3 ms·
Yes, I was often very confused as to why the speed of light shows up everywhere, until it was reframed for me in this way. The fact that light travels at the sa
by cypherpunks01 2y ago
Yes, I was often very confused as to why the speed of light shows up everywhere, until it was reframed for me in this way. The fact that light travels at the same speed regardless of your frame of reference becomes a little less mystifying.
It feels more intuitive to me when thinking about it as causality always unfolding around you at the same speed, no matter your own frame.
The constant c was not named for causality, but it is a nice coincidence.
- kazinator 2y agoBut causalities that don't propagate at the speed of light, and are not based on light, such as ordinary objects moving around and jostling each other, do not appear the same in every reference frame.
- waynesonfire 2y agoif the sun were to disappear, how long would it take for you to notice?
- tedk-42 2y agoThis doesn't argue their point. If a neutron disappeared, you'd NEVER noticed that causality.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- kazinator 2y agoTrick question. Am I someone on Earth? (If so, 8 minutes). Or am I in a ship that is hurtling toward the Solar System at 0.999c, roughly in line with the Sun-Earth axis? If so, although I see speed of light as c, the Sun-Earth distance is foreshortened relativistically, so it will be less than 8 minutes between me perceiving the event that the Sun disappeared and perceiving the event that the Earth lost illumination.