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Relativity isn't a technology. The only technology I can think of that it enabled is GPS. However, we probably would have gotten there anyway. We knew from terr
by gizmo686 3y ago
Relativity isn't a technology. The only technology I can think of that it enabled is GPS. However, we probably would have gotten there anyway. We knew from terrestial experiments that the speed of light is finite. That is pretty much the only insight needed to come up with GPS. Relativity is needed to make the calculations correct; however if you are in a position where Relativity breaks your system then you have essentially conducted an experiment confirming relativity.
- clouddrover 3y ago> Relativity isn't a technology. It is when physicists are talking about it. Physicists often use the word technology to refer to a mathematical means by which something can be calculated, not a machine or a device.
- fragmede 3y ago> probably would have gotten there anyway I don't think we would have make the gps satellite constellation if we didn't think it would work in the first place though, at which point we wouldn't have gotten there.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago> only technology I can think of that it enabled is GPS Sat-to-sat laser communication, as Starlink envisions, requires tight understanding of the Earth’s general relativistic properties as well as the satellites’ special relativity. If the choice were Starlink or no more astrophysics, the answer would be clear to the point of justifying military intervention by third parties. It’s not. It’s Starlink or particular kinds of astrophysical observation from the ground. That’s a more careful balance, and one that can be mitigated by e.g. increasing funding for those experiments on space-based platforms.
- nazgul17 3y agoApparently, GPS satellites themselves use quasars to accurately determine their own positions.