For your amusement. Pardon me if this makes no sense.
Kevyn's statement about events taking place "simultaneously" while "light hours apart" may give itching fits to those familiar with Einstein's General and Special Relativity. If the speed of light is the maximum speed of propagation of information, then there is no frame of reference in which events light-hours apart can be meaningfully said to have occurred simultaneously.
As Kevyn himself can tell you, however, the speed of light is not the maximum speed of information propagation. Hypernet nodes can relay information across the galaxy instantaneously (assuming proper configuration, no user-serviceable parts inside, past performance is not an indicator of future results, your mileage may vary) and gravitic sensors can detect the distortions of space and time caused by concentrations of mass before those distortions can ripple through Einsteinian space.
Consider an observer in a room full of people. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, two of those people several meters apart pull down their pants. Simultaneously. At these distances and on this scale, the observer's frame of reference is the same frame as that of the events (pants pulling-down), so simultaneity can be described in a meaningful way. The observer can quickly conclude that he/she is in a frat-house, college dormitory, or sans-a-belt slacks convention.
Now consider the same observer in a system full of starships. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, two of those starships several light-hours apart pull down their... umm... pants. Yeah. Whatever. Stay with me. If this was observed via electromagnetic radiation, the observer's frame of reference is the only frame in which these events were simultaneous. But (and this is the important part) if the observer was using gravitic sensors, or hypernet-equipped sensors a few hundred meters from each ship, his frame of reference becomes the SAME frame of reference as that of the events in question, and the events are simultaneous in that frame.
Oddly enough, with the right clocks and a good A.I., this common frame can be established even when one of the ships is moving at relativistic speeds. The pants just come off slower. Or faster. Whichever.
The profound, causal absurdity of a universe in which a single frame of reference can be used to describe events light-years apart pales in comparison to the absurdity of a universe in which starships remove their pants at the speed of light.
Fortunately, Schlock Mercenary is not about starship pants, and is therefore no more absurd than it needs to be.
Thank you, good night.
5 comments:
"The profound, causal absurdity of a universe in which a single frame of reference can be used to describe events light-years apart"...Woah, I love it! I really believe that. Truth - solid dependable reality - is things as they are, as they were and as they really will be. All things, past present and future are displayed to God simulateously. Is that what we are talking about?
What's with the picture of the Ed N building mural?
Good posts btw!
I had a creepy dream about a video game that was about a group of prisoners that escape from a prison in the jungles of New York state (yes, jungles. Yes, New York State).
I had a dream like that once. I took it to mean I was in an oppressive situation and I should get out as undetectedly as possible. Do you feel oppressed in your life? Should we plan an escape for you?
Also, Nathan, did I decode your last blog correctly? Or not.
Thank you Nathan, for the amusement. As a piece of literature, it's brilliant, but the science is interesting too. I remember hearing that with string theory, they propose that if you could separate two halves of the same "string" (or particle) then you would have two "particles" that behave similarly, regardless of the distance in between them. Thus, you could have a sender (a particle you could influence) and a receiver across the universe from each other, and thus overcome the speed of light limitation. Interesting theory in any case.
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