Nature Has No Faithful Mathematical Representation by Roger Schlafly

Yes, Roger, at the time there were physicists immeasurably cleverer than Einstein. Walther Ritz for instance:

http://www.datasync.com/~rsf1/crit/1908a.htm

Walther Ritz 1908: "The only conclusion which, from then on, seems possible to me, is that ether doesn't exist, or more exactly, that we should renounce use of this representation, that the motion of light is a relative motion like all the others, that only relative velocities play a role in the laws of nature; and finally that we should renounce use of partial differential equations and the notion of field, in the measure that this notion introduces absolute motion."

Einstein came to the same conclusion in 1954 but it was too late:

http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/pdf/files/975547d7-2d00-433a-b7e3-4a09145525ca.pdf

Albert Einstein (1954): "I consider it entirely possible that physics cannot be based upon the field concept, that is on continuous structures. Then nothing will remain of my whole castle in the air, including the theory of gravitation, but also nothing of the rest of contemporary physics."

Clues:

http://arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0101/0101109.pdf

"The two first articles (January and March) establish clearly a discontinuous structure of matter and light. The standard look of Einstein's SR is, on the contrary, essentially based on the continuous conception of the field."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/genius/

"And then, in June, Einstein completes special relativity, which adds a twist to the story: Einstein's March paper treated light as particles, but special relativity sees light as a continuous field of waves."

http://www.amazon.com/Relativity-Its-Roots-Banesh-Hoffmann/dp/0486406768

Relativity and Its Roots, Banesh Hoffmann: "Moreover, if light consists of particles, as Einstein had suggested in his paper submitted just thirteen weeks before this one, the second principle seems absurd: A stone thrown from a speeding train can do far more damage than one thrown from a train at rest; the speed of the particle is not independent of the motion of the object emitting it. And if we take light to consist of particles and assume that these particles obey Newton's laws, they will conform to Newtonian relativity and thus automatically account for the null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment without recourse to contracting lengths, local time, or Lorentz transformations. Yet, as we have seen, Einstein resisted the temptation to account for the null result in terms of particles of light and simple, familiar Newtonian ideas, and introduced as his second postulate something that was more or less obvious when thought of in terms of waves in an ether."

Pentcho Valev pvalev@yahoo.com

Stachel and Norton go as far as to accuse brothers Einsteinians of lying about the Michelson-Morley experiment but assure that Einstein, unlike "later writers", was honest and never cited the experiment as evidence for the principle of the constancy of the speed of light:

http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/1743/2/Norton.pdf

John Norton: "In addition to his work as editor of the Einstein papers in finding source material, Stachel assembled the many small clues that reveal Einstein's serious consideration of an emission theory of light; and he gave us the crucial insight that Einstein regarded the Michelson-Morley experiment as evidence for the principle of relativity, whereas later writers almost universally use it as support for the light postulate of special relativity. Even today, this point needs emphasis. The Michelson-Morley experiment is fully compatible with an emission theory of light that CONTRADICTS THE LIGHT POSTULATE."

http://www.amazon.com/Einstein-B-Z-John-Stachel/dp/0817641432

Einstein from 'B' to 'Z', John Stachel, p. 179: "Are there any common features to Einstein's mentions of the Michelson-Morley experiment? Yes: Without exception, it is cited as evidence for the relativity principle, and is never cited as evidence for the principle of the constancy of the velocity of light."

In fact, Einstein devised the lie, as can be seen from the New York Times 1921 article:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9806EFDD113FEE3ABC4152DFB266838A639EDE

The New York Times, April 19, 1921: "The special relativity arose from the question of whether light had an invariable velocity in free space, he [Einstein] said. The velocity of light could only be measured relative to a body or a co-ordinate system. He sketched a co-ordinate system K to which light had a velocity C. Whether the system was in motion or not was the fundamental principle. This has been developed through the researches of Maxwell and Lorentz, the principle of the constancy of the velocity of light having been based on many of their experiments. But did it hold for only one system? he asked. He gave the example of a street and a vehicle moving on that street. If the velocity of light was C for the street was it also C for the vehicle? If a second co-ordinate system K was introduced, moving with the velocity V, did light have the velocity of C here? When the light traveled the system moved with it, so it would appear that light moved slower and the principle apparently did not hold. Many famous experiments had been made on this point. Michelson showed that relative to the moving co-ordinate system K1, the light traveled with the same velocity as relative to K, which is contrary to the above observation. How could this be reconciled? Professor Einstein asked."

