Friday, November 07, 2008

Light Talk

Sir,
Please go to page 31 of New Scientist 1 Nov, 2008, Cover story on Relativity. In the illustration if Frank is moving due east at 50 mph and Kate is moving northeast at 70 mph, it will appear to Frank that Kate's train is pointing northeast but drifting northward at 50 mph. Frank will never see the back of Kate's train. I have tried to read and understand Relativity with commonsense but if I were not averse to hurting many people's feelings I would have called it the theory of illusions. A good scientist must not confuse apparent drift with resultant velocity. We see the same face of the moon throughout the year and in its motion relative to us it does not rotate on its axis, but in so doing it does rotate on its axis in exactly one month in its absolute motion. Einstein's postulates are more compromises than prophecies, far from universal truths. Believe me, there are absolute motions and universal truths.
Regards,
Naseem Mahnavi.

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