Physics was my first love. This category contains the posts closest to my heart. Twenty years from now, if this blog survives, this category will probably hold my most enduring insights. And two hundred years from now, if I am remembered at all, it will be for these insights; not for the kind of person I am, the money I make, nor anything else. Only for my first and last love…
In this blog version of an article published in Omega, I discuss how Eastern and Western views say essentially the same things when it comes to the nature of space and time. And how that view can be interpreted as a basis for understanding Einstein’s theories. [Journal Ref: Omega – Indian Journal of Science and Religion, Vol. VI, (Dec. 2007), pp 138-150.]
God does not play dice with the universe — said Einstein. Whatever could he have meant? Here is my interpretation.
Published in The journal of the Philosophical Society of England. The Philosopher, Vol. LXXXXVI No. 1 (Spring 2008), pp 3-7
This article examines the role of light in perception, physics and philosophy. Based on the similarities between metaphysical and spiritual or philosophical views on space and time, the article sheds new light on modern physics — the special theory of relativity, in particular.
The Asian Tsunami two and a half years ago unleashed tremendous amount energy on the coastal regions around the Indian ocean. What do you think would’ve have happened to this energy if there had been no water to carry it away from the earthquake?
I posted this question that was bothering me when I read that they found a galaxy at about 13 billion light years away. My understanding of that statement is: At distance of 13 billion light years, there was a galaxy 13 billion years ago, so that we can see the light from it now. Wouldn’t that mean that the universe is at least 26 billion years old? It must have taken the galaxy about 13 billion years to reach where it appears to be, and the light from it must take another 13 billion years to reach us.
Posting an old discussion on SFN. The Twin Paradox is usually explained away by arguing that the traveling twin feels the motion because of his acceleration/deceleration, and therefore ages slower. […]
Another discussion from an on-line forum, this post looks at space and time. […]The first question we need to ask ourselves is why space and time seem coupled? The answer is actually too simple to spot, and it is in your definition of time. Space and time mix through our concept of velocity and our brain’s ability to sense motion. There is an even deeper connection, which is that space is a cognitive representation of the photons inputs to our eyes, but we will get to it later.[…]
Here is a geometric interpretation of Lorentz transformation (or how to go from SR to GR).
Another short discussion on the interpretations of Special Relativity.
A discussion on the meaning and interpretation of Special Relativity. The perceptual effects are known in physics; they are called Light Travel Time effects (LTT, to cook up an acronym). These effects are considered an optical illusion on the motion of the object under observation. Once you take out the LTT effects, you get the “real” motion of the object . This real motion is supposed to obey SR. This is the current interpretation of SR. My argument is that the LTT effects are so similar to SR that we should think of SR as just a formalization of LTT. (In fact, a slightly erroneous formalization.)
On the Daily Mail forum, one participant (called “whats-in-a-name”) started talking about my book, The Unreal Universe, on July 15, 2006. It was attacked fairly viciously there. I happened to see it during a Web search and decided to step in and defend it.
A discussion in the Science Forums on the appearance of a laser dot on a ceiling. It is thought that if you pointed a laser dot on a ceiling and move the laser gun fast enough, the dot could move superluminally. Could it really?