Vectors

A quantity of both magnitude and direction. I remember first being introduced to the concept; realising that direction is merely a changing position relative to another point. But in our expanding universe, spiralling galaxy, orbiting earth and rotating planet, wouldn’t it be fascinating to trace the actual path of your own body through space, for instance, in your own lifetime? Or the earths, or our sun, through its lifetime? Again – this path, its distance, its speed, could only be presented as a comparison to a ‘fixed’, but, actually also, moving point! Nothing is static, except maybe the centre of the universe…even then some scientists suggest (I’m not sure how far the theory is proved) that there is a multiverse. I would hazard a guess that our own expanding universe is also not static stacked against these other universes.

When Copernicus developed the heliocentric model that Galileo famously later fought to prove through his Dialogue of the Two Chief World Systems, the theory was ridiculed by Galileo’s fictional character, Simplicio, for suggesting that we could be travelling at such a speed without being swept off the face of the Earth. Galileo’s opposing, Copernican-theory supporting character, Salviati, suggested the analogy of a ship – making the first argument for relativity. Of course, day to day, we have to stop thinking in these crazy spiral upon spiral upon spiral terms and just make it from here to there. It’s just not useful. The scale of space and time makes the ‘real’ (spiralling etc) movement irrelevant to us.

Or does it? Considering the more developed, modern theory of relativity, anything travelling faster than the speed of light starts to travel back in time. If you’re looking for a non-scientific explanation of this, read (or try to read, though warning: it may make you lose your mind) Shrodinger’s Cat for an expanded, not-too-sciencey explanation. When we consider that speed is relative, what does this actual mean!!!? We are already (not even theoretically!) moving faster than the speed of light, compared to something else. The light you shine from your torch…are you not moving back in time compared to it when you shine it away from you? How might the light, from its own position, perceive you?

So what am I getting at with this entry? Don’t ask. I don’t even know! Maybe it’s just that, again, vectors, distance, speed….even our own ‘physical’ existence…these are all constructs we have created and simplified for our selves to understand and use within our own context and existence. Who knows what it actually looks like from any other multitude of angles…

Corrections (thanks to my brilliant uncle):

The discussion referred to in Galileo’s Dialogue is the trialogue between three fictional characters arguing the pros and cons of a, strictly hypothetical (!), theoretical heliocentric system vs the Ptolemaic (Geo-centric) system.

Shrodingers Cat – I’m referring to a book I read, far too many years ago, that is actually about quantum physics more generally, presented in layman’s terms: In Search of Shrodinger’s Cat by John Gribbin