2 ms·
If no information or energy is transmitted, then what exactly is traveling faster than the speed of light? Nothing. It's just as if you and a distant friend p
by tedsanders 14y ago
If no information or energy is transmitted, then what exactly is traveling faster than the speed of light?
Nothing.
It's just as if you and a distant friend pre-agree to lift a flag at 1200 GST. The "flag-raising interaction" is instant, "travelling" faster than the speed of light, but really nothing is travelling faster than the speed of light. You and your friend just pre-agreed to do something at the same time in different locations.
- Cushman 14y agoThings can travel faster than light. Say you sweep a spotlight across the moon. You could easily observe a spot of light traveling from one side of the moon to the other much faster than the speed of light. The spot of light is a "thing" the way we describe it; look at it, it's moving. But it can't be used to send information from one side of the moon to the other, so it's not a "thing" the way the universe describes it.