Physics Beyond Our Senses
When we look at modern physics, we see a common thread
binding the different branches of physics; they all deal
with reality beyond the ranges of our senses. Specifically,
- The Special Theory of Relativity dealing with objects
at high speeds,
- Quantum Mechanics and particle physics dealing with
very small length scales and
- Cosmology and Astrophysics, dealing with various
phenomena in our universe.
Extrapolating physics from our reality to what lies beyond
our senses involves deep philosophical assumptions. The
philosophical basis of modern physics is a world view
called scientific realism. In this view, the perceived
reality is assumed to be a faithful representation of the
physical universe out there. In other words, when we open
our eyes and look at the world outside, what we see is
assumed to be what is there to be seen. The space where the
objects interact and the sense of time are all real. This
philosophical stance is a good one - for most part. But
when we extrapolate this stance beyond our sensory ranges,
we need to modify our description to account for the
possible distortions in reality. Looking at reality as a
cognitive model distorted by the finite speed of light
yields a compellingly simple understanding of the special
theory of relativity. This way of looking at reality is, in
fact, another philosophical stance, based on the notion
from neuroscience that our reality is our brain's creation,
almost identical to the Zen and Hindu view of the world.
Why the Speed of Light?
Once we accept the neuroscience view of reality as a
representation of our sensory inputs, we can understand why
the speed of light figures so prominently in our physical
theories. The theories of physics are a description of
reality. Reality is created out of the readings from our
senses. Knowing that our senses all work using light as an
intermediary, is it a surprise that the speed of light is
of fundamental importance in our reality? The
sanctity accorded to the speed of light is a feature only
of our reality, not the absolute, ultimate reality
which our senses are striving to perceive.
Perception and Special Relativity
Special relativity can be thought of us a description of
our perception of motion. The finite speed of a sense
modality influences the perception of motion. All the
strange effects of the coordinate transformation in special
relativity can be understood as the manifestations of the
finite speed of our senses in our space and time. When it
comes to the physics that happens well beyond our sensory
ranges, we really have to take into account the role that
our perception and cognition play in seeing them. The
universe as we see it is only a cognitive model created out
of the photons falling on our retina or on the
photo-sensors of the Hubble telescope. Because of the
finite speed of the information carrier (namely photons),
our perception is distorted in such a way as to give us the
impression that space and time obey special relativity.
They do, but space and time are not the absolute reality.
They are only a part of the unreal universe that is our
perception of an unknowable reality.
Beyond Special Relativity...
Once we accept that space and time are a part of the
cognitive model created by the brain, and that special
relativity applies to the cognitive model, we can ponder
over the physical causes behind the model, the absolute
reality itself. It may be possible to guess the nature of
the absolute reality and work out how our perceived reality
should look. This line of thinking explains certain
phenomena that have been puzzling scientists for a while.
These phenomena include symmetric radio jets and gamma ray
bursts from astrophysics. Other paradoxes with a
conceptually elegant resolution in this framework are the
twin paradox and the issue of causality violation in
superluminal motion.
How exactly radio sources and gamma ray bursts are can be
viewed as artifacts of our visual perception is described
in a journal article. The
argument is much better illustrated using an animation.
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