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It don't "prove" anything. The observation just doesn't refute relativity.
by andrewgleave 5y ago
It don't "prove" anything. The observation just doesn't refute relativity.
- sudhirj 5y agoA better headline would be “doesn’t prove Einstein wrong”.
- sidlls 5y agoAn even better one would be "Einstein's General Relativity model supported by (another) observation". We've had many similar observations already (e.g. Mercury's procession around the Sun) that provide similar confirmation. That's why there is such consternation about it, versus the Standard Model born of quantum physics: both models have tons of confirming evidence supporting them, and yet they are at some level incompatible/incomplete. There's a gap in our knowledge, understanding, and intuition.
- ManBlanket 5y agoPublication bias might suggest otherwise.
- xadhominemx 5y agoNo, it proved Einstein’s theory predicts the trajectory of objects in the presence of a rotating supermassive object
- andrewgleave 5y agoThe observation is consistent with the theory of relativity.
- xadhominemx 5y agoLike I said, in proves general relativity predicts the trajectory of objects in the presence of a rotating supermassive object
- nautilius 5y agoThat's not how science (or logic) works.
- xadhominemx 5y agoYou are wrong on both counts
- nautilius 5y agoYour comment proves my theorem that xadhominemx only ever posts in this particular thread.
- xadhominemx 5y agoNot logically equivalent scenarios
- nautilius 5y agoqed!
- xadhominemx 5y agoNo, your scenario is different than the headline. Closer, but still not the same, would be “xadhominemx posts in this thread”
- nautilius 5y agoIt seems you missed the whole 'a single observation proves a theorem' part in the headline, which you conveniently omit in your attempt here.
- xadhominemx 5y agoThere was not a single observation. The star followed a complex trajectory.
- omegalulw 5y agoYou are correct, but using this argument, pretty much all of our understanding of Physics is "unproven". All we do is look at what happens in nature and form theories. Sure, we reason a lot and that to cut down the state space but at the end of the day, we have no way to be sure if what we know of Physics today is how our universe actually works. So validations like this are almost as good as it gets. The only thing that would be better is experimental observation refuting relativity or some other accepted theory.