T. Garcia to Chris Kennedy 09/13/12
Like you, Chris, I wonder in my essay why no one had previous to me noticed my essay theme that speed determines the time rates for objects. You wrote a fine piece and included what could be valid arguments for your POV. We have found different viewpoints, however, in that you see the paradox as being the claim that each twin - if they could see each other's clocks - would see the other's clock as running slower. To me, the paradox is the so called "time dilation effect," which is resolved by my claim that time is a property of matter, etc.
Basics
A) Yes, I learned long ago A. Einstein (AE) took a lot of ideas from others without always giving credit where due, which often resulted in the public thinking he was not as great a genius as we were taught he was. But I think he was, really, since he maneuvered his way well through the lethal labyrinth of naked emperors who fought fiercely, as some still do, to hold on to whatever status they managed to win by hook or crook.
B) Here, he gave Galileo some credit. However, the statement that starts out with, "That is, all motion at constant velocity is to be considered relative...." puzzles me because constant velocity here seems out of place. Since all objects are in motion, all motion is relative, not just motion at constant velocity. What is your opinion on that?
To you, it seems the issue is the way AE concocted his explanations to resolve the TP, when all he had to say is that time is a property of matter and it passes inversely proportional to an object's speed. In order for the spaceship to leave earth and then return to it, it had to speed up. It did not have to turn around if it made a circular round trip, but if it did, the speeding up - relatively to the earth - is necessary to catch with the planet once more. Is that correct, or not?
The train experiment and others like it support AE's relativity also. So if he made up his math, it would not be the 1st time, but even so, the simplest explanation for any paradox is one like mine, I think, because it does not need any math to confuse the issue. If AE could have done that, we all would have been much smarter faster.