4 ms·

It's not really a claim, it was a pondering - a thinking out aloud. And it's more to do with the use of language to describe the problem (how to break the "lig

It's not really a claim, it was a pondering - a thinking out aloud. And it's more to do with the use of language to describe the problem (how to break the "light barrier") than forgetting something. And the use of language in abstracting/describing solutions to it.

krapp 6y ago
That the speed of light is invariant in a vacuum is a result of Einstein's theory of special relativity[0,1] and Maxwell's field equations[2]. These may be described generally with language like "speed of light" but they were described specifically and tested using math and science. And at this point, these are probably the most thoroughly tested and proven principles in science, since they underpin everything from cosmology to quantum mechanics to chemistry (and by extension biology) and a lot of our modern technology such as satellites (which have to take special relativity into account) and microchip design, for which quantum effects are relevant. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light [2]https://web.pa.msu.edu/courses/2000fall/phy232/lectures/emwaves/maxwell.html https://web.pa.msu.edu/courses/2000fall/phy232/lectures/emwa...
magicalhippo 6y ago
But physicist don't usually use language when abstracting or describing solutions. They use math. And in the math it's pretty clear what's going on.
- scarygliders 6y ago
  The initial problem has to be thought of and abstracted in language. It merely gets translated into math after that - math being a tool used to attempt to solve that problem. No one thinks and speaks purely in math. It must be language, then math, then language again to help describe and explain the solution which was found using math.
  - krapp 6y ago
    The math is correct or incorrect regardless of the language used. Changing the language doesn't change the math, what the math predicts, or what observation and experimentation prove or disprove about those predictions.
  - magicalhippo 6y ago
    > No one thinks and speaks purely in math. It must be language, then math [...] I disagree for any non-trivial use of "language". By that I mean that things like "wonder what will happen if I use a different boundary condition" is a trivial use of language, as it does not affect the understanding of the problem or how to solve it.

krapp 6y ago

That the speed of light is invariant in a vacuum is a result of Einstein's theory of special relativity[0,1] and Maxwell's field equations[2]. These may be described generally with language like "speed of light" but they were described specifically and tested using math and science. And at this point, these are probably the most thoroughly tested and proven principles in science, since they underpin everything from cosmology to quantum mechanics to chemistry (and by extension biology) and a lot of our modern technology such as satellites (which have to take special relativity into account) and microchip design, for which quantum effects are relevant. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light [2]https://web.pa.msu.edu/courses/2000fall/phy232/lectures/emwaves/maxwell.html https://web.pa.msu.edu/courses/2000fall/phy232/lectures/emwa...

magicalhippo 6y ago

But physicist don't usually use language when abstracting or describing solutions. They use math. And in the math it's pretty clear what's going on.

scarygliders 6y ago
The initial problem has to be thought of and abstracted in language. It merely gets translated into math after that - math being a tool used to attempt to solve that problem. No one thinks and speaks purely in math. It must be language, then math, then language again to help describe and explain the solution which was found using math.
- krapp 6y ago
  The math is correct or incorrect regardless of the language used. Changing the language doesn't change the math, what the math predicts, or what observation and experimentation prove or disprove about those predictions.
- magicalhippo 6y ago
  > No one thinks and speaks purely in math. It must be language, then math [...] I disagree for any non-trivial use of "language". By that I mean that things like "wonder what will happen if I use a different boundary condition" is a trivial use of language, as it does not affect the understanding of the problem or how to solve it.