Objectivity in science is lost by calibrating rulers in man-invented metres of man-invented distance, so allowing other man-invented concepts into science. Objectivity is recovered by calibrating rulers in nanoseconds of relative age, a natural property of perspective. Relative age is measured by two clocks. One clock, located at the zero end of a ruler is the observer’s clock and the other clock’s readings, at points along the ruler, are compared with the observer’s clock. One nanosecond of relative age is equal to 30 cm of distance. Discarding distance then reduces the vocabulary of science to words describing observations of relative age and time. All this is implicit in the famous observations of Ole Roemer in 1667. Roemer studied how the relative rate of two clocks, one on Earth and one on Jupiter, varies as Earth goes round the sun. Objective values of the diameter of Earth’s solar orbit (1000 seconds) and the relative speed of Earth and Jupiter can be obtained from Roemer’s data. There are no concepts of distance so rulers should be calibrated in units compatible with the diameter of Earth’s orbit being 1000 seconds. Discarding distance restores objectivity.
A 1000 metre athletics race becomes a 3333.3 nanosecond race, 3333.3 nanoseconds being the duration of the race at unit speed. A runner who takes 250 seconds has a relative speed of (3333.3/250)10-9, a number between 0 and 1.
Earth and Jupiter have an average relative speed of 1000 seconds of relative age per six months, for half the year, and minus that for the other half.
A speed camera takes two photographs of a vehicle travelling over a ruler painted on the road. If the ruler is calibrated in metres it measures speed in metres per second. If it is calibrated in nanoseconds it measures the rate of change of the camera and vehicle’s relative age in nanoseconds of relative age, per second of time.
If maps based on triangulation measurements use a ruler calibrated in metres then the maps are calibrated in kilometres. If the ruler is calibrated in nanoseconds the maps are calibrated in microseconds.
In traditional science the rate at which a pendulum swings is proportional to w=(g/L)1/2 where g is measured in metres seconds-2 and L in metres. In objective science g is measured in seconds-1 and L in seconds.
As a number between 0 and 1, an objective relative speed can be identified with S=sin(a). A second number, C=cos(a) with C2=(1+S)(1-S), can then be defined and finally a third number, D, by D2=(1+S)/(1-S). From these one obtains the Doppler Shift equations, CD=(1+S) and C/D=(1-S). These describe how S can be measured with a spectrometer as well as with a clock. CD is the blue shift between a converging pair of objects and C/D the red shift between a diverging pair.
In 1905, Einstein made a theory from the objective equation, S3=(S1+S2)/(1+S1S2). This equation gives the relative speed of two vehicles whose speeds relative to a speed camera are S1 and S2. Einstein planned to introduce distance and time by replacing S by (v/c) but that only changes symbols. It does not change the property of perspective which is implicit in the equation.
Halfway through Einstein’s theory, the equation g=(1-(v/c)2)-1/2 occurs. This is a redundancy equation which tells users to change g to 1/C and (v/c) to S. Thus Einstein’s mathematics has the relative age property built into it. It is an objective description of observations, not the subjective theory it is believed to be.
In 1710, philosopher George Berkeley attacked scientists for combining unlike concepts. A corkscrew and a trumpet are unlike concepts. They can not be combined in any meaningful way. The same applies to distance and time. Berkeley introduced a Likeness Principle to exclude unlike combinations from philosophy and science. Lisa Downing, the author of the long article on Berkeley in the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy comments that: ‘If Berkeley’s Likeness Principle …is granted, representationalist materialism (theory making) is in serious trouble.’ If distance is removed from science the unlike pair, distance and time, is also removed. Berkeley’s principle is satisfied when everything is measured in nanoseconds.
All observations have perspective. When you look in a mirror, the direction you look is reflected back from the surface of the mirror to form your image, but the direction you see goes on through and beyond the mirror towards a horizon where images are infinitely older than you. Your image is as old along the direction you see, as you were along the direction you look when your image was formed.
When you stand between parallel mirrors, the direction you look is reflected to and fro between the mirrors to make a succession of your images. The direction you see goes on to the horizon and the succession of your images is strung out along that line, with each image located by its age relative to yours.
Gravitational phenomena are easily explained with the single unit of nanoseconds. We feel nanoseconds shortening as we climb stairs and lengthening as we descend. Galileo dropped musket balls from the top of the Tower of Pisa and they fell to the bottom where nanoseconds of relative age are longer than they are at the top. The musket balls store more potential energy in their mass where nanoseconds are shorter so they got lighter as they fell. In a black hole objects are vanishingly small, seconds are infinitely long, clocks are still, musket balls have no mass and red-shifted frequencies are zero frequencies. A black hole is on the perspective horizon.
In suitable conditions you see images of the stars instantly. They are located many years along the direction you see and because the images are very old in years of relative age, they are also very small and deep in the relative past. They are not far away though because they are located on your retinas.
In 1667, distance was inserted into Roemer’s data to make his observations conform to theories of the speed of light – 30 cm per nanosecond. In scientific publications Roemer’s observations are still described as the first measurement of the speed of light. Removing distance, removes the speed of light.
Stan Clough
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, UK.
Reference: Downing, Lisa, “George Berkeley”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
PS Separation is also time of flight at unit speed.
Science, including Einstein's relativity, without time, distance or speed 