I think lifegazer grossly misunderstands Einstein if s/he thinks that relativity says that one's own personal viewpoint is the absolute determiner of physics. I'm pretty sure Einstein said that no viewpoint is absolute, that the math all works the same no matter what viewpoint you pick and that "viewpoint" doesn't have to be a concious entity at all. It's just a referrent to work the math off of. It's just weird, hardly inconsistant.
I'm aware of what Einstein says... I'm aware of the physicists' viewpoint (the scientific viewpoint).
... This is the point I have been trying to make throughout this thread - that scientific theories are moulded around the idea that the universe is real. Let me try to explain:-
Einstein moulded his theory around the idea that only the speed-of-light is absolute. Space & time (or spacetime, if you like) are relative to the observer, so that any two individuals do have unique perspectives of the space; time; or spacetime, of this singular universe. In fact, it's practically impossible for any two observers to have
absolutely-identical experiences of the space & time existing in this universe. However, because differences-of-experience upon the Earth regarding spacetime values are almost immeasurable,
Relativity is practically irrelevant to humanity as a whole regarding common-experience. It's only when we experience extreme velocities or gravitational-pulls much different to the norm, that Einstein's thoughts become significant with regards experience differential.
... But the point is, that with a "real world" in mind and also the relative experience of space-time between each individual, Einstein (physics... science) had no choice other than to attribute a special property to
'light', since there was nothing else "out there" that he/they could attribute this weirdness to. Hence, 'light' was deemed special and attributed with 'absoluteness'.
... Mathematically, nothing was wrong with this proclamation. After all, all humans would
experience light travelling through any particular medium with a velocity consistent to all.
... However,
rationally (philosophically/logically), Einstein (physics/science) had screwed-up the conclusions to the observations (experience) and the math. Why? Because...
... Because
light has no substance within experience. Neither does space; time; (or 'spacetime'). As I said earlier in the thread, reality and experience are distinct & separate. This includes the experience of 'light'.
We experience light amongst our experience of space and amongst our experience of time.
...Therefore, if the
experience of space and the
experience of time (or, the
experience of spacetime) is relative (and therefore 'unique' to each individual with comparison to all others), then
the only conclusion one can come to is that it is GIVEN!! to the individual to EXPERIENCE the velocity of light at a specific value ('c'), regardless of his/her individual experience of space & time (spacetime).
Read that last paragraph very clearly please. It takes away all special properties one attributes to light when comprehending Einstein's theories with regards to a real world, and re-attributes any ~specialness~ to the giver of the
experience of light. Yet, the math remain the same.
... In a nutshell, Einstein discovered relativity and provided the correct math, but attributed ~specialness~ to something that did not deserve it:- in this case, the
experience of light.
He did this because he thought he was observing
real light... but he wasn't... and he never could.
Hence, Einstein's theory of Relativity is a classic example of how
assuming that the world is real can (and has done), screw-up science.
Science
needs to abandon pre-conceived ideas of reality because such conceptions are corrupting the conclusions!!!
The same thing has happened with quantum-mechanics.