmic gravitational “law”. What effect will this have on the passing beam of light? Surely if time slows down then the passing beam of light must slow down accordingly because to suggest otherwise would be to suggest that light can travel faster than time, which is metaphysical horseshit.
The crucial question in this thought experiment is this:
Q. What does the observer observe and what is the simplest way to account for this observation?
A. The observer will observe the beam of light bending towards the intervening mass BECAUSE THE LIGHT HAS SLOWED DOWN RELATIVE TO THE OBSERVER.
This is exactly the same phenomenon as refraction, or the “bent stick in the water” which we can all recall from our high school science days.
Q. Why does a stick appear to bend when we put into a bath of water at an angle.
A. The stick appears to bend because, RELATIVE TO THE OBSERVER, the speed of light in water is slower than the speed of light in the air above it,. In other words the bent stick is an observer effect consequent on the inconstant speed of light.
In accordance with the “Law of Parsimony”, “Occam’s Razor”, or the “Principle of Sufficient Reason” why should this far simpler explanation for gravitational lensing not be preferred to the metaphysically nonsensical idea of a “curved space”. ???