Pentcho Valev pvalev@yahoo.com

In 1887 the Michelson-Morley experiment UNEQUIVOCALLY confirmed the emission theory's tenet that the speed of light varies with the speed of the light source (c'=c+v) and refuted the ether theory's tenet that the speed of light is independent of the speed of the light source (c'=c). By advancing, ad hoc, his absurd length contraction hypothesis, Lorentz made the experiment confirm the false tenet (c'=c) and refute the true one (c'=c+v). That marked the beginning of the end of rational physics.

Pentcho Valev pvalev@yahoo.com

why ?

Hi Roger,

An interesting and thought-provoking essay! You write: "It is rare in science for an 80-year-old theory to be so relentlessly challenged by theorists,and yet be so accurately confirmed by experiment. Does quantum mechanics have some flaw, or do the challengers have some conceptual misunderstanding?". I thik both, as can be seen from my own essay. However I will not recommend you to read it. Better, if you haven't already read Robert H. McEachern's essay "Misinterpreting Reality: Confusing Mathematics for Phisics" I strongly recommend you to do so.

Best regards,

Inger

Hi Roger.I am delighted with this passage in your essay

"The idea was described by the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates in about 400 BC, and written by Plato as the Allegory of the Cave. People in the cave see shadows, and do not appreciate the 3-D nature of the objects causing the shadows. They are seeing a 2-D projection of 3-D objects.

A photograph is also a 2-D projection of a 3-D scene. A measurement with a meter stick is a 1-D projection. Other observations can also be viewed as projections of some more complex reality."

In my essay i proposed where is need find out 2D world.

http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/1413

Dear Roger,

you've done a great job in formulating your lines of reasoning in your exciting essay. I will give you a high rating therefore.

Best wishes,

Stefan Weckbach

Dear Dr. Schlafly, I enjoyed your very well written essay. This passage especially resonated with me:

"... some people believe that the mathematical possibilities must be the same as the physical possibilities, even if those possibilities cannot be observed."

To me, a good example of this is "negative pressure" as the cause for expansion. IMHO it can live only in math. I agree with you that mathematics in physics has become divorced from the underlying geometry of creation. In my essay I emphasize the role of space as the container for the Universe and bring up its old, forgotten, paradox, "is space empty or solid?" I find it strange that mathematicians are not bothered that space can be both empty (for matter to move through it) and solid (for light to propagate). I offer a geometrical solution to this old paradox of space, in 4 spatial dimensions, which incidentally removes the mystery out of double slit experiments, to which you often refer in your essay. I would very much appreciate your opinion and feedback on my essay.

Thank you and all the best to you!

Roger,

What did I tell you? Your wrong statement:

"The crucial experiment was by Michelson-Morley in 1887, showing that the speed of light was the same in different frames of reference."

catapulted you to the top of the community rating list! Einsteinians are grateful people! Congratulations!

Pentcho Valev pvalev@yahoo.com

oops! I did not realize that I was not logged in. I am one of the authors in this contest, arguing for the reality of a 4th spatial dimension here.

Hi Roger,

Yes the mathematical tools we have for modeling physical reality have flaws. It is as if physical reality is playing a game of catch me if you can. It is very good at this game.

Your essay is very readable and points out a fundamental problem with physics.

Don L.

More fuel for your fire: http://digitalwavetheory.com/DWT/5_Math-Physics_Connection.html

Dear Roger! Nature Has Faithful Mathematical Representation. Just need to dig deeper into the Ontology. Best Regards!

RF:

Yours was an interesting and informative essay.. As a newcomer to the FQXi community, I feel few of the "community" grade, or even look at, my essay which approaches the problem very realistically, based on an internal view.. Might you look at it, comment if so inclines, and grade it?

