From: Omega (omega@pacific.net)
Date: Thu Jan 30 1997 - 07:33:36 MST
John,
> I don't agree. Relativity is a little odd but Quantum Mechanics is utterly
> bizarre. The Twin " paradox" of Relativity is not a paradox at all, it's just
> something unusual that happens when things move very fast. If you want a
> true paradox look for Schrodinger's Cat, and Quantum Mechanics is the
> culprit.
I agree that there is no deep paradox with this twins business, but the
twins spend their whole time in timelike (slower than light) reference
frames in which a well ordered causality from past to future exists.
On light like reference frames, no such well ordered causality from
past to future exists. The emmission and absorption of a photon is
not a well ordreed cause and effect sequence, but a single unitary
event that from the photon's reference frame happens simultaneously
and with no intervening distance. From the perspective of those who
live within timelike reference frames, even though the photon appears
to travel though space, the absorption of the photon is already
correlated with some future absorbtion event the moment it is emitted
from its source.
Again, this is a much deeper paradox in relativity than the twins
business, a paradox that QM patches up in a consistent manner.
-- In the Ecstatic Service of Life -- Omega
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