The theory of relativity and its influence on scientific thoughtEddington, Arthur Stanley, Sir
Philosophy
The theory of relativity and its influence on scientific thought
Eddington, Arthur Stanley, Sir
Relativity (Physics); Science -- Philosophy
What has happened in the case of the earth has happened also in the case
of the world, and a similar revolution of thought is needed. An
observer, say at the centre of the earth, finds that there is a frame of
space and time--a flat or Euclidean frame--in which he can locate things
happening in his neighbourhood without distorting their natural
simplicity. There is no gravitation, no tendency of bodies to fall, so
long as the observer confines his observations to his immediate
neighbourhood. He extends this frame of space and time to greater
distances, and ultimately to the earth's surface where he encounters the
phenomenon of falling apples. This new phenomenon must be accounted for,
so he invents a _deus ex machina_ which he calls gravitation to whose
activities the disturbance is attributed. But we have seen that we may
just as well start with the falling apple. It has a flat frame of space
and time into which phenomena in its neighbourhood fit without
distortion; and from its point of view bodies near it do not undergo any
acceleration. But when it extends this frame farther afield, the
simplicity is lost; and it too has to postulate the demon force of
gravitation existing in distant parts, and for example causing
undisturbed objects at the centre of the earth to fall towards it. As we
change from one observer to another--from one flat space-time frame to
another--so we have to change the region of activity of this demon. Is
not the solution now apparent? The demon is simply the complication
which arises when we force the world into a flat Euclidean space-time
frame into which it does not fit without distortion. It does not fit the
frame, because _it is not a Euclidean or flat world_. Admit a curvature
of the world and the mysterious disturbance disappears. Einstein has
exorcized the demon.
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