From: John Leppik (John_Leppik@knowledgesystems.com)
Date: Fri Jun 21 2002 - 14:36:38 MDT
I am new to this group, but I have been lurking long enough to know that it includes a lot of smart and well-informed people, so I will try a question that I have not been able to get answered elsewhere.
Einstein told us that the speed of light was absolute and that nothing could go faster. I am aware of space bubbles and such which may make higher speeds possible in particular situations, but I am hung up on the basic case.
If light can only travel at one absolute speed in a vacuum, how does it know what that is? It would know if it were a propagation in a stationary medium. It would know if it had an instantaneous reference to a stationary point. How else could it know?
If I were traveling at half the speed of light with respect to my unknown stationary reference point, what would the absolute speed of light be for a light pointed forward? And what for a light pointed backward? How would light beam know to behave thus?
If light has a reference to absolutely immobility in an apparently dynamic universe, where would that reference be? How does light reference it? What is our speed here on Earth with respect to immobility?
John
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