To Seek Unknown Shores

聽聽 http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/1409

Thank you

TE

Roger,

Your wrong statement:

"The crucial experiment was by Michelson-Morley in 1887, showing that the speed of light was the same in different frames of reference."

which catapulted you to the top of the community rating list, is taught by almost all Einsteinians:

http://www.amazon.com/Faster-Than-Speed-Light-Speculation/dp/0738205257

Faster Than the Speed of Light, Joao Magueijo: "A missile fired from a plane moves faster than one fired from the ground because the plane's speed adds to the missile's speed. If I throw something forward on a moving train, its speed with respect to the platform is the speed of that object plus that of the train. You might think that the same should happen to light: Light flashed from a train should travel faster. However, what the Michelson-Morley experiments showed was that this was not the case: Light always moves stubbornly at the same speed. This means that if I take a light ray and ask several observers moving with respect to each other to measure the speed of this light ray, they will all agree on the same apparent speed!"

http://www.pourlascience.fr/ewb_pages/f/fiche-article-la-disparition-du-temps-en-relativite-26042.php

Marc Lachièze-Rey: "Mais au cours du XIXe siècle, diverses expériences, et notamment celle de Michelson et Morley, ont convaincu les physiciens que la vitesse de la lumière dans le vide est invariante. En particulier, la vitesse de la lumière ne s'ajoute ni ne se retranche à celle de sa source si celle-ci est en mouvement."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993018,00.html

Stephen Hawking: "So if you were traveling in the same direction as the light, you would expect that its speed would appear to be lower, and if you were traveling in the opposite direction to the light, that its speed would appear to be higher. Yet a series of experiments failed to find any evidence for differences in speed due to motion through the ether. The most careful and accurate of these experiments was carried out by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley at the Case Institute in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1887......It was as if light always traveled at the same speed relative to you, no matter how you were moving."

Yet a few Einsteinians teach THE TRUTH: Originally (prior to advancing the ad hoc length contraction hypothesis) the Michelson-Morley experiment unequivocally showed that the speed of light varies as predicted by Newton's emission theory of light:

http://www.amazon.com/Relativity-Its-Roots-Banesh-Hoffmann/dp/0486406768

Relativity and Its Roots, Banesh Hoffmann: "Moreover, if light consists of particles, as Einstein had suggested in his paper submitted just thirteen weeks before this one, the second principle seems absurd: A stone thrown from a speeding train can do far more damage than one thrown from a train at rest; the speed of the particle is not independent of the motion of the object emitting it. And if we take light to consist of particles and assume that these particles obey Newton's laws, they will conform to Newtonian relativity and thus automatically account for the null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment without recourse to contracting lengths, local time, or Lorentz transformations. Yet, as we have seen, Einstein resisted the temptation to account for the null result in terms of particles of light and simple, familiar Newtonian ideas, and introduced as his second postulate something that was more or less obvious when thought of in terms of waves in an ether."

http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/essay-einstein-relativity.htm

John Stachel: "An emission theory is perfectly compatible with the relativity principle. Thus, the M-M experiment presented no problem; nor is stellar abberration difficult to explain on this basis."

http://www.philoscience.unibe.ch/documents/kursarchiv/SS07/Norton.pdf

John Norton: "These efforts were long misled by an exaggeration of the importance of one experiment, the Michelson-Morley experiment, even though Einstein later had trouble recalling if he even knew of the experiment prior to his 1905 paper. This one experiment, in isolation, has little force. Its null result happened to be fully compatible with Newton's own emission theory of light. Located in the context of late 19th century electrodynamics when ether-based, wave theories of light predominated, however, it presented a serious problem that exercised the greatest theoretician of the day."

http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/1743/2/Norton.pdf

John Norton: "In addition to his work as editor of the Einstein papers in finding source material, Stachel assembled the many small clues that reveal Einstein's serious consideration of an emission theory of light; and he gave us the crucial insight that Einstein regarded the Michelson-Morley experiment as evidence for the principle of relativity, whereas later writers almost universally use it as support for the light postulate of special relativity. Even today, this point needs emphasis. The Michelson-Morley experiment is fully compatible with an emission theory of light that CONTRADICTS THE LIGHT POSTULATE."

Pentcho Valev pvalev@yahoo.com

Dear Roger Schlafly,

The double slit need a deep thinking.

Please see my essay: Rethink the double slit experiment"

http://fqxi.org/data/essay-contest-files/Xiao_KeXiaoFQXi828.pdf

The cross-linked angle established the connection between two slits by the fine structure constant.